New Zealand Photography Workshops Christchurch Overnight Experiences

EXPERIENCE

Join Ken Wright and Joel Staveley on a 7-day tour showcasing some of New Zealand’s rarest wildlife and most distinctive coastal landscapes. New Zealand’s underrated East Coast is full of surprises including fossilised forests, curious boulders, and outstanding coastal scenery. We will also observe some of the huge diversity of rare wildlife that this area boasts: penguins, sea lions, fur seals and albatrosses. This week-long East Coast Tour itinerary takes in the best photographic opportunities the area has to offer. Timing is planned to make the most of New Zealand’s most settled season and catch the last of the autumn colours.
Starting in Queenstown, we head through high country terrain to Mt Cook National Park, where we will photograph some of the amazing alpine scenery around New Zealand’s highest peak. The tour then takes us South, where we explore the Otago Peninsula, known as New Zealand’s wildlife capital. We photograph southern Royal Albatross and stay at Larnach Castle.
We finish our week by travelling through the Catlins Coastal Rainforest Park, with opportunities to photograph the area’s waterfalls, rainforest, penguins and sea lions.
HIGHLIGHTS
Amazing wildlife
Boat trip on the Otago Peninsula
Stay at Larnach Castle
Mt Cook National Park QUEENSTOWN - QUEENSTOWN
Aoraki/Mt Cook
Moeraki Boulders
Otago Peninsula
The Catlins Coast ITINERARY Day 0 - Queenstown

Arrive in Queenstown and make your way to the hotel - this nights accommodation is included in the tour.
Day 1 - Queenstown - Aoraki/Mt Cook
Departing Queenstown, we head inland to the iconic Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park. After assembling at the Hermitage Hotel, our home for the next two nights, we will head out to explore locations in the park and have an evening shoot in the Tasman Valley.
Day 2 – Aoraki/Mt Cook
This morning we will have the chance to do some aerial photography (see optional extras below), taking a flight over Aoraki/Mt Cook and landing on the Tasman glacier to capture high alpine views across the Southern Alps. The rest of the day will be taken up by visiting locations in the Tasman and Hooker valleys, including alpine lakes, sweeping river vistas, and views of New Zealand’s highest peaks. All the locations we visit are within easy walks along well-graded tracks on the valley floors.
Day 3 – Aoraki/Mt Cook - Otago Peninsula
The day begins with a sunrise shoot capturing the alpine glow on the summit of Aoraki/Mt Cook acoss a stunning glacier lake before heading back to the hotel for breakfast. We then leave Aoraki/Mt Cook and drive south towards the historic town of Oamaru, having the opportunity to photograph the whitestone buildings of this heritage town, before to the famed Moeraki Boulders which are curiously round rocks known as ‘concretions’ set into a scenic beachscape. The day ends at Larnach Castle, one of New Zealand’s most stately buildings, dinner tonight, in the castle’s grand dining room, will be a culinary highlight of the tour.
Day 4 – Otago Peninsula
This morning we have access to private land to capture the panoramic vistas across the peninsula. We then spend the day exploring the Otago Peninsula; home to penguins, albatross and sea lions, is often called the wildlife capital of New Zealand. This afternoon will see us heading out to a private beach to photograph Yellow-eyed penguins as they return from a day out at sea.
Day 5 – Otago Peninsula - The Catlins
This morning we will capture some impressive coastal landscapes and then take a boat charter around the world's only mainland breeding colony of Northern Royal Albatross. We will photograph these majestic birds and other bird species from the sea. We then head towards the Catlins. The Catlins is also known for its amazing wildlife and if we are lucky we might see sea lions hauling themselves out on the wild beaches along the coastline. Today will finish with a sunset over a beautiful beach looking out over the Southern Ocean.
Day 6 – The Catlins
This morning we take in the sunrise at the spectacular coastline of Nugget Point, where a lighthouse, wind-ruffled native shrubs, and off-shore islands make a photogenic scene. From here we travel inland to explore the waterfalls of the Catlins Coastal Rainforest Park, these may not be high, but have a subtle beauty all of their own.
Day 7 – The Catlins - Queenstown
For our last day of the tour, we head north back to Queenstown. En route, we will visit the South Island’s most southerly point, Waipapa and its well-known lighthouse and the world famous twisted Macrocarpa tree hedge. In the afternoon we travel back to Queenstown, arriving in time to meet late afternoon flights.
PRICE INCLUDES
7-days photography guiding by Ken Wright & Joel Staveley
7 nights hotel accommodation (twin-share, single upgrade available) mostly 4✩
7 breakfasts
Boat charter on the Otago Peninsula
Private Yellow-eyed Penguin tri
Stay and entry to Larnach Castle
3 course dinner at Larnach Castle
Transport during the tour
DOC (National Park) concession fees
Copy of our Pocket Guide to Landscape & Wildlife Photography
Donation to our Conservation Fund
Native tree planting to Carbon Offset your tour