Auckland is the kind of place you could lose yourself in for a couple of weeks. Arrive at your leisure and explore hip new waterfront precincts, take a cruise out to the forward-thinking wineries of Waiheke Island, or just steel yourself to meet your fellow travel companions over dinner and a few local tipples tonight. And so your NZ tour begins. (D) Stay: The Cordis (2 Nights)

A little bit of leisure, a little bit of culture - today is one of those days. Sleep in before a peek behind the scenes of racing history on the New Zealand Maritime Museum's America's Cup Tour, highlighting Auckland's heritage of boat-building, and offering a glimpse of one of the world's only replicas of the America's Cup.

Your Auckland tour guide then takes you around the city, pausing at Bastion Point and the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial for epic photo opportunities over the city's dual harbour. By now you should have a few ideas for how to spend your afternoon exploring, but if not, ask us for recommendations. We have a little black book full of contacts. (B)

Bet you didn't know New Zealand is home to horse-racing royalty. The O'Sullivan's welcome you to their Waikato estate for a country-style Be My Guest lunch in the Red Barn. Expect banter, horse-riding gossip and farm-to-table fare prepared with a lot of love. Venture east to the harbourside city of Tauranga, where you have a free afternoon to tour the Bay of Plenty.

If you want to work up a sweat, enlist to climb extinct volcano Mount Mauao, offering dazzling vistas over some of the 140 subtropical islets that dot the coast. We wouldn't blame you for kicking off your shoes and chilling on the golden sands of the main beach, regularly voted the prettiest in the country. (B/L/D) Stay: Trinity Wharf Tauranga

Is there any food more classically New Zealand than the kiwifruit? The town of Te Puke grows the majority of the country's bounty, and you'll enjoy a bite that will wake up your tastebuds. The next hot-spot - in every sense of the word - on your NZ holiday is Rotorua. Visit Te Puia to see and support Maori artisans at work, then continue your Rotorua tour at the steamy Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, a staggering valley where geysers pop and thermal springs jettison skywards.

Fun fact: this is the only living Maori village in the world. The hot rocks in this pocket of the planet are prefect for cooking your hangi (underground) feast at Te Pa Tu Maori Experience, a bastion for Maori culture. Watch a performance before you dig in to your feast. (B/D) Stay: Millennium Hotel, Rotorua (2 Nights)

Today, choose your own adventure. We have plenty of ideas for the paths you might follow. Optional Rotorua tour sightseeing experiences include a bedazzling show put on by the glowworms of Waitomo Caves, replete with underground waterways and dramatic limestone formations. Or perhaps you'd prefer to zip across Rotorua's three lakes in an amphibious WWII-era Duck. There's also the option of relieving NZ holiday-weary limbs in the thermal waters of the Polynesian Spa. The decision is yours.

Say haere ra (goodbye) to Rotorua and hello to an immense amount of water. First stop is the raging rapids of Huka Falls, where 220,000 litres of water barrel over an 11-metre-high waterfall every second. You'll hear them (and perhaps feel the mist on your face) before you see them. Your outlook then unfolds into the dreamy landscape of Lake Taupo, the largest of its kind in the country and with a twinkling, blue-eyed-boy charm.

Your Lake Taupo tour sees you traverse the volcanic Central Plateau to NZ's cool little capital of Wellington, set on a pretty harbour that beckons with too many good restaurants to choose from. Ask us for recommendations, or explore at your leisure. Because every NZ holiday needs a little down-time. (B) Stay: James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor

If you don't fall in love with Wellington instantly, then you will surely find a spark after visiting Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand - the morning is yours to peruse the jaw-dropping exhibits at your leisure, but be sure to linger at the exhibit highlighting a traditional Maori marae (meeting place). Re-join your mates to cruise Cook Strait across tranquil Queen Charlotte Sound. You're on the South Island now, and dinner reflects the best of Marlborough food and wine. Gourmands, rejoice! (B/D) Stay: Chateau Marlborough

Sperm whales and fur seals are a common sight in Kaikoura - get lucky and you can see them from shore or sign up for a bird's-eye view on an optional scenic flight over dramatic black beaches framed by turquoise ocean. You won't be disappointed.

The region is also known for its tasty crayfish, and there are plenty of places to sample the wares, whether waterside fish-and-chip shops or legendary food trucks serving buttery crayfish rolls. Think of this as your NZ holiday in a mouthful. Follow the coast and Canterbury Plains to Christchurch, home to some of the country's most innovative architecture, art institutions and restaurants. We can help you make a booking in any number of the latter. (B) Stay: Distinction Christchurch Hotel

From its eye-popping, cardboard-crafted Transitional Cathedral to its gold-clad central library, Christchurch has well and truly rebuilt itself since the 2010/11 earthquakes, setting the bar high for architecture and design across the country. On your Christchurch tour you'll discover that despite this cosmopolitan culture, South Island locals still cherish a simple life. Prepare yourself for plenty of country swagger over a Be My Guest afternoon tea with farmers Angie and Stan Taylor, hosted among the emerald fields of their Morelea farm in Mackenzie Country. (B/D) Stay: Distinction Mackenzie Country

We've got the power - hydro, that is. The Benmore Dam holds back New Zealand's largest artificial lake, and when the Benmore Power Station was opened in 1965 it was the biggest in the country. Just one of the fun facts you'll learn on your NZ tour. That should fuel you through to Oamaru, with its stately tree-lined streets and glam limestone buildings, before landing in Dunedin.

The afternoon is yours to discover the ‘Edinburgh of the Southern Hemisphere', whether wandering the manicured grounds of its stately castle, taking a wildlife cruise to spot little penguins, or refuelling at a brewery. (B/D) Stay: Scenic Hotel Southern Cross

From sheep farms to rugged mountains, today is one of diversity. Venture into World Heritage-listed Fiordland National Park toward the South Island's largest lake and the town of Te Anau, the gateway to Pomona Island where native birds are under threat - and you can help protect them through a community-based conservation project that is also helping to restore native flora. (B/D) Stay: Distinction Te Anau Hotel and Villas

There aren't many places in the world that remind you how precious the planet is. Fiordland National Park is one. Your journey toward Milford Sound/Piopiotahi traverses native rainforest, alluvial flats and meadows, with mirrored lakes, thundering waterfalls, dramatic rocky ranges and millennia-old valleys. Your Milford Sound/Piopiotahi tour, cruising through this wild expanse, provides enough drama for an entire travel year. You still have the streets of Queenstown, known as the ‘Adventure Capital of New Zealand', to explore. (B) Stay: Millennium Hotel, Queenstown (2 Nights)

The roll-call of Queenstown activities you could sign-up for today is near endless. Adrenaline-junkies may wish to zip about in the Shotover Jet, which reaches dizzying speeds in the white-water rapids of the Shotover River. Or perhaps get some perspective on a gondola to Bob's Peak, offering jaw-dropping vistas over the city and the Remarkables, those mountains framing town. Or maybe your Queenstown tour is dedicated to the gorges of Skippers Canyon.

If you're a gourmand at heart, sign up for a Central Otago wine tour, where your day involves sipping your way through award-winning cool-climate wines. Whichever route you take, your day ends on a dreamy TSS Earnslaw cruise across Lake Wakatipu, landing at Walter Peak High Country Farm for a gourmet barbecue Highlight Dinner at the Colonel's Homestead. (B/D)

From Arrowtown's tree-lined avenues to Central Otago's gleaming lakes, nature rules today. Alpine scenery tiers into rainforest along the West Coast of New Zealand, where Thunder Creek Falls and the glacier-studded Mt. Hooker steal the scene.

Welcome to your Franz Josef Glacier/Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere tour, the massif ideally explored on a helicopter flight - conditions pending, you may even be able to land and walk across the ice-fall. The bird's-eye view reveals the immensity of this gem-like mound of ice. (B/D) Stay: Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier (Douglas Wing)

From ice back to temperate rainforest, your next steps on your NZ holiday are along the West Coast Treetop Walkway. It's a spectacle of ancient Rimu and Kamahi tree canopies, accessed along a steel platform 20 metres high and 450 metres long, and a spiral tower jutting 45 metres into the sky. The landscape is perhaps only outshone by the Pancake Rocks and blowholes of Punakaiki, a sliver of South Island geology that is as humbling as it is awe-inspiring. (B/D) Stay: Ocean View Retreat Punakaiki

Beer for breakfast? We've got you sorted on a morning tour of legendary Monteith's Brewery. You only live once, right? The best is yet to come - all aboard for the scenic TranzAlpine train back to Christchurch. Travel through tunnels and over viaducts, with panoramic views of snow-capped peaks, icy rivers, beech forests, gorges and river valleys. Your NZ tour arrives in Christchurch just in time for your Farewell Dinner. (B/L/D) Stay: Distinction Christchurch Hotel

How many travel highs can you pack into a holiday? This itinerary has certainly pushed the boundaries. Now all you have to do is go home and sort through all those photos. (B)

Auckland is the kind of place you could lose yourself in for a couple of weeks. Arrive at your leisure and explore new waterfront precincts, cruise to the wineries of Waiheke Island, or just ready yourself to meet fellow travellers over dinner and a few local tipples. (D) Stay: Cordis

A little bit of leisure, a little bit of culture - today is one of those days. Peek behind the scenes of racing history on the New Zealand Maritime Museum's America's Cup Tour. Your Travel Director then takes you around the city, pausing at Bastion Point for epic photo opportunities. (B)

The O'Sullivan's welcome you to their Waikato estate for a country-style lunch in their Red Barn. Expect country banter and farm-to-table fare prepared with a lot of love. The next hot spot - in every sense of the word - on your NZ holiday is Rotorua. Visit Te Puia to see and support Maori artisans at work, then continue your Rotorua tour at the steamy Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, a staggering valley where geysers pop and thermal springs jettison skywards. (B/L) Stay: Millennium Hotel, Rotorua

Today, choose your own adventure. We have plenty of ideas for the paths you might follow.

Tonight, dive deep into Maori culture at Te Pā Tū Māori Experience, an important hub keeping tradition, art and music alive. Oh, and nurturing Māori cuisine. Enjoy a forest kai horotai (seasonal canapes) and chef choice aperitif, followed by a seasonal three-course dinner. (B/D) Stay: Millennium Hotel, Rotorua

Say goodbye to Rotorua and hello to the raging rapids of Huka Falls, where 220,000 litres of water barrel over this massive waterfall every second. Your outlook then unfolds into the dreamy landscape of Lake Taupo. Traverse the volcanic Central Plateau to NZ's cool little capital of Wellington. (B/D) Stay: Rydges Wellington

Begin your day in Wellington with coffee at one of its uber-cool cafés. Take a city tour to discover highlights like its iconic cable car, parliament and Mt. Victoria.  This afternoon is all yours. You could visit Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, perhaps the wine region of Wairarapa or Zealandia's ecosanctuary restoring 225 hectares of forest.

Tonight, there are so many restaurants and bars to choose from. Ask us for recommendations or explore at your leisure. (B)

This morning cruise the Cook Strait into tranquil Queen Charlotte Sound and continue to Kaikoura, a marine life haven.

On arrival be treated to a biodiversity talk from Sabrina Leucht, founder of Kaikōura Wildlife Centre Trust, and learn about the work the trust is doing towards Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, at this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience.

Tonight, dine at Hiku, which celebrates what Kaikōura is all about - kai moana and dramatic sea and mountain scapes. (B/D) Stay: Sudima Kaikoura

Enjoy a relaxed start this morning or sign up for one of several optional wildlife experiences available. Take a scenic flight for a bird’s-eye view, get up close to dolphins by boat or kayak, or sample tasty crayfish at waterside fish-and-chip shops. Follow the coast and Canterbury Plains to Christchurch, home to innovative architecture, art institutions and restaurants. (B) Stay: Distinction Christchurch Hotel

From its cardboard-crafted Transitional Cathedral to its gold-clad central library, Christchurch has well and truly rebuilt itself since the 2010/11 earthquakes. But South Island locals still cherish a simple life, as you'll discover over a Be My Guest afternoon tea with retired farmers Angie and Stan Taylor at their home Morelea on the edge of Lake Tekapo. (B/D) Stay: MacKenzie Country Hotel

Oamaru has a rich history and proud heritage, enriched by passionate and perhaps quirky locals. Explore the shops, galleries and traditional crafts within some of the Southern Hemisphere's most complete Victorian streetscapes, before landing in Dunedin. (B/D) Stay: Scenic Hotel Southern Cross

From sheep farms to rugged mountains, today is one of contrasts. Venture into Fiordland National Park toward the South Island's largest lake and the lakeside town of Te Anau. Enjoy the thrill of jet boating on scenic Lake Manapouri, home to Pomona Island, where native birds are under threat - and your visit is helping to protect them through a community-based conservation project. (B/D) Stay: Distinction Te Anau Hotel and Villas

Your journey towards Milford Sound/Piopiotahi traverses native rainforest, alluvial flats and meadows, with mirrored lakes, thundering waterfalls, dramatic rocky ranges and millennia-old valleys. Your Milford Sound/Piopiotahi tour, cruising through this wild expanse, provides enough drama for an entire travel year - you still have the streets of Queenstown to explore. (B) Stay: Millennium Hotel, Queenstown

Adrenaline-junkies may wish to get some perspective on a tour of the gorges of Skippers Canyon. Gourmand at heart? Perhaps a Central Otago wine tour? Your day ends on a dreamy TSS Earnslaw cruise across Lake Wakatipu, landing at Walter Peak High Country Farm for a gourmet barbecue Highlight Dinner at the Colonel's Homestead. (B/D)

From Arrowtown's tree-lined avenues to Central Otago's gleaming lakes, nature rules. Alpine scenery tiers into rainforest along the West Coast, where Thunder Creek Falls and the glacier-studded Mt. Hooker steal the scene.

Welcome to the town of Franz Josef, home to Franz Josef Glacier/Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere, which is ideally explored on an optional helicopter flight - you may be able to land and walk across the ice-fall. (B/D) Stay: Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier

Explore the small but lively Franz Josef/Waiau village before venturing to Hokitika, home of New Zealand's native jade greenstone. Then steel yourself for the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes of Punakaiki, a sliver of South Island geology that is as humbling as it is awe-inspiring.

After a spectacular day, spend the night at an eco-friendly, waterfront resort. (B/D)

Beer for breakfast? We've got you sorted on a morning tour of legendary Monteith's Brewery, which is followed by lunch. The best is yet to come - all aboard for the scenic TranzAlpine train back to Christchurch, through tunnels and over viaducts, with panoramic views of snow-capped peaks, icy rivers, beech forests, gorges and river valleys. (B/L/D) Stay: Distinction Christchurch Hotel

How many travel highs can you pack into a holiday? This itinerary has certainly pushed the boundaries. Now all you have to do is go home and sort through all those photos. (B)