Dateline: Home Wednesday 13th March 2024 Take-off Minus 1 day and Counting to My New Zealand Adventure

My 19 Day New Zealand Rail & Cruise Discovery Tour with APT (Australia Pacific Touring) begins tomorrow evening when I board Singapore Airlines Flight SQ319 from Heathrow Terminal 2, at 20.35 for my 11 hour 55mins journey to Singapore.  I have travelled with APT and Singapore Airlines back in 2014 when I visited Vietnam and Cambodia and it was all good then and judging by the meal selections for this first flight it's going to be just as good!  Plus I'm treating myself to Business Class so I can sleep horizontally and not doubled up for 25 hours!

There is a 2hr 20min Stopover in Singapore and then another Singapore Airlines 11 hour flight to Christchurch where I hope to land at 10.40 on Friday 15^th March having flown 11987 kms and I will be 12 hours ahead of the UK!! I then have 24 hours to recover before meeting my tour companions for an evening reception on Saturday 16^th March.  The tour proper kicks-off on Sunday morning.

Above is a map showing the tour itinerary.  The numbers in the black circles indicate the nights to be spent in each location. Briefly the Itinerary is as follows:

Day 1 Arrive Christchurch

Day 2 Christchurch, Akaroa Nature Cruise, Christchurch

Day 3 Christchurch, TranzAlpine Train, Greymouth, Franz Josef/Waiau

Day 4 Franz Josef/Waiau, Queenstown

Day 5 & Day 6 Queenstown

Day 7 Te Anau, Manapouri

Day 8 Manapouri, Invercargill

Day 9 Invercargill, Stewart Island/Rakiura Day Trip

Day 10 Invercargill, Dunedin

Day 11 Dunedin, Aoraki/Mount Cook

Day 12 Aoraki/Mount Cook, Christchurch

Day 13 Christchurch, Coastal Pacific Train, Picton, Interislander Ferry, Queen Charlotte Sound

Day 14 Wellington, Fell Locomotive Museum, Taupo

Day 15 Taupo, Rotorua

Day 16 Rotorua

Day 17 Rotorua, Glenbrook Steam Train, Auckland

Day 18 Auckland

Day 19 Depart Auckland

Arrive home Friday 5th April 2024!

These are just the Headlines, the days are action packed as I will report in later Posts.

I'm Checked-in, my Pickup for 15.45 tomorrow is checked and I even have my Boarding Pass on my phone, so New Zealand here I come!