Australia & New Zealand With Extension to Cairns

Join a licensed guide for a tour of New Zealand's most progressive city, Auckland, full of cosmopolitan bustle and beautiful harbor views. First, soak in a little history at the War Memorial Museum. Then plunge into Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World. Here you can observe live penguins and learn about the unique features of their home, the frozen continent of Antarctica. Travel deep beneath the ocean on the moving walkway of the underwater tunnel. You get a scuba diver's view of hundreds of colorful fish, lurking sharks and giant stingrays 'up close' and in their own environment.

Before you see Rotorua, you'll definitely smell it: Sulfur. Consider it an introduction to a place that is completely unique. Rotorua offers a fascinating view into the earth's volcanic center. Clouds of steam seem to magically appear throughout the city from the city's four major thermal centers. One geyser erupts about 20 times a day and can spout up to 100 feet. Visit the Agrodome Leisure Park, where championship rams and sheep are judged for their meat and wool. Try your hand at milking a cow, or be a New Zealand 'cocky' (farmer) for a day by buying sheep in an auction and bottle-feeding lambs. The finale is a demonstration of the famed New Zealand sheep dogs.

Taste native Maori culture, literally, at a traditional Hangi feast. The Maori use the geo-thermal region as a natural, steam cooker. They wrap vegetables and meat in fresh green leaves and cook it over the steam escaping through the rocks. It's health food, the old-fashioned way.

See the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, the closest thermal area to the city. Unlike the other thermal centers, "Whaka" as it is called, is still a living village with ancient roots, founded before Europeans arrived. Here you might see residents using steam boxes to cook sweet corn. At the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute, learn the Maori traditional carving and weaving methods. The day ends with a skyline gondola ride on Mt. Ngongotaha.

Stop to see the Waitomo Glowworm Cave, first explored in 1887 by a local Maori Chief, Tane Tinorau, and an English surveyor, Fred Mace. Enter as they did, and as your eyes adjust to the darkness, imagine how they must have felt upon discovering the Glowworm Grotto--thousands of lights on the ceiling that are actually insects. See the caves' dry valleys, streams that disappear down funnel-shaped sinkholes and craggy limestone outcrops and formations.

See Sydney, Australia's beautiful waterfront city. A licensed, local guide will take you to Darling Harbor, a bustling entertainment and shopping center. At "The Rocks" see historical and contemporary Australia stand side-by-side. On this stubby peninsula on the western side of Sydney Cove, modern Australian history started with the landing of the first ships in 1788. From here, Sydney evolved from convict outpost to the most beautiful metropolis on the Pacific Rim. Next, visit one of the city's most well-known symbols, the Sydney Opera House, majestically poised between the Harbour Bridge and the Royal Botanic Garden. Then travel to the top of the Sydney Tower, a 1000 ft. golden minaret-topped spike. From the observation deck you can see all 600 square miles of Sydney.

Just 90 minutes from Sydney, the magnificent Blue Mountains National Park has hills that stand at more than 3,500 ft. high. Their distinctive blue color comes from the dense eucalyptus forests. Katoomba is the largest town in the blue hills. Developed in the early 1840s as a coal-mining settlement, it became a tourist attraction in the 19th century. The best view from Katoomba is from Echo Point, which overlooks the forests of the Jamison Valley and the soaring sandstone pillars. These formations are called the Three Sisters, after an Aboriginal legend about three siblings who were turned to stone by their father to save them from a monster. (Fortunately, the mythical monster is currently on sabbatical.) Lunch will be provided on this excursion.

After bustling Sydney, the city of Cairns may feel like a sleepy little tropical village. Everything in town seems built for relaxation. The homes are built on stilts to catch the cool ocean breezes. Overhead fans whirl in every room. A licensed local guide leads you to the lively, slightly bohemian Esplanade, the focal point of the city. This is where the city began in 1876 as a gold- and tin-mining port. Wharf Street was once the main drag, at a time when the entire area was known as the Barbary Coast because of its rough, criminal element. Now, it is a thriving port, where big-game fishing is a major industry. The actual center of Cairns is the City Place, the town square and a quaint pedestrian mall. The Cairns Museum includes not only artifacts on the city's history but the story of Aboriginal life in the surrounding rain forests. This city is a great gateway into Australia's natural wonders, with the rain forest and the Great Barrier Reef just minutes away.

Relax on Palm Cove’s gorgeous beaches, where Cairns’ residents and visitors come for fun in the sun.

As natural wonders go, the Great Barrier Reef is impossible to beat. It has a wide assortment of superlatives: The world's largest living organism, the richest marine resource known to man, and the best diving and snorkeling on earth. At more than 1,200 miles long and up to 50 miles wide, the Reef is composed of billions of the bony skeletons of coral polyps knitted together to form one large structure that shelters countless unique plants and animals. Snorkeling equipment is included.

After bustling Sydney, the city of Cairns may feel like a sleepy little tropical village. Everything in town seems built for relaxation. The homes are built on stilts to catch the cool ocean breezes. Overhead fans whirl in every room. People stroll along the lively, slightly bohemian Esplanade, the focal point of the city. This is where the city began in 1876, but the actual center of Cairns is the City Place, the town square and a quaint pedestrian mall. Spend some time relaxing in and exploring this laidback city.