Tauranga, Napier, Picton, Akaroa, Dunedin, Burnie

[doorco]

Just an update for private tours to the above. Have used CC many times with great results in the British Isles, Scandinavia, Greece, etc. To keep the integrity of this forum we want to provide feedback on CC suggestion we used in our planning. We were on Holland America, for first time, in February, great service, food and decorum. We have booked 2 additional cruises with them but we like to do our own tours. We found the following to be well organized, knowledgeable, as advertised and well worth the money and would recommend, one however, not so much. On the recommended side:

Tauranga to Rotorua - Carlton Tours 6 hours, geysers, TePuia, waterfalls, Kiwi

Napier - 2 wineries, brewery and city tour - Hawkes Bay Scenic Tours (Margaret was a delight)

Picton - Marlborough Wine Tours - 5 wineries, I may have lost count

Akaroa - Akaroa Guided Kayak Safari - Brent, great instruction, neat bay to kayak but no dolpins and nice town to stroll. Try lunch at Bully Hayes

Dundedin - Back to Nature Tours - city tour, penguins, castle grounds, great lunch stop.

Burnie - Port has little to offer used Murray's Day Out - 5 1/2 hour minibus ride for 1 hour at Cradle Mtn Park & Founder's home ($150NZ pp)

no lunch stop. 8 of 10 on bus felt it was overpriced and would not recommend.

I hope this helps with future planning, beautiful scenery and people. Sail on! :cool:

[6andy6]

Just an update for private tours to the above. Have

Burnie - Port has little to offer used Murray's Day Out - 5 1/2 hour minibus ride for 1 hour at Cradle Mtn Park & Founder's home ($150NZ pp)

no lunch stop. 8 of 10 on bus felt it was overpriced and would not recommend.

I hope this helps with future planning, beautiful scenery and people. Sail on! :cool:

 

thanks good post.

 

However, you show the Burnie tour in NZ$.

 

You are aware Burnie is neither in New Zealand nor uses its currency. It's in Tasmania and as state of Australia it's currency is A$. Maybe a small matter but might be confusing to someone reading this.

[doorco]

Thank you for the heads up, Burnie is definitely in Tasmania/Australia. Unfortunately with the exchange rate on the Australian dollar it makes our experience even more of a disappointment.

[keithval]

The absolute best tour we took on our HAL Australia/NZ cruise this past March was with Robyn and her husband David in Burnie. There were 10 of us on the tour and without a doubt it was the best tour ever. They had hired a 12 seater comfortable van and were waiting for us at the Information centre (where the ship's shuttle bus dropped us) with freshly made cookies, soft drinks, apples and chocolates, plus a lovely "goodie" bag for every one to take home. Such touches as these made a great impression on everyone. The weather was super and we all enjoyed a fun-filled, informative day and we were all sorry when the tour was over. I cannot recommend this tour too highly. Forget Cradle Mountain, which is just a long drive away - and can be a bust if the weather is cloudy. Opt for the best private tour in Tasmania. Robyn will take small parties of 2 or 4 - or rent the van for larger parties. There is not much to choose from regarding tours, so do book Robyn early at http://www.playaroundin tassie.com. You will not regret it.

[macntosh]

Burnie - Port has little to offer used Murray's Day Out - 5 1/2 hour minibus ride for 1 hour at Cradle Mtn Park & Founder's home ($150NZ pp) no lunch stop. 8 of 10 on bus felt it was overpriced and would not recommend.

I hope this helps with future planning, beautiful scenery and people. Sail on! :cool:

 

What?? You missed the Hellyers Road whisky distillery and the cheese factory in Burnie? Shame on you... (:-))

 

These were the highlights of our visit to Burnie.

 

The whisky tours you can book, but on days they have a ship in port you can just turn up and they will take you on the tour. From memory it was $10 per person for the whisky tour with tasting.

 

The cheese factory is right next door to the distillery and free to taste all their wares. Great cheeses.

 

Rather than doing a tour, 4 of us shared a taxi from the information centre. The taxi fare was about $20.00 each way, ($40.00 in total) so the total round trip was only $10.00 per person. A great day out...

 

Yes, we did "sail on" that day, in more ways than one.

Very happy memories with our new found shipmates that we only met that morning at breakfast. (we are still in touch with each other to this day).

 

Mark.

[judithann423]

Many thanks this was very informative, we will be cruising in NZ Oct/Nov on the Sea Princess and I will be doing some research for Tauranga and Napier.

 

Do you have any clues for Auckland and Wellington :confused::confused::confused: