A Short Introduction to Australia and New Zealand: 9 Days. Price on request

Arrive in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.

Fly into Sydney.

Transfer to your hotel with a city sightseeing tour with a guide-driver: 4 hours.

On the Sydney sightseeing tour you will visit and see:

• The historic centre: The Rocks, Hyde Park, Hyde Park Barracks, the Rum Hospital, Parliament House
• Mrs Macquarie's Chair lookout, with views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge
• The eastern suburbs, Australia's 'most expensive address book'
• The Heads, the cliffs at the harbour entrance
• World-famous Bondi Beach
• The Gap national park and a cliff-top walk with panoramas of the ocean, the harbour and the city

Hotel accommodation. Free time.

Walking tour of The Rocks and the city centre with a guide: 3 hours.

An engaging walk into Australia's past: the life of the convicts and first colonists, Aboriginal traditions and their 'X-ray' paintings.

You will visit and see:

• The first colonists' houses, old hotels and pubs in the stepped Rocks district
• Sydney's shortest street (about 30 steps)
• The 'street of Sydney's drunkards': stories of the Rum Hospital, the convict barracks and the first Mint; the tradition of rubbing the nose and ears of the Florentine boar statue
• The Botanic Garden with its unique flora
• The Customs House, with a glass floor and a model of the city 'beneath your feet'
• The promenade by the Opera House and the story of its construction
• The Harbour Bridge, with facts about its builders and its opening

The tour ends at your hotel.

Private excursion to the ancient gorges of the Blue Mountains and a wildlife park with a guide-driver: 8 hours.

Extra (paid separately): wildlife park tickets; cableway and railway (3 rides).

Programme (112 km from Sydney):

• Wildlife park with the largest private collection of native fauna: feed kangaroos, optional photo with a koala and a wombat
• The Jamison Valley with its ancient canyons and relict forests
• Lookouts: 'blue horizons', sheer cliffs and rock formations
• A walk by a cascading waterfall
• The Three Sisters rock spires
• Optional descents/ascents (gradient up to 52°) and rainforest trails

The excursion ends at your hotel.

Evening cruise on Sydney Harbour with a three-course dinner and live music.

Private transfer to the airport. Fly to Melbourne. Arrive in Melbourne.

Transfer and Melbourne sightseeing tour with a guide-driver: 4 hours.

On the sightseeing tour you will see:

• St Paul's and St Patrick's Cathedrals, Parliament House, the Town Hall, Flinders Street Station, the State Library of Victoria, the Old Magistrates' Court, the Royal Mint, the Edwardian-era City Baths, the museum and the Princess Theatre
• The Royal Exhibition Building (UNESCO)
• Queen Victoria Market
• Federation Square
• Fitzroy and Carlton Gardens
• The Shrine of Remembrance
• Sports arenas (Australian Open, football, rugby, cricket, Formula 1)

The excursion ends at your hotel. Accommodation for 2 nights.

Private 'Great Ocean Road' tour with a guide-driver: 12 hours.

You will see and visit:

• The West Gate Bridge, with panoramas of the city centre
• The memorial arch to the builders and veterans of the First World War
• The coastal towns of Fairhaven and Lorne
• Wild koalas and parrots at Kennett River
• Apollo Bay, with an optional lunch of fresh seafood
• Otway National Park, with 'skyscraper' eucalypts (the tallest flowering trees in the world)
• Port Campbell National Park and the Shipwreck Coast
• The Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and London Bridge
• Idyllic pastoral landscapes

The excursion ends at your hotel.

Private transfer to the airport. Fly to Queenstown. Arrive in Queenstown (South Island, New Zealand).

Airport transfer and tour of Queenstown and its surrounds with a guide-driver: 4 hours.

Fuel is paid at cost.

Queenstown combines quiet relaxation and extreme sport all year round.

You will visit and see:

• Viewpoints over Lake Wakatipu and the town
• The Kawarau Suspension Bridge, the site of the first bungy jump
• Kawarau Gorge and its waterfall
• The historic gold-mining town of Arrowtown (cafes and restaurants at extra cost)
• Lake Hayes, New Zealand's 'postcard'

The excursion ends at your hotel. Accommodation for 2 nights.

Excursion to Milford Sound, a land of fiords, cliffs and waterfalls, with a guide-driver: 12 hours.

Fuel is paid at cost.

Fiordland National Park: Milford Sound, the 'eighth wonder of the world' (according to Kipling), with cliffs up to 1,700 m high, waterfalls and cascades.

You will see:

• Mountain gorges and lakes
• The Homer Tunnel (1.2 km) cut through granite
• Alpine meadows
• White-sand lagoons
• A panoramic cruise with lunch among the fiords

Return to your hotel.

Private transfer to the airport. Fly to Rotorua via Christchurch. Arrive in Rotorua.

Airport transfer and Rotorua sightseeing tour with a guide-driver: 6 hours.

Fuel is paid at cost.

Extra (paid separately): Te Puia with a concert; Rainbow Springs; Wai-O-Tapu.

Rotorua is a centre of Maori culture and a geothermal zone.

You will visit and see:

• The Wai-O-Tapu geothermal area (the aftermath of the 1886 Tarawera eruption)
• Coloured boiling lakes, bubbling mud pools and steam vents
• The lakefront with its black swans
• The park with the Blue Baths
• The Polynesian Spa (optional)
• Rainbow Springs park, with an enclosure for the kiwi bird

The excursion ends at your hotel.

Private excursion 'Hobbiton and the Glow-worm Caves' with transfer to Auckland: 11 hours.

Fuel is paid at cost.

Guide's accommodation in Auckland is paid separately.

Extra (paid separately): caves; Hobbiton.

On the excursion you will visit:

• The Waitomo Caves, with a cruise on an underground river among myriad glow-worms
• The Hobbiton film set village from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

Arrive in Auckland. Accommodation for 1 night.

'The Exotic Landscapes of Auckland and Its Surrounds' and transfer to the airport with a guide-driver: 8 hours.

Fuel is paid at cost.

The history of the city, Maori heritage, wineries, the best lookouts, the northern coastal suburbs and black-sand beaches (filming locations for The Piano, Xena and Hercules).

You will visit and see:

• The viaduct and the waterfront
• The main street, the 'Golden Mile'
• All Saints Church, the university and the theatre
• Historic quarters
• Lookouts over the coastal suburbs
• The Domain park with its winter garden
• The summit of the extinct volcano Mount Eden (about 196 m)
• Muriwai black-sand beach with its gannet colony
• A local winery with a tasting and lunch (paid separately)

The tour ends at the airport. Fly home.