• Dining inclusions - 8 breakfasts, 7 dinners
• Sightseeing tours of Christchurch and Dunedin
• World renowned Mt Cook Region
• Traditional Scottish Haggis Ceremony
• Olveston House
• Larnach Castle
• Spectacular Southern Lakes

• Awe inspiring Milford Sound Cruise
• Remote National Parks of Fiordland
• Dinner at Skyline Restaurant, Queenstown
• West Coast Glaciers
• Visit to a Greenstone (Jade) Factory
• World Famous TranzAlpine Train journey

As you leave Christchurch your Kirra Tours Coach Captain will highlight the city's main attractions. Immerse yourself in New Zealand's spectacular scenery as you travel across the Canterbury Plains with the majestic Southern Alps a constant backdrop. Continue inland to the rolling green pastures of Geraldine and then into MacKenzie Country. In the heart of the MacKenzie Basin, nestled on the shores of azure Lake Tekapo, sits Tekapo. Visit the much photographed Church of the Good Shepherd. Here you have the opportunity to experience a scenic flight over the Southern Alps with Air Safaris (optional).

From Tekapo, continue on your New Zealand Coach Tour to Mt Cook National Park, home of the majestic Aoraki Mt Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain. Here you have the opportunity (at own cost) to visit the Sir Edmund Hillary Centre - a tribute to New Zealand's greatest explorer and world renowned mountaineer. Travel back down the valley along the shores of Lake Pukaki, through Twizel, the town of trees, before arriving at your destination, Omarama, nestled in the velvety tussock covered hills of the Lindis Range.

Overnight: Heritage Gateway Hotel.

As your New Zealand holiday continues, follow the beautiful braided Waitaki River east, passing Benmore and Avemore hydro lakes before reaching the Pacific Ocean at Historic Oamaru. En route visit Moeraki Boulders, marvelling at the huge spherical stones, found strewn along a stretch of Koekohe Beach near Moeraki. These boulders are grey-coloured concretions which have been exposed through shoreline erosion from black mud stone coastal cliffs that back the beach.

An early arrival into Dunedin, "The Edinburgh of the South" allows you plenty of time to explore this nature lover's playground. Take the opportunity to experience at least one of these optional tours - combine a Monarch Harbour cruise with a Newton's Citibus tour, and see penguins, albatross and seals.

Alternatively take a nostalgic trip on the Taieri Gorge Train, leaving from Dunedin's historic Railway Station. Maybe you would rather visit Cadbury World and Speights brewery, both options filling you one way or the other. Your Kirra Tours coach captain will be more than happy to assist with any bookings. This evening prior to dinner, Kirra Tours are treating you to a traditional Scottish Haggis Ceremony complete with the address to the Haggis, bag pipes and a bonnie wee dram.

Overnight: Cargills Hotel

This morning visit the historic Olveston House and feel as though you have stepped back to the early 1900's to experience the opulence of a bygone era. Then it is back to the present as you travel south west over rich fertile farmlands, through the agricultural service towns of Balclutha, Gore, and other small villages.

As you proceed inland past wind turbines and deer farms and across rural farmland, if weather and time permit, visit the mysterious Lake Manapouri, (the Lake of Many Islands), before reaching Lake Te Anau, the Gateway to Fiordland. To the west of Lake Te Anau lie the Murchison Mountains, where Kirra Tours support a programme that aims to ensure New Zealand's iconic bird, the Kiwi, is able to flourish in its natural habitat.

Overnight: Duxton Luxmore Hotel

Leaving Te Anau, your Kirra Tours coach will travel on one of the highest and most scenic state highways in New Zealand through Fiordland National Park, following the Eglington and Hollyford Valleys. Pass through the Homer Tunnel before descending into the Cleddau Canyon and magnificent Milford Sound. Experience Milford Sound, the eighth wonder of the world, from the water as a launch cruise takes you to the Tasman Sea returning via the raging Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls. A truly exhilarating experience.

Return through Te Anau to Kingston before hugging the shores of Lake Wakatipu to reach New Zealand's adventure capital, Queenstown. This evening's dinner is up the Skyline Gondola where you dine atop Bob's Peak overlooking Queenstown. Enjoy 220 degree breathtaking panoramic views of The Remarkables mountain range and across Lake Wakatipu to Cecil and Walter Peaks.

Overnight: Rydges Hotel.

Pass picturesque Lake Hayes then on to an area steeped in fascinating history relating to early settlement and the gold mining era, to Lake Wanaka, a picture postcard resort on the lakes edge with a spectacular mountain backdrop. Pass Lake Hawea and the upper reaches of Lake Wanaka to Makarora, cross the Haast Pass into the Mt Aspiring and Westland National Parks.

Drive north along the coast through the flourishing rainforests of the West Coast and onto the glorious Glacier region. This is an ideal opportunity for you to experience small town New Zealand in the heart of Westland. The rainforest and surrounding area is so green it will hurt your eyes. (Upon arrival into Fox Glacier there is opportunity to either take an optional guided walk to the glacier's terminal face or an optional exhilarating helicopter flight over the glacier)
Both these options are at your own expense and are very weather dependant.

Overnight: Heartland Hotel Fox Glacier

Time for an optional helicopter flight over the glacier then on to Franz Josef. Snow capped Southern Alps dominate the skyline as you pass dense bush, tiny landlocked lakes and small pockets of farmland. Visit a Greenstone (Jade) factory where craftsmen cut and polish greenstone cut from giant boulders to create fine jewellery. Now join the Tranz Alpine train for one of the most spectacular rail journeys in the world. Through rainforests to Otira, snow capped peaks of the Southern Alps, the rugged Gorges of the Waimakariri River and across the Canterbury Plains to Christchurch.

Overnight: Pavilions Hotel