New Zealand Exploration is happy to announce a wine tour to New Zealand from February 16 to February 28th. February is a wonderful time of year to visit New Zealand, and we’re seeing the best of the South Island. The tour starts in Christchurch, we go to Kaikoura for some whale watching on our way to Blenheim, the heart of the Marlborough wine region. From Blenheim, we go to Nelson for 2 nights at the Rutherford Hotel and a day trip to Abel Tasman National Park where we’ll have the opportunity to do some sea kayaking and seeing magnificent scenery. From Nelson, we head down the West Coast, having a lovely lunch overlooking the ocean, before spending the night at Fox Glacier. In the morning, we’ll do some glacier walking before taking off for Queenstown. In Queenstown, we visit more wineries and get to experience some of the wonderful activities only Queenstown offers. We fly back out of Queenstown to Auckland and back to LAX, but you can stay and see more of New Zealand if you’d like! Call Nancy at 520-322-6527 for a full itinerary and pricing.

A great way to see Arthur’s Pass if you’re not going all the way to the West Coast is to do a one-day trip from Christchurch. You’ll leave Christchurch by bus, then get on the train to Arthur’s Pass. After a brief stop for lunch, you’re back on a bus with a stop to do some exciting jetboating. We also stopped at a sheep station for afternoon tea and a tour of the barns and a sheep shearing demonstration. They were a lovely family that we got to get to know a bit. Their daughter was 12 and playing rugby, so it was a thrill for me to meet and talk to her. I think she was equally excited to talk to someone from America about women’s rugby.