New Zealand supports a host of unusual endemic land birds and a rich assemblage of marine birds and mammals. We start our tour in the beautiful grasslands of the Mackenzie region of the South Island where we will take in the beauty of the Southern Alpine range,  while looking for the critically endangered Black Stilt, before hiking through pristine Red Beech forest surrounded by breathtaking glacier-lined mountains, where the massive Kea (an Alpine parrot) can be found. In Fiordland National Park we will have a boat tour of the stunning Milford Sound while our targets will include Blue Duck, the cute New Zealand Rockwren and New Zealand Falcon, before catching our ferry to the rugged Stewart Island in search of Southern Brown Kiwi, Yellow-eyed and Fiordland Crested Penguins and a pelagic outing visiting several nearby islands in search of a variety of seabirds including 8 species of albatross! Our final destination will be Dunedin, where a visit to a Northern Royal Albatross colony will certainly be amongst the many highlights of this rewarding tour. With excellent lodging and meals, awe-inspiring scenery and fantastically friendly “Kiwis”, this is sure to be a tour of a lifetime!

Day 1:   Queenstown to Omarama
Day 2:   Mt Cook area
Day 3:   Omarama to Te Anua
Day 4:   Fiordland National Park
Day 5:   Te Anua to Stewart Island
Day 6:   Stewart Island Pelagic
Day 7:   Stewart Island
Day 8:   Stewart Island to Dunedin
Day 9:   Dunedin area
Day 10: Final departure

This tour is designed to be a relaxed, slow paced tour that spends quality time observing and learning about a number of local birds and the conservation effort to save them.

We stay at four hotels and limit ourselves to short drives to nearby birding sites. These accommodations have 3* ratings. Days 1-2 Heritage Gateway Omarama, Days 3-4 Te Anua, Days 5-7 South Seas Hotel and Days 8-9 Kingsgate Hotel Dunedin.

Each day begins breakfast between 07:00 and 08:00am. All other days will be sit down lunches at cafeterias. We meet at 19:00 to discuss the following days activities and enjoy an aperitif before taking dinner.

Travel is on good tarmac roads throughout. Most outings are short drives from our hotels. There is one long drive: Omarama to Te Anua is 4.5 hrs with stops for coffee and lunch etc en route.

Extra activities that can be arranged whilst at the hotels include hiking trails, horseriding and Salmon fishing etc.