New Zealand with SmarTours

New Zealand The 12-day “Spectacular New Zealand” trip from smarTours (501 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1402, New York, NY 10017; 800/337-7773 or www.smartours.net) was fantastic and my family and I highly recommend it to other travelers. We traveled March 6-17, ’06.

The tour price was $1,799 per person, double occupancy, including airfare between Los Angeles and Auckland on Air Tahiti Nui, air between Auckland and Christchurch on Qantas, centrally located first-class hotels, daily American buffet breakfasts and the services of local tour guides provided by Pan Pacific Travel. Travel insurance, U.S. departure taxes and a fuel surcharge brought the total to $2,138 per person.

The tour included Auckland, Dunedin, Milford Sound, Queenstown and Christchurch. We had fantastic city tours in the larger cities. Most of the main attractions were within walking distance of the hotels.

Following are a few tour highlights. In Queenstown, we booked a 2-hour tour to Deer Park Heights, a private deer park where scenes from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy were filmed. We toured the park in a van with our own guide, viewing movie sites and feeding deer, pigs, bison, llamas and goats.

The 2-hour cruise on Milford Sound was spectacular. Our guide, Bernard Spragg, pointed out the best photo shots of Milford Sound and Fiordland National Park.

In Christchurch we visited the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, which is open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays. It is free and has a wide variety of exhibits. We also enjoyed the Botanical Gardens, Canterbury Museum and the Southern Encounter Aquarium & Kiwi House.

Two hotels were particularly excellent. In Auckland we stayed at the Mercure Hotel (8 Custom St.; phone [64-9] 377 8920 or visit www. accorhotels.com.au), which is in a great location. In Queenstown we stayed at Kingsgate Hotel Terraces (88 Frankton Rd.; phone 64-3 442 7950 or e-mail kingsgate.queens town@millenniumhotels.co.nz) for three nights; all rooms faced Lake Wakatipu, and we had beautiful views of the sun rising and setting over the lake. Both hotels served excellent breakfasts.

I wish we had had more time to explore this fascinating country.

— DIANE HARRISON, Creve Coeur, MO