Nature Quest New Zealand tours -any comments or reviews? (1 Viewer)

I am going to New Zealand in January 2010 and will have nearly 3 weeks to tour around from around Jan 8 to the 28th. I am particularly interested in marine mammals and pelagic birds, but enjoy it all. I am a good amateur wildlife photographer, so will be looking for photo ops, though I am not bringing a tripod.

I have signed up for Nature Quest's "The World of New Zealand Birds" 16 day tour of both islands which includes 6 pelagic trips of 1/2 or more from Hauraki Gulf to Stewart Island.

Given the fall of the US$ and the current small group size of this trip (2 others + me at last check), the trip is expensive by my standards ($500 NZ/day). My impression is that pelagic trips in NZ are all expensive as are prices in January. I was surprised that I have been unable to find any reviews of this tour on the web. I presume that Nature Quest are competent and well organized, but would derive some comfort from others' reviews and comments before I wire off a large portion of my savings to them!

I am comfortable and experienced traveling independently, and would like to spend less money, but I suspect that making all the arrangements for the pelagic trips and lodging would be "challenging" given my tight schedule. Any thoughts or comments?

I don't know about Nature Quest but I think you could easily arrange a lot of pelagic and boat trips yourself. That's what I did for my visit last year anyway!

Trips from Kaikoura:
http://www.oceanwings.co.nz/albatross/ocean_wings/
From Picton (Marlborough Sounds):
http://www.naturetours.co.nz/new-zealand/home/
Hauraki Gulf pelagics:
http://www.nzseabirds.com/haurakigulf.php
Tiritiri Matangi:
http://www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/
Stewart and Ulva Islands:
http://www.ruggedyrange.com/
http://stewartisland.co.nz/

Thanks Andrew,

I spent the last hour reading your extremely thorough and helpful trip report from your 2008 trip. Well done!

Hope #1 is that 3 more folks have signed up for the Nature Quest tour which would lower my share of the tour cost by $1,500-2,400 NZ!

I am spoiled here in California by whale-watching trips I get for free (as a whale "expert" [sic.]). I am creating a spreadsheet that will give me a better comparison of how much I might (or might not) save by trying the trip independently.

The timing of my trip is set by when my sister will be in Aukland (from the UK). My nephew & niece are in Aukland year around.

Jim (some of my birdy photos at: www.pbase.com/jimscarff/)

Hi Jim
Nature Quest are great. You may even visit me Okarito Kiwi Tours, looking for the rarest kiwi in NZ.
They were here last week, again with a very small group. The guides they have are pretty incredible and switched on. You can't go wrong Jim.
Ian Cooper