10 Day South Island Tour - Learning Journeys
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10 Day South Island Tour
Price $ 1795
This is an amazing 10-day tour to see the best of the South. We only take small groups, so it is easy to make new
friends, explore more places, enjoy delicious restaurant food and experience some of the most exciting activities
that are on offer. Each day is a new adventure as you are driven in comfort and shown around by very
experienced, fun guides who are there to make your tour the best part of your stay in New Zealand.
What’s included? Where do we go?
✓ Options to start in Wellington, Nelson or Motueka,
saving you money!
✓ Cruise across Cook Strait
✓ Sea kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park
✓ Easy hike through lush New Zealand rain forest
✓ Milford Sound cooked breakfast and cruise
✓ Glacier hotpools
✓ Puzzling World
✓ Lots of opportunities for optional extras like bungy and
a skydive
✓ Greenstone factory visit
✓ Guided walk to Franz Josef Glacier face walk
✓ Seal colony visit - Westport
✓ Punakaiki Rocks – aka Pancake Rocks
✓ Comfortable, 5-star safety rating small coach.
✓ Airport transfer - we pick you up and drop you
off at the airport
✓ All accommodation at clean youth hostels in private
and safe dorm rooms.
✓ Tasty meals - 9 breakfast, 8 dinners
✓ Experienced, welcoming and fun tour guides
✓ Small groups, making it easier to stop at every
opportunity. There are many!
Tour dates How to book
2nd – 11th October 2018 Book Online: www.ljstudenttours.co.nz
4th – 13th December 2018 or download a booking form
Call: 0800 556 876
Email: info@learningjourneys.co.nz
Day 1 Wellington
Welcome to Wellington, a cosmopolitan city with an energetic
personality, and famous for its vibrant culture. Fuelled by its great
food and shopping, you will be able to see for yourself what makes
Wellington such a unique city.
• Meet your guide at the Wellington Domestic Airport at 2pm.
• Visit Te Papa New Zealand’s national museum or free time to
shop and explore the city.
Overnight Wellington
Day 2 Wellington to Nelson
Nelson is known for its diverse geography, capturing everything from
long golden beaches to untouched forests and rugged mountains.
• Cross to the South Island by inter-island ferry this morning and
cruise the spectacular Marlborough Sounds, ancient sunken river
valleys filled by the Pacific Ocean.
Travel towards Nelson, in Golden Bay,
• Pelorus Bridge Reserve is perfectly placed to break your journey.
Take a short walk to stretch your legs and soak up the beautiful
forest and river scenery.
• You’ll arrive in Nelson, access point to Abel Tasman National Park,
late afternoon, with time to look around or we will drive to
Motueka (subject to available accommodation).
Overnight Nelson or Motueka
Day 3 Nelson via Abel Tasman National Park to Franz Josef
Abel Tasman National Park is a wilderness reserve at the north end of
New Zealand’s South Island. This coastal paradise has a mild climate,
inviting sandy beaches, and lush native bush cloaking the granite and
marble formations fringing the tidelines. The reserve is home to little
blue penguins, bottlenose dolphins and seals.
• Kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park. Paddle your way
through crystal blue water, alongside stunning beaches, native
forest and offshore islands, all the while keeping your eyes open
for beautiful marine wildlife.
• After lunch at Apple Tree Bay, swap your paddle for your walking
shoes and take a short hike through native rainforest.
• This afternoon, you will drive to the West Coast and Cape
Foulwind. Get up close (but not too close) to a seal colony, a
lighthouse and panoramic views of mountains.
Overnight Motueka or Westport.
Day 4 Westport to Franz Josef
• Depart Westport and travel to the famous Pancake Rocks and
Blowholes (Punakaiki Rocks) which were formed under the sea 30
million years ago. The walk around them has some great photo
opportunities and, if the wind and tide are right, amazing
blowholes.
• On your way to Franz Josef visit a greenstone factory. Hokitika is
the jade (or Pounamu) capital of New Zealand. There you will find
artisans carving jade into traditional Maori or modern NZ designs.
This is one of the best places to buy genuine New Zealand
greenstone.
• In the evening take a short walk in the dark through native forest
to see glow worms.
• Or enjoy the ultimate hot spring experience, with a hot relaxing
soak at the Glacier.
Overnight Franz Josef
Day 5 Franz Josef to Wanaka
Enjoy World Heritage Westland National Park as you travel south today
with its ancient temperate rainforest and glacial landforms. Stopping
often to absorb the stunning scenery and splendid isolation: beech
forest, waterfalls, remote beaches, possible sightings of seals, sea-lions
and endangered Hector’s dolphins before crossing the Divide via the
Haast Pass to Wanaka.
• After breakfast today, try a tandem skydive (optional extra), in one
of the most spectacular places in the world, with its mountains,
glaciers, lakes, rivers and ocean views.
• Students who don’t skydive will take a short walk to Lake
Matheson, the so-called mirror lake named for its incomparable
reflection of nearby snow-capped peaks.
• Next enjoy a breath taking guided glacier walk up to the terminal
face lookout of New Zealand's largest commercially guided glacier,
the Franz Josef glacier.
• Stop at Ship’s Cove, Knight’s Point, Thunder Creek, the Blue Pools
as time allows.
• Arrive in Wanaka with time to spare to explore this vibrant town
with its spectacular landscapes.
Overnight Wanaka.
Day 6 Wanaka to Te Anau
Wanaka, a picture-perfect resort town on New Zealand's South Island,
is set on the southern end of its namesake lake with views of snow-
capped mountains. It's the gateway to the Southern Alps' Mount
Aspiring National Park, a wilderness of glaciers, beech forests and alpine
lakes.
• Enjoy breakfast as you gaze out of the hostel’s dining room at Lake
Wanaka and the Southern Alps.
• Start the day at Puzzling World where seeing is not always
believing. This is a world unique attraction specialising in puzzles
and illusions and has amazed visitors of all ages for over 35 years.
• Next, it’s on to the famous Kawarau Gorge AJ Hackett Bungy to
visit ‘The Secrets of Bungy’. This is the site of the World’s very first
bungy operation and it’s still one of the busiest in the world. As an
optional extra you can try a bungy jump and throw yourself off a
bridge, diving 43 metres to the river below where you can choose
to dip your head and shoulders in the crystal-clear waters.
• Our last stop on route today is historic Arrowtown, once a rich gold
mining centre in the days of the Otago Gold Rush, so you can enjoy
the cafes and shops.
• Tonight, you will stay in Te Anau, nestled on the edge of a beautiful
lake, of the same name, with a spectacular backdrop of Mt
Luxmore and the Murchison mountains.
Overnight Te Anau
Day 7 Te Anau - Queenstown
• Today we start the day off bright and early, along through the New
Zealand's most scenic highway where a cooked breakfast awaits
on board your cruise boat. Set deep in World Heritage Fiordland
National Park, your Milford Sound Cruise will take you the length
of the fiord out to the Tasman Sea, stopping at waterfalls and
points of interest along the way. Nowhere else in Fiordland do the
mountains stand so tall, straight out of the sea. Luxuriant rainforest
clings to sheer rock walls and waterfalls tumble hundreds of metres
to the sea below.
• From Milford sound, we drive back along the picturesque highway
towards Queenstown stopping along the way, to enjoy and
photograph the amazing Mirror lakes and take in breath-taking
mountain views, the ‘Chasm’ where rushing rivers and streams
have cut their way through the rocks to form gorges and caves and
other highlights as time allows. You will also see kea, a New
Zealand native alpine parrot and the only parrot in the world that
can live above the snowline.
• Finish the day by the side of Queenstown’s stunning Lake Wakatipu
at sunset.
Overnight Queenstown
Day 8 Free day Queenstown
Enjoy your breakfast then it’s your choice of activity on your free day in
Queenstown.
Remember, Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand.
Whatever you choose, we will help you book it and make sure you get
to the right place on time. Some examples of the activities you can
select are:- Jet-boating, white water rafting, tandem skydiving, bungy
jumping, horse-trekking into Lord of the Rings film locations, paragliding
and lots more. (Additional cost)
Because we limit the size of our trips, we can be extremely flexible
helping you with your choices, and if the weather is too bad for
skydiving for example, we can usually rearrange it for another.
You and your friends are free in the evening to enjoy a meal at a café or
restaurant of your choice or perhaps another ‘Ferg Burger’!
Overnight Queenstown
Day 9 Queenstown to Lake Tekapo
Picturesque by day and dazzling by night, Lake Tekapo is part of a
UNESCO Dark Sky Reserve, making it the perfect spot for stargazing.
Lake Tekapo is about three hours drive south-west of Christchurch in
the Mackenzie Basin. The township faces north across the remarkable
turquoise coloured lake to the mountainous drama of the Southern
Alps. Lake Tekapo gets its intense milky-turquoise colour from the fine
rock-flour (ground by glaciers) which is suspended in the water.
See the famous Church of the Good Shepherd. Then either enjoy a hot
soak under stars (optional extra) or join other keen sky gazers at the top
of Mt. St John to use their telescopes under the guidance of experts
(optional extra).
Overnight Lake Tekapo
Day 10 Lake Tekapo to Christchurch
We’ll have our final breakfast together and a chance to buy last minute
gifts and souvenirs before we board the coach for Christchurch.
In Christchurch, we’ll have a look at the city, including the well-known
Container Mall, to see how the brave people of Christchurch are
rebuilding their city after the quake in 2011. Then we head for the
airport by 1400. Those of you with later flights may choose to go to the
Antarctic Centre (optional extra) which is right next door.
Before you leave your guides will make sure you have details of the
Learning Journeys’ Facebook page so that you can see all the trip
photos. We can also send you a link, so you can download your
favourite photos at high resolution.
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