Why is travel insurance compulsory on this tour?

New Zealand’s remote locations and outdoor activities carry inherent risks. Comprehensive travel insurance covering medical emergencies, evacuation, and trip cancellation is required and must be provided as proof before departure.

How do I get to Wellington, and how does the tour end?

The tour begins in Wellington and finishes at Invercargill Airport, so guests fly into Wellington and out of Invercargill, or travel on their own from there. A pre-tour night in Wellington is recommended, since the Interislander ferry departs mid-morning on day one.

Is there a recommended flight at the end of the tour?

The Stewart Island ferry on the final day departs at 8am, guests will be transferred to Invercargill airport around 10am, in time for a domestic flight to Auckland departing at 12:35pm.

What is the level of physical activity?

Easy to moderate. Most birding is roadside, on boats or on formed tracks, but Arthur’s Pass involves walking on alpine terrain that can be steep and uneven, and the Ulva Island and Stewart Island walks cover uneven forest ground. Guests should be comfortable walking for a few hours at a time; shorter options are available on the harder days.

Is this tour suitable for non-birders?

It’s designed around birding priorities, so non-birding travelling companions should know the birds set the pace, not the scenery. That said, the itinerary passes through some of the South Island’s most striking landscapes, and the Kaikōura pelagic, the kiwi night walks and Ulva Island appeal on their own terms to photographers and wildlife-minded travellers generally.

What's special about the Kaikoura pelagic?

Kaikoura is considered one of the world's best accessible pelagic birding locations. Deep ocean trenches approach within 1km of shore, allowing close encounters with albatrosses and giant petrels without traveling far offshore.

What birds can we expect to see?

Targets include New Zealand king shag (kawau pāteketeke), found only in the Marlborough Sounds; orange-fronted parakeet on Blumine Island/Oruawairua; multiple albatross and petrel species on the Kaikōura pelagic; kea, rifleman/titipounamu and great spotted kiwi/roroa at Arthur’s Pass; kakī/black stilt in the Mackenzie Basin; and Stewart Island tokoeka, weka and hoiho around Stewart Island/Rakiura and Ulva Island. Sightings are never guaranteed.

Can this be combined with the North Island tour?

Yes. You can book both tours back to back for a comprehensive New Zealand birding itinerary, with Wellington accommodation available as the connecting point between the two.

Can I book a twin spot (half-twin share) if I am travelling on my own?

Yes, half-twin shares are available on request and are only offered if there is a suitable same-sex match on tour. If no suitable match is available, a single supplement will apply; please contact our team to discuss your options before booking.

Can I book a private departure?

Contact our team to discuss availability and pricing for a private departure.

South Island Birding: Toroa to Kea

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Dates

21 Nov 2026

24 Jan 2027

10 Apr 2027
Trip Type Birdwatching, Nature & Wildlife
Twin Share Maximum of two adults
$ 7,190
Single $ 8,290

AGT Expert Guide

Australian Geographic Travel guides are experts in their fields, combining deep local knowledge with a genuine passion for our unique landscapes, wildlife, and cultures. Their professionalism, warmth, and storytelling skills create immersive, educational experiences and consistently deliver enriching and memorable journeys for every guest.

Duration

10 Days

Group Size

7 People

Activity Level

Easy to Moderate

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About This Tour

Ten days from Cook Strait to Stewart Island, from a Kaikōura pelagic and the world’s only wild population of New Zealand king shag to alpine kea, the Mackenzie Basin’s kakī, and kiwi walks on Rakiura.

South Island Birding: Toroa to Kea is a ten-day guided birdwatching tour across New Zealand’s South Island, from Wellington to Invercargill. It takes in a Kaikōura pelagic, the Marlborough Sounds, Arthur’s Pass, the Mackenzie Basin and Stewart Island/Rakiura, with a maximum of seven guests.

The route runs the length of the South Island: an Interislander ferry across Cook Strait to Picton, the coast road south to Kaikōura, inland and up over Arthur’s Pass, south again through the Mackenzie Basin to Twizel, and on through Queenstown and Invercargill to Bluff, where a ferry crosses Foveaux Strait to Stewart Island/Rakiura for the final three nights. Travel is by 12-seater minibus, with the Interislander, a Kaikōura pelagic boat, and ferries to Blumine Island/Oruawairua, Foveaux Strait and Ulva Island/Te Wharawhara built into the route.

The tour is built around a run of species found nowhere else. New Zealand king shag breeds only in the Marlborough Sounds, in a population DOC put at 646 in its most recent census; Blumine Island/Oruawairua carries part of the wild population of orange-fronted parakeet, a bird declared extinct twice (in 1919 and again in 1965) before being rediscovered in the wild in the late 1980s. Kakī, the black stilt, dropped to 23 birds in 1981 and is still managed from a Department of Conservation recovery programme based at Twizel. Stewart Island/Rakiura carries the country’s largest kiwi population by number, and Ulva Island/Te Wharawhara, predator-free since the 1990s, is one of the few places left where a New Zealand forest sounds the way it did before introduced mammals arrived.

The Kaikōura pelagic works because of geography most visitors never see: the Kaikōura Canyon comes to within about a kilometre of the coast in places, dropping from around 30m to over 2,000m, and it sits where the cold, nutrient-rich Southland Current meets the warmer East Cape Current. That convergence concentrates albatrosses and petrels close enough to shore to reach by boat in under an hour – Albatross Encounter, the operator running the trips, records five species of great albatross and as many as 14 species of petrel in the area. 200km south, the Mackenzie Basin’s braided rivers do the opposite: wide, shallow, unstable gravel beds that kakī and black-fronted tern need and almost nothing else can use, which is exactly why both are so rare.

Combine your tour

You can combine this birding trip with our birding trip to New Zealand's North Island, which runs before the South Island Birding Trip. If you'd like to experience the best of both islands, please check out our North Island Birding trip. If you book both trips, your Wellington accommodation is included.

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Who is this tour for?

Built for birders and paced accordingly: the Kaikōura pelagic, the alpine walks at Arthur’s Pass, and the kiwi night walks on Stewart Island/Rakiura all run to give you the best chance of a sighting. Photographers do well on the pelagic and at Ulva Island/Te Wharawhara, where the birdlife is unusually confiding because the island has been predator-free for decades. Non-birding companions are welcome but should know the itinerary is built around the birds first.

Highlights

A Kaikōura pelagic within a kilometre of the Kaikōura Canyon, where five species of great albatross and up to 14 petrel species have been recorded.
New Zealand king shag in the Marlborough Sounds, a species found nowhere else on earth.
Blumine Island/Oruawairua and the orange-fronted parakeet, a species declared extinct twice before being rediscovered in the wild in the late 1980s.
Alpine birding at Arthur’s Pass for titipounamu (rifleman), the country’s smallest bird, and great spotted kiwi/roroa, alongside the resident kea.
The Mackenzie Basin’s braided rivers and the kakī (black stilt), down to 23 birds in 198.
A Foveaux Strait crossing to Stewart Island/Rakiura, with pelagic birding for Cook’s petrel and Buller’s albatross along the way.
Night walks for Stewart Island tokoeka, the most abundant kiwi taxon and one of the few kiwi that can also be seen feeding by day.
Ulva Island/Te Wharawhara, predator-free since the 1990s, for weka, red- and yellow-crowned parakeets and, offshore, hoiho.

Nine nights’ accommodation in comfortable ensuite motels/hotels.
Nine breakfasts, nine lunches and nine dinners.
Transport throughout in a comfortable 12-seater minibus.
Interislander ferry, Blumine Island ferry, Kaikōura pelagic trip, Stewart Island ferry, Ulva Island ferry.
All park and site entry fees.

Itinerary

The Interislander ferry crosses Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton, about three and a half hours, with pelagic species possible from the deck: shy and black-browed albatross, northern giant petrel and fairy prion have all been recorded on the crossing. Once through Tory Channel, the ferry runs the length of the Marlborough Sounds, where spotted shag and, with luck, New Zealand king shag are both possible.

In the afternoon, a boat crosses to Blumine Island/Oruawairua for the orange-fronted parakeet, a species declared extinct twice, in 1919 and 1965, before being rediscovered wild in the late 1980s; 40 birds were translocated to the island as recently as 2024 to strengthen its genetics.

Overnight: Picton.
Meals: B/L/D.