Regions
Six places on two islands, and a lodge in each that the tour bus cannot reach.
Auckland & the Hauraki Gulf
The arrival city, and the gulf is the reason to stay. Three nights aboard a private catamaran with captain and chef, anchored off Waiheke for the wineries and the beaches, with jet skis and paddleboards off the stern. The long flight ends on a deck, not in a lobby.
Queenstown & Glenorchy
The reason most people come, and best done from Glenorchy rather than town. A lodge on the northern shore of Lake Wakatipu, a private jet boat up the braided Dart River into Mount Aspiring National Park, and a day in Central Otago wine country that ends with a helicopter home and an alpine landing for a glass of something. Then three nights on the Queenstown waterfront for the Shotover Jet, the Canyon Swing, river surfing the Kawarau, and Arrowtown. Six nights for the pair.
The Wanaka High Country
An alpine station reached only by helicopter, with chalets at 3,000 feet and a working farm below. Three nights, all meals, and a private flight into Fiordland from the front door: Milford Sound from above, Sutherland Falls, blue-ice glaciers, a landing in the snow by a mountain lake, and lunch cooked on the spot.
Fiordland & Milford Sound
Glacier-cut fjords, Mitre Peak straight out of the water, and rain that turns every cliff into a waterfall. From Queenstown it is a private helicopter over Lake Erskine and the Milford Track, a landing in Milford Sound, and a return across the Earnslaw Burn to stand under a hanging glacier. Four hours. The day everyone remembers.
The Canterbury High Country
A 36,000-acre sheep station in the Craigieburn Valley, an hour and three quarters from Christchurch, with a villa for exclusive use. A muster with the station hands, the Waimakariri braided river on foot, the limestone boulders at Castle Hill, and Cave Stream, which you walk through in the dark, upstream, in the water. Four nights. Christchurch is the airport, not the destination.
Taupō & the Volcanic North
A lodge on the Waikato River a few hundred yards above Huka Falls. A guided ride on the Orakau trail to a private launch across Lake Taupō past the Māori rock carvings, a helicopter onto Mount Tarawera’s crater and into the geothermal valley at Orakei Korako, and the three volcanoes of Tongariro on the southern horizon. Four nights. The finale, and three and a half hours by road to the Auckland flight home.
What We Design in New Zealand
- The lodge route: Auckland’s gulf by yacht, Glenorchy, the Wanaka high country by helicopter, Canterbury, and Taupō. Seventeen nights, both islands, no wasted transfer.
- The Queenstown week: two nights in Glenorchy and three on the waterfront, with the Fiordland helicopter, the jet boats, and the adrenaline circuit for travelers who came for it.
- Two families at once: two-bedroom villas and paired chalets, one plan, days that split and rejoin.
- Wine days: Central Otago from Glenorchy, Waiheke from the deck.
- Weather-proofed days: every helicopter placed early in its block, with the reschedule already in the plan.
