Grand Pacific Tours — Local services in Melbourne

May 3 to May 15 2024

Our tour was truly extraordinary, as we were graced with perfect weather - crisp, cool, and sunny days with no wind to hinder our adventures. Fun group and Lindsay Ferguson our bus tour guide was awesome.

The drive to Franz Josef was lengthy, and unfortunately, the Glacier is retreating prompting the organisers to reconsider future visits. Instead, I would recommend adding a night at the stunning Lake Tekapo for some unforgettable stargazing opportunities.

Queenstown was awesome and the Steamboat TSS Earnslaw to Walter’s Peak high country farm for gourmet Bbq was amazing 2 night stay here at the Heritage which was very old and dated, noisy aircon would have been best to stay somewhere closer to the town city

A visit to Dunedin proved to be underwhelming, with the city shutting down on a Sunday and leaving us with little to explore. It was a long drive for minimal enjoyment.

Oamaru, on the other hand, was a charming and quirky town that left us wishing for more time to explore. The Steampunk museum was a highlight that we regret not being able to fully experience as we only had just over an hour stop there at Oamaru.

Although advertised as a 10-day tour, the reality fell short. The first day consisted of just a dinner at the hotel, and the tenth day was dedicated solely to transportation to the airport. This left us feeling like the tour was not as complete as we had hoped.

Milford Sounds was beautiful but overrated.

Our favourite was Haast River safari jet boat, Lake Tekapo so beautiful, Mount Cook amazing though wish we had not arrived around 5pm as it was dark and we had to leave at 9am next morning.

We were fortunate we had...

We finished our tour in November 2022 after waiting 2 1/2 years due to covid. We did the 19 day small group tour of New Zealand. The bus was set out for 20, supposedly with Wi-Fi (it worked about 10 % of the time). The bus was set for a small group but at the attractions there were hundreds. We went at Rotorua to the traditional Hangi, it was a bistro with several hundred people crammed into a small area. There was nothing cultural about the dinner especially the Covid19 that 5 of our group got. Several days later we were at Fox glacier, a town of about 249 residence and 8 of us were kicked off the bus. There was no empathy from the bus driver, no we'll look after you no sorry to see you go. We were dumped 3 hours drive to the nearest doctor with out transport, private or public with a deadly disease. We missed out on 8 days of our holiday, I did some investigating and found out that they would not be charged for a lot of what we paid for accommodation and attractions but we would not get compensated and so the company made money on us being sick. We had to pay for the accommodation and meals at fox glacier and the bus hire to get us back form Fox glacier to Christchurch. So we were lucky and our travel insurance helped eventually paying for the portion of trip we missed out on, we had to pay for our accommodation (at the most expensive place in town) and own transport (we had to pay for this up front). We were left stranded with no medical available with Grand Pacific uncaring and making money out of our sickness of which they put us in harms way ( absolutely no social distancing...

Just returned from the thoroughly enjoyable 16 Day Highlights of New Zealand Grand Pacific Tour. I can't praise the organisation enough, even when hiccups like earthquakes and fire demanded route detours. Our wonderful drivers (Coach Captains) worked tirelessly with pride and humour to ensure our comfort, safely and enjoyment, ensuring we left NZ with a deep understanding of its geology, flora, fauna, history, development and culture. I return home (happily) exhausted but after 3 previous visits I'm satisfied the itinerary and pace were perfect to appreciate all the highlights in the limited time-frame. Our lively group of like-minded travellers ensured much laughter and enjoyment of many shared activities. VIP treatment, top-class hotels, (thankfully!) perfect weather - bonzer! Rhona, 71,...