Summer 

Southern 

Sojourn 

Fly-Cruise

We depart from Auckland on Air New Zealand at 11:35am. On arrival at Queenstown, we will be met by Limousine Services Queenstown and transferred to our hotel for the next two nights:

The Rees Hotel
377 Frankton Road
Queenstown
Executive Lakeview King Room
Breakfast Included

This morning we head out to Arrowtown for an historic walking tour of the town, including entry to the museum. There will be time for a coffee break before we move on to Gibbston Valley Winery for a tasting in NZ’s only true wine cave. We follow this by moving to Kinross Estate, the cellar door home of five boutique wineries for tastings and a sumptuous platter lunch. On the way back to town, we’ll stop at AJ Hackett Bungy to see some brave souls take the leap. We’ll be back at the hotel around 3:00pm and the balance of the afternoon is free.

After breakfast this morning we leave Queenstown by Mercedes Mini coach for a two-hour scenic drive to Te Anau. We will then continue our drive through to Manapouri where we will board a scenic cruise, which takes us across the stunning island-dotted Lake Manapouri. After departing this cruise, we will board a coach for roughly an hour drive via the picturesque Wilmot pass towards Doubtful Sound. The road was constructed as part of the Manapouri hydro scheme. One we reach the beginning of Doubtful Sound, you will be greeted and welcome warmly aboard the Heritage Explorer by your Captain and expeditions leader, where you will then be shown to your cabin. Settle into life aboard before we set sail along Doubtful Sound and enjoy your first impression of the fiords. Doubtful Sounds, spanning a staggering 40-kilometers and holding the title as New Zealand’s deepest fiord, with its cloud-scarping wilderness cloaked mountains, sheer cliffs, waterfalls, inlets, quiet coves and wildlife presents nature on a scale so grand it’s off the charts.

After a quiet night aboard surrounded by nature and wilderness of Doubtful Sounds, join your naturalists on deck to spot sea birds as we navigate to the very head of Doubtful Sound in Deep Cove, home to several waterfalls including Helena and Lady Alice Falls. Keep an eye out for the majestic Wandering and Buller’s Albatross, as we pass Breaksea Island, which guards the entrance to Breaksea Sound. It was on Breaksea Island that the first successful island rat eradication program was completed, today it is a protected nature reserve of great significance to the many endangered species which call the island home. From here we sail onwards towards more spectacular views as we head towards Dusky Sounds.

Over the following two days, we plan to leisurely expeditions cruise through Dusky Sound, visiting some of the most significant historical and conservation sites in New Zealand, as well as marveling at the majestic scenery as we sail deep into the heart of Fiordland. A navigation through Acheron Passage, which separates Resolution Island from the mainland, is sure to be one of the highlights of our time in Fiordland.

Predator-free Anchor Island homes half of the world’s population of Kakapo and Little Spotted Kiwi and is also the location of historic Luncheon Cove and a number of New Zealand’s firsts including the first sealing gang, the building of New Zealand’s first European homestead and first European designed ship, the 16-metre Providence built here and launched in 1795. On near-by Pigeon Island learn the history of Richard Henry and his pioneering live transfer of birds to island refuges – an international first in wildlife conservation. While his attempts were unsuccessful due to stoats swimming over to the island, it is heartening to learn that the island is now pest-free and a sanctuary for native birdlife, with Henry’s vision fulfilled.

The entrance to Chalky Inlet is guarded by the impressive limestone cliffs of Chalky Island, the inspiration behind Captain Cook’s naming of the fiord. One of several important predator-free islands in the inlet including Great Island and Passage Islands, Chalky Island is home to some of New Zealand’s most critically endangered bird species including the Little Spotted Kiwi and Kakapo, and endemic Te Kakahu Skink, discovered in 2002. The protected harbors at North and South port offer much to explore as the centers of human history in the inlet with North Port the final resting place of the rusting hulk of purposely grounded GSS Stella. While South Port reveals an industrial past with the remnants of once prolific sawmilling activity. Sailing to the head of the fiord the surrounding mountains envelop us with their majesty.

Today is dedicated to exploring Preservation Inlet, rich in history we will delve into the gold mining and forestry attempts that once made this now quiet waterway a bustling hub of activity. The area’s natural bounty saw more than 2,500 gold miners and saw millers flock to the region in the late 1890s. This early settler history at mining towns Cromarty and Te Oneroa, now reclaimed by nature, can still be observed, none more spectacularly than at the failed Tarawera Mine and Smelter, where the ruins of the smelter’s three-story chimney were restored in 2015. Among the activity, Preservation Inlet can also lay claim to having New Zealand’s first whaling station at Cuttle Cove and the location of one of the country’s most remote lighthouses at Puysegur Point, which began operation in 1879, perched some 40-feet above the south island’s most south-western point. Here a great coastal walk, formerly a telegraph track built to connect the lighthouse, leads to the old landing shed at Otago Retreat.

After a final breakfast and farewell, we will head ashore at Preservation Inlet ready to enjoy the most spectacular helicopter flight from the beach over the mountains and valleys of Fiordland back to Te Anau. We will then be transferred to our hotel. The afternoon is free.

Fiordland Hotel
1 Bumby Drive
Te Anau

Queen/Twin Rooms
Breakfast included

Tonight we will wander down the main street to the well-known Fat Duck Gastropub for a final Fiordland Dinner.

This morning we’ll take in some of the sights in and around Te Anau before heading to the regional airport where our private charter Air Milford aircraft will be waiting to take us on a spectacular charter flight back to Queenstown Airport. Once back at Queenstown Airport we will connect with a mid-afternoon Air New Zealand flight back to Auckland.