New Zealand North and South Island

Leave home today for Auckland, New Zealand, flying across the Pacific. Two days are lost in route as you cross the International Date Line.

Flights need to be booked multi-city for all participants: Home to AKL (Auckland), North Island and (Christchurch) CHC, South Island to Home. (Meals on plane)

*Note: If you would like to depart earlier to rest and get over jet lag in Auckland, Strabo Tours can make these arrangements, please contact us for details.

You will arrive in Auckland and have the day to adjust and explore on your own. Check in time is typically 3PM. OVERNIGHT AUCKLAND. Meals on own

This morning meet your local guide after breakfast, as the group will depart for the ferry to Tiri Tiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf. This island is home to superb coastal Pohutukawa (Meterosideros) forest and endangered bird species such as saddleback, takahe, brown teal, red crowned parakeet, and stitchbird. The opportunities for photography are tremendous.  The island is also an excellent example of just what can be achieved by conservation volunteers involved in a major re-vegetation project.  There is even a slight chance of an endangered Tuatara today, while the largest of the NZ weta, wetapunga occur in the forest. Mid-afternoon return to Auckland.  (B=breakfast, L=lunch , D=dinner)

The flight is included this morning for the group to fly to the South Island, Christchurch. Explore the Mount Cook region, with arid landscapes around the lakes, including Tekapo, and maybe another area if time permits.  Arrive in time to do afternoon sunset photography on the mountains. OVERNIGHT TWIZEL B, L, D

Enjoy pre-dawn/Sunrise photography on the Southern Alps, followed by breakfast. Today will be your longest day in the vehicle. It will be well worth it with three evenings to enjoy in Milford Sound. Make your way toward Milford Sound with photography locations along the way. Leave the Mackenzie Basin and the Waitaki Valley and cross into the rural heartland of the South Island. The road follows the upper Mataura Valley.

You’ll have another two evenings in this stunning location of Fiordland, New Zealand’s largest national park. This will allow for time to explore on your own or with Kathy and be able to work on images during photography discussions. Recent glacially gouged valleys and lakes nestled between range upon range of mountains characterise the landscape. Enjoy a sunrise shoot on Lake Manapouri one morning, then then take an afternoon cruise on Milford Sound. OVERNIGHT MILFORD SOUND (B; B, L, D; B)

The group must leave this wild land and cross the southern South Island to arrive in Invercargill. There will be a ferry across Fouveaux Strait to Stewart Island. There will be late afternoon/evening exploration of the forest and coastal tracks in the vicinity of the village. This evening there is an excursion to seek out the Stewart Island Brown Kiwi feeding in the wild.

Removed from reality on this idyllic hideaway we discover the grand diversity on this isle, the least modified of the three main islands of New Zealand. This afternoon take a short boat trip across Paterson Inlet to near-pristine Ulva Island. There are carpets of bryophytes and liverworts. Above are flightless Weka birds, and threatened Robins, Saddlebacks, Yellowheads, Kaka parrots and smaller red crowned parakeets. Opportunities abound for forest and coastal bird photography.  OVERNIGHT OBAN (B, L, D; B)