Uncover the Heart of New Zealand

Eighteen nights across New Zealand, self-drive with a train leg, built round Maori culture rather than around the scenery alone.

That emphasis is what distinguishes it. Several of the experiences are led by Maori guides and hosts rather than being visits to a site, which is a different thing entirely.

Two nights in Auckland open it, with a food and wine day on Waiheke, and a native forest walk with a Maori guide covering foraging traditions and finishing with a feast cooked in the forest by traditional methods. Rotorua follows for two, with the Wai Ariki hot springs, built on Maori healing practice, and an evening at Te Pa Tu, with storytelling, kapa haka and seasonal food in a forest setting. Hawke’s Bay comes next for two at Cape Kidnappers for the gannets and a farm tour, then Wellington and Te Papa, the Cook Strait ferry and two nights in the Marlborough Sounds, Kaikoura for the whales, and the TranzAlpine across the Southern Alps, with Milford Sound by helicopter later in the route.

The rental car, the ferry crossing, the TranzAlpine, the named properties with several dinner-inclusive, the Waiheke day with its Maori guide and forest feast, the Te Pa Tu evening, the Kaikoura whale watching, the Milford heli-cruise and a Christchurch tour are all included; the hot springs treatments and some Hawke’s Bay activities are extra. No wildlife sighting can be promised. November to March is the main season, though the shoulder months are quieter on the roads and in Queenstown. Nineteen days leaves room for the cultural days to be unhurried, which matters here: a forest feast and an evening at Te Pa Tu are both things to arrive at without a drive still to do afterwards.