Early Explorers from Queen Charlotte Sound to Akaroa

Your Kiwi guide meets you on arrival at Blenheim Airport. We celebrate our arrival in Blenheim with a wine tasting and lunch at Brancott Estate winery restaurant overlooking the vineyards.

This afternoon we visit nearby sites of historic importance and later in the day we drive out to our Picton hotel, our home for three nights, and dine in this evening.

We visit the "Edwin Fox" sitting in a dry dock in Picton. Built in 1853 it's a massive and fascinating restoration project. Then we take a private discovery cruise out on magnificent Queen Charlotte Sound to Ship Cove near the entrance to the Sound. We lunch at the Cove with plenty of time to explore and soak up the atmosphere at this historic site.

Maori valued Ship Cove's sheltered waters and it’s easy to see why Captain Cook did too, returning four times to drop anchor in this idyllic cove. We cruise back to port in the mid afternoon.

We drive into Blenheim to meet our private guide at Marlborough Museum for insights into the early history of the Wairau Bar Boulder Bank which in 1250 was the home of the first Polynesian settlers.

Later we visit Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre to see Sir Peter Jackson’s collection of World War One and World War Two aircraft and memorabilia.

We return to our hotel in Picton and dine in this evening.

We drive around the perimeter of Yealands vineyard to enjoy the expansive views to Cook Strait. We call into The Store for lunch before heading down the dramatically changed coastline, stopping at Ohau Point to look for seals. 

At Kaikoura we visit the museum where an exhibit tells the story of the earthquake with the "New Normal" exhibition. 

We stay at The White Morph Inn and dine out this evening. 

We meet our guide at historic Fyffe House, a whaler’s cottage built on whale vertebrae, and visit the seal colony nearby. Continuing down the Kaikoura Coast we cross the Canterbury Plains to lunch and enjoy a wine tasting at Waipara Hills vineyard.

In Christchurch we tour the inner city rebuild zone before continuing to Banks Peninsula via Lyttelton and Gebbes Pass. We stay at the Bruce Apartments on the Akaroa waterfront for two nights and dine out this evening.

We sightsee around the peninsula and enjoy the panoramic views along the Summit Road. At Okains Bay the Maori and Colonial Museum has a diverse collection of treasures. We lunch nearby with Judy and Kerry Thacker at Kawatea Farm.

Back in Akaroa Josie Martin’s Giant’s House, a six-star Garden of International Significance, features Josie’s quirky mosaic sculptures, no visit to Akaroa is complete without a visit.

We dine out in Akaroa this evening.

After breakfast at Bully Hayes, named for an early American “pirate” visitor we stroll the village and waterfront where the whaling trypots are a reminder of the whalers that called into the harbour from the 1830s onwards. At the Akaroa Museum exhibits tell the stories of the Ngai Tahu, whalers and French settlers.

Returning over the Peninsula we stop for lunch at Little River and on the way to Christchurch airport visit the Burkes’ museum with its collection of gemstones and fossils found nearby on Birdlings Flat beach.