A Wilder Way

You’ll spend your first New Zealand night at The Landing: a 1,000-acre conservation estate on the Purerua Peninsula, where active land stewardship extends to the hospitality. You’ll be in good hands. More than a million native trees have been planted here across two decades, and a large kiwi population makes this dark forest its home. We’ll ease you in gently, with a seasonal tasting menu built around the estate’s coastal harvest, curated by head chef Mathew Cook.

By the time you arrive at the Station, the Southern Alps – tall, broad-shouldered and capped with snow – will surround you completely. It feels like passing into another realm. You’ll be spending two nights at Lake Hāwea Station’s Packhorse Cottage – a beautifully reimagined shepherd’s hut. Tonight is yours: to dine, to adjust and to drink in the silence of the great Southern Alps.

Lifting from Lake Hāwea by private helicopter, the flight south over the Southern Alps is a soaring, bird’s eye lesson in raw geology. It’s a sight to behold; mountains giving way to the ragged, plunging edge of the fjordlands, where you’ll make your landing on a floating helipad. It’s the least intrusive way to make contact with this outer wild, and the only way to transfer to the Sea Finn – a private expedition vessel that’ll be your home for the next two nights.

Spend a final calm morning aboard Sea Finn before a helicopter lifts you east toward Queenstown, where you’ll be spending two nights at ROKI Collection – a calmly elegant lakefront hotel whose glass-fronted suites frame The Remarkables like a painting.

Having settled in, your evening kicks off with a scenic zipline tour through the forest canopy high above Queenstown, offering a panoramic perspective on a region that is leading the field in sustainability and conservation. Then dinner. The city. The sights.

Eucalyptus oil gives the mountains their identifiable haze, and you’ll notice it at first slowly – and then unmistakably. In this moodily mysterious place, you’ll be staying at the Chalets at Blackheath – a collection of freestanding eco-properties built from natural stone and rammed earth, right on the edge of the park. In their gentle, natural way, they’re built with the mountains – not against them. Time to rest, to unscrew your eyes, to take a beat.

In Sydney, all roads lead to the harbor. You’ll spend two nights at the Park Hyatt, positioned directly on the water – and right opposite the Opera House.

You’ll be at leisure today. So, what you do is yours to choose and ours to plan: a surf lesson at Bondi, a guided walk along the coastal path toward Bronte, or a progressive dinner moving through some of the city’s most talked-about kitchens. Alternatively, just watch the ferries. There’s no wrong answer.

Alongside the Ark’s conservation team, you’ll explore the reserve by off-road vehicle, learning about programs protecting threatened native species including Tasmanian devils and quolls, gaining rare behind-the-scenes insight into breeding, habitat restoration, and wildlife reintroduction efforts.

There are opportunities to interact with joeys and, in some seasons, to assist with supervised rewilding. You’ll return to Sydney, landing at Peats Bite’s along the Hawkesbury River for a long lunch, lots of wine and plenty of live music, before capping off the day with a final flight over Bondi and Rose Bay.

Island House isn’t a very typical “hotel”. In a secluded forest of Kentia palms and age-old Banyan trees, its pavilions – which use many sustainable materials – host only a handful of guests at a time. This is a personal, meaningful, striking place whose hospitality is natural and warm. Chef Kimi Uemoto – whose pantry is the whole island – heads up the kitchen. You’re here to take your bearings and settle in.

Ian joins you again for a guided walk across the world’s southernmost coral reef. You’ll move through lagoon shallows, sight marine life, and see healthy the reef’s protected ecosystem is.

The afternoon is yours. Paddleboards, fishing gear, surfboards, snorkelling equipment, and hiking gear are all available at the House. But you might prefer to enjoy the kitchen and the slower sights. This time is yours.