Make your way to your designated hotel where you will spend the first night of the expedition. This evening there will be an informal get-together at the hotel for dinner; an excellent opportunity to meet fellow adventurers on your voyage and some of our expedition team.

Enjoy breakfast in the hotel restaurant and have the morning free to explore Queenstown before returning to the hotel for lunch and departing for the Port of Bluff to embark your ship, Heritage Adventurer. 

If weather and sea conditions are suitable, cruise by Zodiac along the sheltered eastern side of North East Island. You should see the endemic Snares crested penguin, Snares Island tomtit, and fernbirds. Also expect to see Cape pigeons, Antarctic terns, white-fronted terns, and red-billed gulls. There are hundreds of thousands of sooty shearwaters nesting here. Buller’s albatross breed here from late December onwards.

Enderby Island is a great place to view birds and wildlife. Visit Sandy Bay, the main breeding ground for the rare New Zealand (Hooker’s) sea lion and just one of three breeding grounds on the Auckland Islands. There are chances to observe the southern royal albatross, northern giant petrel, Auckland Island shag, Auckland Island flightless teal, Auckland Island banded dotterel, Auckland Island tomtit, bellbird, pipit, red-crowned parakeet, yellow-eyed penguin, and light-mantled sooty albatross. Be sure to also keep a lookout for the rare Subantarctic snipe. On Derry Castle Reef there is a good chance of seeing the bar-tailed godwit, turnstone, and perhaps other migratory waders.

Expect some of the best pelagic birding on this leg of the journey from the Auckland Islands to Macquarie Island with great views of species such as the royal albatrosses, wandering albatrosses, black-browed albatross, white-chinned petrel, diving-petrel, little shearwaters, storm-petrel and to confuse everybody, numerous prion species.

Arrive at Macquarie Island, the only place in the world to see the breeding royal penguin - there is an abundance of these here as this remote outpost supports a breathtaking concentration of wildlife. You won't soon forget your first experience of a noisy ‘penguin city’ where you are witness to a thousand chattering, feeding chicks, territorial disputes, petty pilfering, and courtship displays - king, gentoo, and rockhopper penguins can be seen here. Macquarie also has a large population of Southern Elephant Seals. Pups are born in October and weaned in November when the breeding adults return to sea.

At sea en route to Campbell Island and time to unwind after the adventures of Macquarie Island. Look for cetaceans and albatross, join a lecture or catch up on your photos and journaling.

Drop anchor in Perseverance Harbor. Once on shore walk to the nesting site of the southern royal albatross or to Northwest Bay, and pass beautiful megaherbs growing on the hills. There will also be an easier walk to the Col Lyall Saddle.

At sea en route to the Antipodes, it is a day for pelagic birding. Species commonly seen in this area include Wandering Albatross species, Southern Royal Albatross, Black-browed Albatross, Campbell Island Albatross, Lightmantled Sooty Albatross, Salvin’s Albatross, Grey-headed Albatross, Northern and Southern Giant Petrel, the Sooty Shearwater and the Little Shearwater.  There should be plenty of petrels and again the hard-to-identify prion species.

Antipodes Island is one of the most isolated, least known, and rugged of New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands. Landings are not permitted here, so plan to cruise along the coastline by Zodiac looking for the endemic Antipodes Island and Reischek’s parakeet. You may also see the Antipodes subspecies of the New Zealand pipit, and with half the world population of erect-crested and Rockhopper-penguins.

These inhospitable granite islets are home to thousands of Salvin’s albatross, erect-crested penguins, fulmar prions and the endemic Bounty Island shag, the world’s rarest. At sea you should spot wandering albatross species, northern royal albatross, mottled petrel, soft-plumaged petrel, broad-billed prion, white-chinned petrel and black-bellied storm petrels as well as Wilson’s storm petrel.

As the Heritage Adventurer continues toward the Chatham Archipelago, there are excellent opportunities for pelagic birding. In the afternoon, arrive at the spectacular Pyramid Rock, the only breeding place of the Chatham Island albatross. During the afternoon we arrive at South East Island- one of the world’s greatest nature reserves and landings are not permitted. However, we should obtain good views of the very rare New Zealand Shore Plover and Chatham Island Oystercatcher from the Zodiacs as we cruise along the coast. We should also see the Pitt Island Shag which nests on the island.

This morning go ashore on the main island where you might see the endemic Chatham Island shag and along the coast the Chatham Island oystercatcher. Visit an original private reserves established by a local family on the south coast of the main island where there is a very good chance to see the endemic Chatham Island Pigeon and Warbler. This afternoon we cruise back along the south coast, this is where the only known population of the Taiko breeds and also where they are attempting to establish a new population of the Chatham Island Petrel in a predator free area. 

En route to Dunedin cross what is known as the Chatham Rise. It is a relatively shallow nutrient-rich area of water, compared with the rest of the surrounding ocean, and it is also one of the best places for pelagic watching with an overlap of both northern or more temperate species and birds from southern latitudes. Expect to see royal albatross, wandering albatross, westland black petrel, Cook’s petrel, and much more.

Early this morning we will arrive in the Port of Bluff. After a final breakfast we bid farewell to our fellow voyagers and take a complimentary coach transfer to either Invercargill or Queenstown Airports.