Highlights of Australia and New Zealand
Overview
What's this trip about?
Details
Travel Themes
Destinations
Activities
Trip includes
- Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide
- Local Specialists (Guides)
- Centrally located premium hotels
Itinerary
Melbourne is known for its amazing food, as you’ll discover while meeting your fellow travellers tonight.
Crowne Plaza Hotel Melbourne
Get your Melbourne bearings on a city tour, but make sure you’re wearing comfy shoes for when you hit the streets to explore hidden alleys covered in eye-popping murals. Spot a jazz bar or restaurant you fancy? The afternoon is yours to indulge.
There are endless reasons to linger in Melbourne. But if you feel like exploring further afield, talk to us about a road trip along the Great Ocean Road (it deserves its name) or to Phillip Island. The penguins waddling from the ocean up the sand to their burrows is the cutest thing you’ll ever see.
The rusty red landscapes of Uluru beckon as you leave Melbourne for Ayers Rock Resort, your backdrop this afternoon is the world’s largest rock monolith. Follow your guide to the perfect perch to capture Uluru as the last of the day disappears, glass of bubbles in hand (of course).
Desert Gardens
The only reason to get out of bed before dawn? For a magical Uluru sunrise. It’s a spiritual place, with stories of the Anangu, caretakers of this remote arid landscape revealed while you tour the base. The red desert follows you to Kata Tjuta, where nature humbles as you walk through the towering domes of this ancient rock formation. Cheers to the end of another amazing day.
So the other reason to rise in the dark is to witness Bruce Munro’s Field of Light, an installation of 50,000 orbs blanketing the outback. This is the countryside that First Nations artists immortalise in their paintings – try your hand at creating one during an intro to Western Desert art. Head to your next stop in sunny Cairns.
Hilton Hotel Cairns
Cruising with crocs, a scenic railway ride into World Heritage listed rainforest, a wander along the Cairns Esplanade? Today the choice is yours.
The world’s largest living organism, the Great Barrier Reef, never fails to dazzle. Set out on a catamaran to explore a kaleidoscope of colour: over 1,500 species of fish, 215 different birds, 3,000 molluscs, six of the world’s seven marine turtle species, and 30 spec...
We hope you have a window seat, because the view of Sydney Harbour as you come in to land is one that postcards were made for. Join your Travel Director for a Highlight Dinner cruise around Sydney Harbour against the backdrop of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.
InterContinental Hotel Sydney
Bring your stamina: today is one of innumerable highlights. Go behind the scenes at the Sydney Opera House, discovering its architectural and performance secrets. If these sails could talk. One icon to another: The world’s most famous beach beckons this morning, with ...
The hardest decision you have to make today: explore more of Sydney, or head to the Blue Mountains, 11,400 square kilometres of World Heritage listed wilderness, a place where sandstone escarpments appear to cleave off the edge of the Earth and waterfall-cooled valleys of rainforest slip dreamily from the pages of a fairytale? The choice is yours.
Now you’ve found your bearings in Sydney, why not linger around the harbour – perhaps it’s time to glimpse it from above on a Sydney BridgeClimb? This bird’s-eye view certainly puts things in perspective. Back at ground level, you’re in the heart of the Rocks, the cit...
All you have to do today is sit back and enjoy the view as you cross the Tasman to embark on your next adventure.
The Grand by SkyCity
We’ll take you out to Mission Bay and Bastion Point – have your camera poised – and then leave you to your own devices in the afternoon. Need suggestions? How about a cruise to Waiheke Island for a wine tour?
Cute and cuddly, NZ’s national bird, the kiwi, is also endangered. Go behind the scenes on a working kiwi nursery and hatchery to learn how breeding programs are helping the population thrive .This evening your highlight dinner is a cultural experience of Haka Pōwhiri...
Ever wondered what it’s like to be a film star? Today you’ll get a taste of celebrity lifestyle when you sit down to breakfast in the village of Hobbiton, the movie set of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies. Take a guided tour past Hobbit Holes and the Mill, and wave to your fans.
Millennium Hotel, Queenstown
Sheer cliffs, thundering waterfalls, glaciers and rainforest – if there’s a destination more inspiring than Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park, we’re yet to find it. After a cruise here (look out for dolphins and sea lions), we’re sure you’ll agree.
Today is all yours. Love adventure? Ride the Shotover Jet. Oenophile? Arrange a tour to Otago wineries. Regroup for a Highlight Dinner at the historic Postmasters Cottage.
Arrowtown and Cromwell are known for their natural drama; just as enticing is the tasty stone fruit. Take a bite. Arriving at Lake Tekapo, you’re far from anywhere. Which practically guarantees dazzling stargazing in the UNESCO Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve.
Peppers Bluewater Resort
Arrive into the beautiful English city of Christchurch for a guided visit. The city is not only rebuilding itself after the devastating 2010/11 earthquakes, but is changing the way architects think about design. Case in point the mind-bending Transitional Cathedral, made largely of cardboard, and Turanga, the gold-clad central library.
Distinction Christchurch Hotel
Travel north through rolling countryside to Hurunui Hills, for a Be My Guest experience with the Bamford Family. Enjoy warm kiwi hospitality from Scotty and the team, who have been farming at Hurunui since 1884 with six generations focused on producing premium Merino ...
How did three weeks disappear like that? Re-live all the memorable moments on your way home.
Want a tailor-made trip instead?
Your trip, your way, planned by an expert:
- You choose budget, destinations, activities, transport & lodging type
- Expert designs the itinerary for you, and once approved, takes care of logistics
Dates & Availability
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with AAT Kings.
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
AAT Kings Reviews & Ratings
Trusted Customer
May 2024
Highlights of Australia and New Zealand
Wonderful tour start to finish.
Other AAT Kings Reviews
Trusted Customer
May 2024
Highlights of Australia and New Zealand
Wonderful tour start to finish.
Trusted Customer
May 2024
Exciting from rainy beginning to wonderful end!
Nathan and Dylan made a dynamic team!
Tour Operator
A century ago, the Australian outback was but a twinkle in most travelers’ eyes. But thanks to visionaries like the Pyke family and Bill King, the way we explore the Land Down Under was about to change in unimaginable ways. Over the coming decades, maps were unfolded, desert cruisers and coaches were customized, and guides were trained. From humble beginnings, the company now known as AAT Kings was going places few had gone before, pioneering new paths across Australia and New Zealand and taking intrepid travelers on a wild and wonderful ride. We’ve come a long way and clocked a few kilometers in the process. But some things will never change. Like our spirit for adventure. Our oh-so-knowledgeable Travel Directors. The local characters we meet (and will never forget) along the way. The epic, goosebump-inducing stories we’re told by First Nations guides. The life-changing experiences on offer – the kind that only 100 years of exploring affords. We’ve never been more passionate about our next discovery. Join us and fall in love with Australia and New Zealand all over again. #aatkings
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