Southern Icons & Otago Gardens
6 Nights/7 Days: Queenstown – Te Anau – Milford Sound – Te Anau – Queenstown – Naseby – Oamaru – Aoraki Mt Cook – Christchurch
Southern Icons & Otago Gardens
Catch up with national icons – Mitre Peak and Aoraki/Mt Cook. Visit Naseby and Oamaru and stunning gardens in Otago and Canterbury.experiences included in your tour price
- All transport by comfortable, air conditioned coach (maximum of 16 travellers).
- Services of your experienced MoaTrek driver/guide.
- Quality, en suite accommodation.
- All breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
- All sightseeing and exploring in the regions.
- View Mount Aoraki/Mount Cook from your accommodation at the Hermitage Hotel.
- Take a nature cruise on Milford Sound.
- Exclusive private country farmhouse lunches.
- Visit the blue penguin colony at Oamaru.
Tour dates
- November 19 - November 25, 2012
- November 27 - December 3, 2012
Tour Price
$NZD3890 per person twin or double share accommodation$NZD4590 per person single room accommodation
Our travellers say...
Super to be back in Queenstown and I loved Te Anau. The Milford Sound cruise was outstanding, I was really gobsmacked with the stunning scenery. The cruise was marvellous which I really enjoyed and to finish the tour at Dunrobin was perfection. Wonderful! Super!
Nan Patterson - New Zealand, Nokomai Fete, Otago Gardens & Southern Icons Tour November 2010
Tour dates
- November 19 - November 25, 2012
- November 27 - December 3, 2012
Day 1: Queenstown - Te Anau (L, D)
Departing Queenstown we drive alongside Lake Wakatipu and on to Annabel and Russell Bruce’s farm Dunrobin at Mossburn for lunch. We continue on to Te Anau arriving in the mid afternoon.
Day 2: Te Anau - Milford Sound cruise - Te Anau (B, L, D)
Today we enjoy the breathtaking scenery of the Milford Road - a panorama of high mountains and deep valleys studded with waterfalls and we take a short walk alongside the beautiful Mirror Lakes. At Milford Sound we cruise for two and a half hours down the Sound to the Tasman Sea watching out for seals and dolphins with your onboard nature guide. In the late afternoon we return to Te Anau and dine at your hotel this evening.
Day 3: Te Anau - Queenstown (B, L, D)
At the local boutique cinema we see Ata Whenua ~ Shadowland, an evocative movie of Fiordland’s stunning beauty. We then visit Janet Blair's garden of national significance near Lake Hayes and lunch at the Winehouse and Kitchen. There's time to check out the Queenstown shops. Our hotel is near the lake and close to town.
Day 4: Queenstown - Clachanburn Garden - Naseby (B, L, D)
Leaving Queenstown for the big skies of the Maniatoto Plain. We lunch with Jane
Falconer at Clachanburn, Garden of National Significance on a deer farm at Patearoa with elevated views across the Maniatoto. Driving into Ranfurly where the antique shops are packed with Kiwiana then on to Naseby, the home of a unique indoor curling rink. We dine at the lodge’s Falconer restaurant.
Day 5: Naseby - Moeraki - Oamaru (B, L, D)
At Glenshee Park there’s a fascinating collection of 1970s Benson and Hedges award winning gowns and designer dresses of the day. We lunch at [[activity:96Moeraki Boulders]] Cafe and walk to the boulders below. In Oamaru we visit the house where writer Janet Frame grew up and dine among the Victorian stone buildings. At dusk we watch the blue penguins come ashore at the nearby colony.
Day 6: Oamaru - Kurow - Aoraki/Mt Cook (B, L, D)
Turning west up the Waiareka valley where Bev and Peter Rodwell show us their garden at Elderslie Estate and we lunch with Alison and Bruce Albiston at vast Burnside Homestead built in the 1890s. We visit the Vanished World Centre in Duntroon to see fossils of whales and dolphins. We drive to Omarama and up the valley to the Hermitage Aoraki/Mt Cook. We dine in the Panorama Room.
Day 7: Mt Cook - Akaunui Homestead - Christchurch (B, L)
On the road northwards Lake Tekapo is an irresistible photo stop. Our farewell lunch is at Akaunui, Ian and Di Mackenzie’s 100 year old farm homestead near Ashburton. It’s never easy to leave Ian and Di’s warm hospitality. We depart for Christchurch in the mid afternoon.
The Hermitage
Spectacular views of Aoraki Mt Cook and the surrounding National Park World Heritage area make this four star plus hotel and its Panorama Room restaurant a stunning destination.
Heritage Court Motor Lodge Oamaru
Well appointed motel units close to the Oamaru town centre.
Novotel Queenstown Lakeside
This fresh, modern four star hotel offers spacious rooms close to the town and lakefront.
Distinction Hotel Te Anau
The hotel is recently refurbished and just across the road from beautiful Lake Te Anau. The hotel’s lakeview rooms are premium accommodation.
Booking enquiries
To make an enquiry or booking with MoaTrek fill in the form below and use the submit button - this will generate an email to MoaTrek New Zealand Ltd. We'll answer your query promptly.
Contact details
Booking conditions
- A payment of 10% of your tour cost to your travel agent or MoaTrek New Zealand Ltd (MoaTrek) confirms your booking and acknowledges your agreement to our terms and conditions.
- The balance of your fare is due 40 days before your tour departs.
- Tour reservations can of course, be made within 40 days provided full payment is made at time of booking.
- All prices are in $NZ and include New Zealand Goods & Services tax (GST) of 12.5%.
Cancellations and amendments
Cancellation fees depend on when we receive written notification of a cancellation.
- Bookings cancelled more than 40 days before departure incur loss of deposit.
- Between 40 days & 14 days 25% of tour cost.
- Within 14 days of departure 50% of tour cost.
- Bookings cancelled within seven days of the departure date are subject to 100% of tour cost.
- No refunds will be made after travel has commenced.
Booking Conditions, the fine print.
The area has captured hearts and imaginations since the first Maori came in search of pounamu (greenstone) and the giant Moa bird. More recently, gold miners, adventurers, filmmakers and wine enthusiasts have been drawn to this magical region and its alpine energy.
With specialist nature guides on board, Real Journeys’ Nature Cruise offers a close-up experience of Milford Sound’s rainforest, soaring rock walls, and wildlife. Throughout the cruise, the guides share stories of the fiord’s history and are happy to answer your questions. Cruise so close to waterfalls that water soaks the foredeck, or drift gently while watching out for dolphins, seals and penguins.
Lunch with Jane Falconer at Clachanburn Garden, a garden of National Significance on a deer farm at Patearoa. The lawns and borders roll gracefully away from the house to two large ponds with rugged hills to one side and the distant mountains beyond, giving an impression of a lush oasis in the heat and dry of Central Otago. From Clachanburn’s pathways there are elevated views across the Maniatoto Plain.
Oamaru stone was used on many of the grand public buildings in the towns and cities of the southern South Island, especially after the financial boom caused by the Central Otago goldrush of the 1860s. In Oamaru itself the stone is most commonly found as the primary construction material, with many of the town's more notable buildings (such as the Oamaru Grain Store) showing its distinctive creamy colour.
The area where the penguin colony is located was once a quarry where rock was taken for the development of the Oamaru Harbour. The quarry ceased operating in the 1970s and the site was abandoned. After this, the penguins began coming ashore and nesting in the old quarry
Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, reaching a height of 3,754 metres (12,316 ft). Aoraki / Mount Cook consists of three summits lying slightly south and east of the main divide, the Low Peak, Middle Peak and High Peak, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the west.
Ian Mackenzie’s grandfather came to Akaunui just after World War 11. Ian and Di Mackenzie now farm 1200 acres, mostly arable farming with 2000 ewes and about 100 head of cattle. The homestead sits in park-like grounds looked after by Di, a passionate gardener. The house is just over 100 years old, built from bricks made at the local kiln and finished with rimu native timber
National Icon - Aoraki/Mount Cook 
Lake Tekapo is a favourite photo stop 
Oamaru's buildings are renowned 
The Otago Coastline 
Walk to Moeraki Boulders