Top Christchurch Whale Watching

This tour was amazing & we had so much fun! Our tour size was only 12 people so it wasn’t too big nor small. Our tour guide AJ was phenomenal! He would share so much knowledge and facts with us when we get to each landmark yet allow some quiet and rest time while driving alongside some relaxing music. We got picked up and then drove around 90 mins from Christchurch before getting to Geraldine for a 30-mins breakfast stop and bathroom break. Then we drove another 90 mins before reaching Lake Tepako where we stayed for 20 minutes. Then we drove for 30 minutes before reaching reaching Lake Pukaki and stayed there for 20 minutes. We then drove 30 minutes and reached the Heritage Hotel for a 45-mins lunch break. Good options and plenty of seating space at that location. Then we reached Mount Cooked. According to our tour guide AJ, we had 90 minutes there and there are two hikes (one is a bit elevated but doable and one is flat & easy) which combined takes only 80 minutes so we did both. We first did the Tasman Glacier View hike which is the elevated hike. From start to top and back to start takes about 35 minutes (this also included phototaking and short breaks) The views from up top is stunning. Once we got back to the bottom, we did the other hike (Tasman River) where we got to see the floating glaciers. If you do the Tasman Lake Jetty, it’s not very good nor recommended so stick with the “Tasman River” path! This hike is flat but long so start to river and back is about 45 minutes including phototaking. Once we finished it was about 2:30pm so we started driving back to Christchurch and got dropped off at our original pick up locations. Again, our tour guide AJ was super knowledgeable, friendly, caring and super nice. He was always smiling and also provided us with plenty of snacks from chips to chocolates to bites during the entire van ride along with water. Our van also had free wifi so that was super helpful and useful too. All in all, I’m so happy we booked this tour and got AJ as our tour guide. I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Christchurch and has a whole day free for this tour to get some amazing photos and views.

This was a phenomenal experience and a must do for animal lovers. We snorkeled in June and the water was fine, about 52 degrees Fahrenheit. The dolphins were super talkative and playful and we saw about 100 of them swimming around is. Our boat guides Nick and Vick were extremely helpful, especially for my friend, which it was his first time snorkeling. We both had a blast!

Great wine tour with Carl, our guide giving great information and history of Christchurch and the Waipara valley wine region. Would highly recommend this tour. Easy booking and great communication. Thanks Carl for a great experience Ash and Margo Mason.