Food and Beverage tour - North Island, New Zealand

Highlights

Winery tour and tasting; Auckland city orientation; cheese factory visit and tasting; avocado oil processing plant tour and tasting; vegetarian cooking class; kiwi fruit orchard tour and tasting; honey processing plant virtual hive tour and tasting; deer farm tour and farm to table lunch; traditional resources from the forest walk; Maori cultural experience and concert and ground oven cooked meal;  hot pool soak; Dairy farm tour and tasting; Eel farm tour and farm to table lunch; Sky Tower; Auckland fish market tour and lunch;.

Accommodation

All accommodation is included. You’ll be warm and comfortable twin or triple share rooms in our pick of New Zealands 3 star hotels. Wifi is available

Meals

All dinners are included except two and are a choice of tasty buffets or two course meals served in our favourite restaurants. Breakfasts are buffet style selections of cereals, toast, fresh fruit, yoghurt, juice and hot drinks. Ask us about vegetarian, kosher or halal options. Lunches will be delicious farm to table spreads or restaurant meals.

Food and Beverage tour - North Island, New Zealand

Day 1 Auckland

Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city with nearly a third of the country’s population. It’s a sprawling low-rise conurbation in a fantastic coastal location, the narrowest part of the upper North Island. No place is more than a few kilometres from the sea and the beach and it’s full of greenery because of the small volcanoes scattered throughout the urban area are mostly recreational reserves.

• 1210 Arrive Auckland airport at. Meet your local guide
• Transfer for lunch (own expense)
• 1400 Villa Maria Winery: the wine making process.
• 1530 City orientation, including Mt. Eden volcano.
• Dinner in the city (own expense).

Overnight Mercure Hotel, Auckland

Day 2 Auckland to Tauranga (200 km)

Tauranga is New Zealand’s fastest growing city after Auckland and a favourite summer holiday destination for kiwis, with its large natural harbour and extensive white sandy beaches. Settled by Māori late in the 13th century and by Europeans early in the19th, it is now a centre for business and international trade, culture, fashion and horticultural science. A wide range of fresh produce, including kiwifruit and avocados is grown in the area due to the mild, sunny climate and volcanic soils. Tauranga is New Zealand's largest export port and a regular stop for both container ships and luxury cruise liners.

• Breakfast at hotel
• Cheese factory talk, tour and tasting.
• Lunch in Hamilton city (own expense).
• Avocado Oil plant visit.
• Check in to hotel
• Vegetarian cooking class. Dinner will be what you cook.

Overnight Armitage Hotel, Tauranga

Day 3 Tauranga to Rotorua  (81 km) 

Rotorua is our oldest tourist resort, because of the bizarre geothermal features spread through and around the city, including geysers, mud pools and hot springs. In the 1800s visitors travelled around the world to see the famous Pink and White Terraces, unfortunately destroyed by Mount Tarawera volcano in 1886. The city is still a thermal resort, but now also has a great range of adventure and cultural activities to keep the visitors there a bit longer.

• Breakfast at hotel.
• Kiwi fruit orchard: tour of orchard, tasting (kiwifruit product – fruit, chutney, juice, liquor, wine, ice-cream tasting) (Shop: kiwifruit products, jewellery and clothing)
• Comvita Honey Centre: The properties of honey and its culinary and medicinal uses tasting, tour (including virtual beehive which uses holographic technology (health product shopping)
• Deer farm tour and lunch.
• Forest walk: Introduction to native plants and animals especially those used traditionally by Maori people as food and medicine.
• Check into hotel.
• Mitai Maori Cultural show: An evening at Mitai will give you an authentic introduction to Maori culture. Be enthralled by the natural bush setting, see warriors in traditional dress paddle an ancient warrior canoe (waka) down the Wai-o-whiro stream, enjoy a traditional hangi meal and cultural performance and your only opportunity in the Rotorua area to see glow worms.

Overnight Apollo Hotel, Rotorua

 

Day 4 Rotorua

• Breakfast at hotel.
• Agrodome Farm Tour (souvenir shop on site)
• free time in Rotorua town.
• Lunch at Lakeside restaurant
• Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, New Zealand’s most colourful natural volcanic environment. Its unique features include the world famous champagne pool, bubbling mud, steaming ground, huge volcanic craters and silica terraces.
• Relaxing soak in the hot mineral pools at Polynesian Spa.
• Dinner at Genghy’s restaurant.

Overnight Apollo Hotel, Rotorua

Day 5 Rotorua to Raglan to Auckland 312 km

In Raglan you can catch a wave or sip a great espresso. This lively surf town has an interesting creative culture and a wonderful choice of cafés and nearby are stunning walking and cycling trails.  Raglan is both a surfing mecca and a dramatically scenic area of black sand coastline. This part of New Zealand has always attracted people who are into sustainable lifestyles, so the residents are full of character.

• Breakfast at hotel.
• Raglan eel farm: tour and discussion - traditional Maori foods, fish farming ( eels, whitebait and mullet) and sustainable management of fisheries.
• Lunch at eel farm.
• Tour a Dairy Farm to see a farm in operation and understand the basis of New Zealand’s dairy industry and the nation’s love of dairy products. Watch milking.
• Check in to hotel.
• Sky Tower: Visit the viewing deck for stunning views of Auckland city.
• Dinner (own expense)

Overnight Mercure Hotel, Auckland

Day 6 Tauranga to Auckland - 200 km – about 2 hours 30 minutes

• Breakfast at hotel.
• Visit the Auckland fish market and nearby cafes and restaurants in the recently redeveloped waterfront area of the central city. Your tour will include details of fish species popular in New Zealand, our quota system which tries to ensure sustainability of our fisheries, preparation of product for market and distribution.
• Lunch at fish market.
• Free time in central Auckland including opportunity to visit Milse Patisserie for dessert tasting (own expense).
• Prenzel shop: liquor (over 18s only) and culinary product tasting.
• Dinner
• Airport transfer.

Overnight Auckland

Food and Beverage tour - North Island, New Zealand

Prices from $1498

This includes

• Airport transfers
• Accommodation in 3 star hotels
• All breakfasts
• All dinners except two
• All lunches except two
• All activities described in itinerary unless marked optional
• Comfortable, air-conditioned coach
• Friendly, professional guides
• Access to our national parks
• Pre-trip information

Not included:

• International airfares
• Optional extra activities like bungy jumping.
• Personal expenses (phone, wifi, laundry, lunches, etc.
• 2 dinners and 2 lunches

Food and Beverage tour - North Island, New Zealand

Organising a school trip overseas is a huge task, even if you do intend using the services of a local specialist once you get to your destination. The following suggestions will make your job easier and less stressful, especially if you've never run your own school trip before.

1: Begin your planning in plenty of time:

six months is the suggested minimum. Decide where you'd like to go and what you'd like your students to gain from the experience. Run the idea past your colleagues, principal and school board as necessary to see if the idea has their support. Discuss your approximate budget, target group, which subject areas to address, type of accommodation you'll use (We recommend hostels as being great value for money and more student friendly. Teachers are accommodated in separate twin rooms with en suite bathrooms where available.) Ask for an indicative quote from us and find out what airfares are likely to cost.

2: Talk to the student year levels you'd like to join the trip

Talk to the student year levels you'd like to join the trip, mentioning dates and approximate cost to gauge the level of interest. Remember that initial enthusiasm doesn't necessarily translate into signing up, but it at least signals that you should go further. Choosing dates that don't clash with exams or other big school events is self-evident, but it's also worth checking what other overseas trips your school might be planning during the same period. Groups of 25 to 35 gel well on tour and are easier to manage while also costing less per head than small groups. Price per head reduces up to a group size of 45 including teachers after which there's no budgetary advantage to making the group bigger. Let us know if you want us to build all accompanying teacher costs into the pricing. Typically schools send up to 1 adult per 10 students on tour.

3: Promotional evening for parents and students

Once you've got this far, set up a promotional evening for parents and students. We can provide a presentation with details of Learning Journeys as a company and New Zealand and lots of photos to whet their appetite. At the same time, hand out copies of the itinerary and a letter summarising key details with a request for expressions of interest and a deposit (say 10 to 20 % of the total cost) and a timeline for the payment of the balance of the trip cost. Your letter should also mention any need for clothing or equipment the students may not possess: good walking boots for example or a warm, seriously water proof jacket.

4: Confirm your booking

Once you have enough deposits to be sure the trip will go ahead, confirm your booking, which involves paying a deposit. We ask for 10% at this point or 25% if your departure date is less than 3 months ahead.

5: Expect to receive more planning paperwork

Having confirmed your booking, you can now expect to receive more planning paperwork: more detailed destination information, gear lists, RAMS forms, worksheet drafts... At this stage you can fine tune your itinerary: the first cut may have include optional or alternative activities and the educational programmes are also likely to include a choice of activities. If your school is a state school, your choice of adventure activities may depend on running these past government departments who will approve them or otherwise.

6: Building anticipation among the group

Now it's just a matter of building anticipation among the group, addressing relevant curriculum related topics in class, collecting further payments as deadlines draw near. We'll ask you for student details, including dates of birth, heights, shoe sizes if they'll be hiring, say, ski equipment. We'll provide finalised itineraries with times and details of activities. You'll receive a master copy of the worksheets (if you want them) with as much or as little input from you as you want.

7: Reminders

Students, as you're sure to know, will need frequent reminders about all aspects of their preparation for the trip. Suitable clothing is key. Teenagers who live in warm countries, or even colder ones, are likely to need convincing that they really do need that warm, waterproof jacket to ensure that they'll still enjoy what they're doing if the weather turns bad. Preparation for physically demanding aspects of the tour - hiking or even skiing/boarding also requires lots of reminders. Every communication with students needs to be copied to parents, especially meeting times and places for your final departure.

8: New Zealand

Once you're on the plane, your biggest challenges will be over. Once you reach New Zealand, we'll meet you as you come through the arrivals gate, then, apart from your supervisory role with the students, you can relax and enjoy yourself.

9: Anything we can do to make your job easier, just ask

Throughout this build up period, if there's anything we can do to make your job easier, just ask. Our role is not just to provide you and your students with a fabulously memorable and educational experience, but also to make your role as teacher in charge as painless as possible.