Kia Ora and welcome to New Zealand. You’ll begin your journey in the nation’s largest city, Auckland. Today, step aboard your 6-star, ultra-luxury Discovery Yacht and be warmly welcomed by the crew. Meal: D. Looping around the Coromandel Peninsula, Scenic Eclipse II will arrive in Tauranga this morning. Set along the edge of the beautiful Bay of Plenty, this is New Zealand’s busiest port, the harbour buzzing 24 hours a day with freighters, ferries and cruise ships. The city is one of the fastest growing in New Zealand, yet retains its peaceful, laid-back charm. The revamped waterfront is packed with excellent cafes, restaurants and bars.

While Tauranga has its charms, it’s also the closest port for some of New Zealand’s most iconic sights. Rotorua is a natural geothermal wonderland with hot springs, bubbling mud pools and clouds of steam erupting from the ground thanks to subterranean volcanic activity. Set on a peninsula to the north-east of Tauranga, Mount Manganui is regularly voted the most beautiful beach in New Zealand. The extinct volcano Mauao, which is sacred to the Maori people, towers over the white sand beach and its world-renowned surf break. Meals: B.D. Known affectionately as Gizzy, this is the first city in the world to see the sunrise. Gisborne has a reputation for exceptional food and wine, and the surrounding countryside makes up the third-largest wine producing region in the country. The city is also famous for its surfing, with beaches offering everything from baby waves for beginners to powerful barrels for the experts. History buffs will want to visit the Puhi Kai Iti Cook Landing Site, where Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand in 1769, and the excellent Tairawhiti Museum, which charts the history of the East Coast Maori. Meals: B.L.D. Wake up in Napier this morning and you’ll feel as if you’ve stepped back almost 100 years into the past. In 1931, the centre of the town was flattened by an earthquake and then rebuilt in the Art Deco style of the day. Today, it retains all the charm and style of its heyday with the largest collection of authentic Art Deco buildings anywhere in the world. Set on the edge of Hawkes Bay, Nelson also has a sunny, Mediterranean-style climate that has given rise to a thriving café culture, excellent restaurants and a population that likes to live life outside. Meals: B.L.D. Wellington is a compact city with an attractive, easy-to-walk centre and its own distinctive sense of style. As well as the official buildings of state, like the distinctive Beehive Parliament Building, you’ll find plenty of designer boutiques, chic homewares stores, excellent restaurants, laneway cafes and buzzing craft breweries. It’s also New Zealand’s movie-making capital, thanks to ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ films created at the fascinating Weta Workshop, earning it a second nickname: Wellywood. Meals: B.L.D. You’ll cross the Cook Strait overnight and arrive this morning on New Zealand’s South Island. Scenic Eclipse will call at two ports today, both tucked into the Tasman Bay on the northern tip of the island.

Kaiteriteri is arguably New Zealand’s most beautiful beach, a perfect arc of golden sand fronting startlingly blue water. This tiny town is home to less than 500 people but has been a favourite holiday destination for Kiwis for generations. It’s also the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park, a gorgeous wilderness reserve known for its sea kayaking, walks and wildlife.

It’s just a short cruise into the furthest point of Tasman Bay and the city of Nelson. Visit one of the many open-air cafes, bustling markets, cycling trails and the pretty Botanic Gardens. Nelson has more breweries per capita than anywhere else in New Zealand, so you might like to taste your way through some excellent craft beers. Meals: B.L.D. Dock today in Picton, a small town of around 3,000 people set on the north-east corner of the South Island. Wander the pretty waterfront promenade, lined with shops, cafes and galleries, or visit the interesting museum inside the Edwin Fox convict ship that’s dry docked just offshore. Picton is a short drive from New Zealand’s most famous wine regions, Marlborough. Producing around two thirds of the nation’s wine, it’s best known for its crisp sauvignon blanc though also pours excellent pinot noir, chardonnay and aromatic varietals like riesling and pinot gris. Meals: B.L.D. The town of Kaikoura began life as a whaling station in the mid 1800s. It’s an ideal place for wildlife encounters, from whales, fur seals and dolphins that live permanently in these waters, to the impressive array of seabirds that fill the air, including the mighty albatross. The town is famous for its crayfish (lobster) – in fact, in the local Maori language, ‘kai’ means food and ‘koura’ means crayfish. There’s also excellent fish, oysters, scallops and mussels at a huge range of cafes and stylish restaurants. Meals: B.L.D. Port Chalmers is the port for the city of Dunedin, the oldest European settlement in New Zealand, which was founded in 1848. Stroll the well-preserved streets to admire the grand Victorian and Edwardian architecture which hark back to a time when the city was flush with money from its own gold rush. Outside town, the surrounding Otago Peninsula is regarded as one of the country’s top wildlife and eco-tourism destinations. See the northern royal albatross in its natural habitat, be charmed by the tiny Little Blue and Yellow-eyed penguins and watch fur seals and sea lions snooze on the beach. Meals: B.L.D. You will be familiar with New Zealand’s two main islands, but did you know it is actually made up of around 600 islands in total? The third largest of these is Stewart Island, one of the last inhabited outposts before you reach Antarctica.The island is a haven for many birds, including the cute and curious brown kiwi, who outnumber humans and are active day and night. The Maori name for Stewart Island is Rakiura, which means the land of glowing skies. Meals: B.L.D. Wild and remote, the rugged West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island offers some of the country’s most stunning scenery. You’ll be cruising through the Fiordland National Park, which covers more than 1.2 million hectares of granite peaks, shimmering lakes, deep black fiords and spectacular waterfalls. Continue sailing onto Doubtful Sound, further north along the coast. Over the centuries, it has kept its stunning beauty well-hidden and even today remains a place of serenity. Meals: B.L.D. Awake this morning in Milford Sound and enjoy your coffee on the Observation Terrace. Few words can capture this dramatic landscape, with its inky black water and mountain peaks rising from the depths, frequently shrouded in mist and soft rain. Rudyard Kipling described Milford Sound as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. It’s arguably New Zealand’s most famous tourist destination, and you’ll easily see why. Disembark in the morning to follow your onward journey by land to Queenstown, where you’ll enjoy your final overnight stay. Meal: B. After spending your final night of the tour on land, it’s time to farewell New Zealand. As you head home, take with you fond memories of your time in the Land of the Long White Cloud and the onboard the Scenic Eclipse. Meal: B.