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New Zealand: A North & South Island Adventure
Any recent reviews??? I am looking at late October - November and very interested in wildlife ..... Thank you so much!!
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I took the Grand Australia and New Zealand tour a few years back and do not recall seeing any wildlife in New Zealand. We saw some sheep. We saw wildlife in Australia - koalas and kangaroos etc...
Thanks JaneP - What time of year did you go?
April
What did you think of the NZ part of the tour???
Well....I went on this tour because I always wanted to see Australia and figured as long as I was there I might as well see New Zealand too. So, New Zealand was not the main reason for my trip. Having said that I thought it was beautiful and interesting and very different from Australia and am glad I saw it, but have no reason to go back. Honestly, if I want to see fjords and mountains I'd rather go to Norway - I think Norway is more beautiful and much easier to get to. I'm sure there are many who feel otherwise.
Violet, if you are talking about the North and South Island tour, we went this past January and it was very good. We took the Australia and New Zealand tours years ago, This newer tour is much more in-depth and adventurous and we thought much better than the original New Zealand tour. I posted a review soon afterwards I hope you can find it.
As far as wildlife, we learned that there are no native mammals in New Zealand except for one or two bats. Birdwatchers however will have a great time, and the bird calls we heard were so different! Check out this one:
https://www.google.com/search?q=touhy+bird+call+new+zealand&oq=touhy+bird+call+new+zealand&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTY2NTZqMGoxNagCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.rb&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fd112ebf,vid:b0K1q9JriDE,st:0
Maybe Norway is a bit more scenic, but a lot of this depends on weather. For New Zealand you also have a great deal of cultural richness, the warmth of the people and great food and wine. I am looking to return with my husband and adult children maybe next year and this tour is at the top of our list.
JaneP - if all you experienced in New Zealand were fjords and mountains, you missed a lot.
Goddess don’t assume what you don’t know. Saw both the north and south islands. But, like I said - been there, done that, don’t need to do it again. Glad I saw it but it doesn’t rank in my top 5. I feel like it’s largely a scenic trip - and Norway is more beautiful to me.
That's exactly how I felt about Norway - everything looked alike. Australia/New Zealand is my favorite Tauck trip and I'm going back to do the new itinerary.
We have been to both Norway and New Zealand in the past year. They are vastly different and the cultures in particular. We often go back to countries we have visited before. There is absolutely different things to see and experience every time, especially as Tauck tours only skim the surface of many areas. Now we have traveled a lot, we want more in depth experiences. We also don’t need to wish to go to a place just because we have not been there when it becomes the ‘In’ place to go. We don’t have a bucket list as such, so many more countries have become more easily accessible over the years, A ‘Bucket list’ for us would become a messy list of crossings out and replaced priority of places or notes in the margin.
If people want to go back to a country again, it’s up to them, it’s their time and money. I gurantee that they will see more than the last time.