We pickup travellers from select locations in the Auckland CBD location. If your pickup location is not available on the list, please meet us at the closest hotel listed for pick-up.
We stop to get some great coffee at your own expense and a comfort break before we continue our journey into the Northland region.
We visit one of the main tourist attractions in Kawakawa, the colourful public toilet designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. First visiting New Zealand in the 1970s for an exhibition of his work, he decided to make the country his second home and bought property on the Waikare inlet, east of Kawakawa. In 1998 with the help of the community he transformed the town’s public toilets into a work of art.
The Bay of Islands is a natural playground offering a huge variety of activities to keep you entertained for days. With scenic landscapes to explore by land, sea or sky, abundant wildlife including the playful dolphins, plenty of rich and colourful history and of course water sport opportunities around every corner. Once a booming, bustling and bawdy seafaring centre, it’s now a peaceful and pristine spot, and offers the perfect base for exploring Northland. You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to must-dos in the Bay of Islands! Embark on a voyage of discovery and enjoy the beauty of this area when you join a daily cruise to hole in the rock, the most popular dolphin watching cruise in the Bay of Islands.
After an exhilarating fun-filled adventure experience at Paihia, it is now time to head back to Auckland to conclude your evening and drop-off at your hotel in Auckland. We can also drop you at your accommodation in Paihia if you are staying locally in the region.
Excellent adventure, drive out was a bit long but our guide made it as comfortable as possible with comfort stops, snacks, and water. The Bay of Islands was spectacular; well worth the drive and stunning. The water was so clear and blue, and the islands were beautiful. Very glad I came.
Great day! Bay of Islands are stunning! Amazing host and guide !
This tour was fabulous. Well worth the money. Karthik our guide was really knowledgeable and interesting and kept us entertained with much information about the area on the drive down. Highly recommend doing this tour.
Wonderful time, great history told of New Zealand. Amazing tour guides on all excursions. Van was super smooth and driver drove with great care.
Very long day but well worth it! Seas were a little choppy on the boat, so if you are prone to sea sickness or aren’t sure take motion sickness meds before or use a patch. Our driver guide Karthik was amazing and knows so much about the country and history! I highly recommend this tour!!!!!
What a day ! Even though it was long, it is well worth it. If you read the description of the tour, it is what you get (except we didn't see whales !! but that's ok). The communication of change of pick up address was not a problem. Karthik was a great tour guide on our drive up to the Bay of Islands, his knowledge of Auckland and surrounding area was exceptional and his interest in the science was really interesting and was always checking that we were ok. The transport car (van) was very comfortable - enough so, I may of dozed off !!! Karthik made sure we got on our 3hr + boat cruise/tour and seeing the dolphin's at play was definitely a highlight. All in all a great day and this is a family run business and good to support the little guys instead of the big commercial companies. Highly recommend if you have limited time in Auckland and want to see the Bay of Islands.
Our guide, Karthik was a fantastic and energetic guide. The cruise of the bay was beautiful! Enjoyed a big pod of dolphins in the bay for about 20 minutes!
The driver who took us was very informative and told us a lot about NZ and the culture, aboriginal traditions and the earthquakes. We had comfort stops and the bakery we stopped at was perfect.
Great experience! Tarthik was a great guide! Lots of good commentary! Highly recommended!
Kartnik was a great guide for our bay of islands tour. He had a lot of local information and historical facts to entertain us on our drive from Auckland. Fun stops along the way for yummy treats and bathroom, stretch breaks.
Loved the tour, Karthik was fantastic, the commentary was interesting and informative, highly recommend this tour 😃
Karthik was a great guide! Knowledgeable about the geology and history of the region. He was a wealth of information! The trip to the Bay of islands was fantastic!
Karthik was a wonderful host. He was so knowledgeable, telling us about anything and everything NZ and answered all our questions. He even offered water, snacks, and sunscreen. Absolute top quality experience, would highly recommend.
Absolutely fantastic experience! We got to see so much of the Bay of Islands as well very knowledgeable commentary from our guide. Would definitely recommend for anyone wanting to see more of the Northland.
This Small Group tour of 8 persons was outstanding!! ExperienceKart picked us up and returned us to our hotel at the exact times provided upon the booking of this tour. The tour guide (Karthik) for our ride to Bay of Islands was extremely personable, knowledgeable & informative on New Zealand. The 4 1/2 hour Bay of Islands cruise on this tour was fantastic with absolutely stunning & beautiful sites. The tour was exactly as advertised and outstanding — highly recommend the tour and ExperienceKart as the tour provider.
Our guide Karthik is amazingly knowledgeable he is a walking encyclopedia of New Zealand history. He gave us tips for other tours to do. The tour itself is amazing and entertaining with views of a lot of cooperative dolphins. It was a very laid back beach experience.
Karthik was great, very knowledgeable about the country, and the sights. He had great insights to help make the trip more enjoyable, and the van portion of the trip go a little faster.
Absolutely fantastic day, the bay of islands absolutely amazing, thanks to our brilliant guide Karthik great driver and very informative.
I think this your experience was wonderful as the guide , Karthik was not only extremely knowledgeable about the Science , History , Culture and biodiversity of the entirety of New Zealand but was also very compassionate, patient and a good communicator that shared his own personal stories that allowed us to have a better experience. He also ensured that we were comfortable throughout the tour. Would definitely recommend to a friend!
Karthik was a wonderful tour guide for our trip from Auckland to Bay of Islands for our boat adventure. He was friendly, knowledgeable and an excellent commentator throughout our 3+hours through the stunning New Zealand countryside. The boat tour was incredible as well- magical views, wildlife and non stop exploring throughout the cruise. We will definitely be coming back and will not hesitate to book with this company again. Special thanks to Karthik for taking our trip to the next level !
Excellent general information as we drove along. Ran at a good pace. Seeing. Pod of Dolphins made an excellent excursion.
Great day! Carthick was an excellent guide. We stopped to see the world heritage toilet which was so unique. The boat crew was awesome and were able to go through the hole! Lots of dolphins, sheep, and an excellent hike! Fun day.
We had a great day out visiting the Bay of Islands. The views were lovely esp of the Hole in the Rock. We had a good lunch at one of the Islands where you could swim, paddle, walk or just relax Karthick our Tour Operator was awesome with good commentary & service. I would recommend Tours with this company. Lisa D (Australia)
ExperienceKart were first class. Karthik, our guide, was excellent. He was very engaging and kept us entertained for the entire trip to the Bay of Islands with interesting information about places we passed , Maori history and recent events. As we were the only pick up on this tour, Karthik went out of his way with stops at Whangarei Town so we could see the quirky Hundertwasser public toilets, which have to be seen to be believed, not a straight line in sight! We also stopped at Whangarei Falls, totally amazing. We had time to get to the bottom for some fantastic photos. On arrival at Bay of Islands Karthik organised our tickets for our boat trip and escorted us to our vessel, Dolphin Seeker. Our Bay of Islands cruise was 4 hours we stopped at Russell, the first capital of New Zealand and then onward cruising past many of the islands within the Bay. The captain kept us entertained with stories stopping at the plaque which commemorates Captain Cook's landing. Onward to the Hole in the Rock for some amazing photo's. We also stopped on one of the islands for food and a walk, there was kayaking, snorkelling etc activities available. On our arrival back at dock Karthik was waiting to drive us back to Auckland. Again, the drive back was full of interesting information, great banter and conversation. ExpericeKart and Karthik are an exceptional tour company who go the extra mile for their clients. This was an amazing day made more so by ExperienceKart and Karthik, thank you for a memorable day.
Beautiful day in the company of our guide / driver Karthik who during a trip explained a lot of things about both New Zealand and the traditions of this wonderful land. Beautiful boat trip as well as stop on the island!
The view was amazing, so cool to go through the hole of the rock. We are even in Kawakawa to fom famous public toilets, must be seen. Thank you Karthik our guide as unforgettable. We'll be back.
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