Shore Excursions
4–5 hours
Free cancellation
Not sure? You can cancel this booking up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.
from
$60
per adult
Exploring New Zealand
Exploring New Zealand
4
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Sunday
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Full view
About
Exploring New Zealand is a tours and transport company based in Port Chalmers, the port of Dunedin New Zealand. We offer tours to Orokonui Eco Sanctuary as well as city tours around Dunedin, during the cruise ship season.
Tours and Tickets by Exploring New Zealand
Day Trips
4–6 hours
Free cancellation
Not sure? You can cancel this booking up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.
from
$90
per adult
Travellers talk about
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.0
64 reviews
Excellent
36
Very good
16
Average
4
Poor
3
Terrible
5
fgurocak@gmail.com
3 contributions
Feb 2024 • Friends
We just finished a tour of Dunedin from Port Chalmers with Craig as our bus driver and tour guide. We have traveled all over the world and have never had a guide as spectacular as Craig. He was knowledgeable and passionate about his city and we left the tour and our time in New Zealand on a high note. Kudos to Craig and Exploring New Zealand.
Written 1 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review. Glad you enjoyed the tour. It's good to see that people like Craig's commentary and relationship with clients.
Written 9 February 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Petrina
1 contribution
Nov 2022
Andrew was very flexible with the many stops we wanted to do. He had a lot of knowledge of the area and was happy to share interesting facts. We would definitely use Exploring NZ next time we're down South.
Written 21 November 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
John C
1 contribution
Dec 2014 • Couples
If you are going on a cruise to New Zealand and stopping at Port Chalmers, take the Exploring New Zealand bus to Dunedin and you can also do a local tour around Dunedin that covers areas you can't get to on a larger bus. Very informative and highly recommended. We ended up leaving our camera on the bus and the owner, Andrew, sent it back for us.
Written 22 January 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Peter G
Newark, NJ66 contributions
Jan 2017 • Couples
Enjoyed the full day tour of Dunedin which was a good blend of the city, history, architecture, botanical gardens, photo stops, with drives to the beautiful coastal beaches and farmland outside the city. Would highly recommend. Much better tour and value than taking a cruise shore excursion. Our guide Andrew Rutherford was excellent.
Written 20 January 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for taking our Nature and City tour. I am glad you enjoyed it. I endeavor to provide a personalised service on the tours. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your cruise.
Written 22 January 2017
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Karina
Elizabeth Beach, Australia67 contributions
Nov 2018 • Couples
We booked the tour on line prior to sailing. Great value for money and better than the overpriced cruise ship tours.
Our guide Gary met us at the cruise terminal in Port Chalmers. We were taken into Dunedin where we had about 40 mins to look around before heading out on the tour.
Had a guided tour of the city and surrounds and plenty of time at different stops. Also had a guided walk through the Botanic Gardens which were beautiful
We were then taken back to downtown Dunedin and had time at the beautiful main railway station. We chose to be taken back to the ship after the tour but could have stayed in town longer and be taken back a few hours later
Fantastic tour and guide and excellent value for money. We really enjoyed our day
Our guide Gary met us at the cruise terminal in Port Chalmers. We were taken into Dunedin where we had about 40 mins to look around before heading out on the tour.
Had a guided tour of the city and surrounds and plenty of time at different stops. Also had a guided walk through the Botanic Gardens which were beautiful
We were then taken back to downtown Dunedin and had time at the beautiful main railway station. We chose to be taken back to the ship after the tour but could have stayed in town longer and be taken back a few hours later
Fantastic tour and guide and excellent value for money. We really enjoyed our day
Written 6 November 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed the day and your tour.
Written 15 December 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
KFP57
Brisbane, Australia96 contributions
Dec 2014 • Couples
You need to get a bus from Port Chalmers to Dunedin, pretty little drive around Bays/Inlet Lakes.
Port Chalmers is reinventing itself to cater for a growing Cruise Ship stop. It is a quaint town on a hill, small boutique shops, pubs and maritime museum, and an old church under restoration but still visitable. Well worth a look.
Port Chalmers is reinventing itself to cater for a growing Cruise Ship stop. It is a quaint town on a hill, small boutique shops, pubs and maritime museum, and an old church under restoration but still visitable. Well worth a look.
Written 6 January 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
tcsmyth12
Perth, Australia20 contributions
Nov 2019
The tour had 3 buses overpacked with Celebrity Solstice and Ruby Princess cruise.
The tour guides appeared stressed and not sure who was taking who where.
The visit to Royal Botantical Gardens was a waste of time. He covered a distance of 200m in 45 minutes.
The tour guides appeared stressed and not sure who was taking who where.
The visit to Royal Botantical Gardens was a waste of time. He covered a distance of 200m in 45 minutes.
Written 5 December 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hello, I am sorry the tour did not meet your expectations. The reason the buses were full that day is that there were two cruise ships in port and so it was a very busy day. If guides were stressed it was trying to deal with the large numbers of people on that day.
The reason we don't cover as much ground in the Botantical Gardens as I could physically do within that time is because a lot of cruise ship passengers are elderly and can't walk very fast.
Written 7 December 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Nikolas R
2 contributions
Apr 2017 • Couples
My girlfriend and I booked the Orokonui transport. This is the only service we could find that provides affordable transportation out to the Orokonui ecosanctuary. We were the only people who had booked the shuttle that day and Andrew was helpful and accommodating with our needs. He was flexible with pick-up and drop-off and still provided a pleasant tour experience even though it was just the two of us. I highly recommend using his service if you want to visit Orokonui without a car.
Written 20 April 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nikolas,
Thank you for your review. It was a pleasure to provide the service and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I am able to be flexable with pickup points and times on days when there is only one group going to Orokonui.
Regards,
Andrew
Written 15 December 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Leaellen
Buderim, Qld53 contributions
Oct 2016 • Couples
We did this tour in October during a day stop in Dunedin as part of our cruise. Andrew our local guide was amazing as he knew all the history of this beautiful city and took us to the most incredible vantage points to see everything this place has to offer. He also walked with us around the botanical gardens and was able to answer any questions we had. We really enjoyed this (especially when you have limited time) as it gave us a snapshot of Dunedin and we still had time to explore the city when the tour finished. Would highly recommend.
Written 5 December 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review. October is spring and really good time to go to the Botanic gardens and see the blooms. I am glad you enjoyed Dunedin and the tour and hope you get to return some day and experience even more of what the city has to offer.
Written 6 December 2016
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Little000715
Belfast, UK242 contributions
Feb 2015 • Couples
As my wife and I were only going to be in Dunedin for a full day we decided to take the 2hr 30min garden and city tour which visited 6 landmarks,ranging from the steepest street in e world to a superb lookout point over the city and then on to the Botanic Gardens and finishing up at the Settlers museum.At each place you had a short time to see around, I managed to climb to the top of the steepest street and even got a certificate at the bottom to confirm it. Wayne our driver was very informative as he drove us around
Written 2 February 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I've tried to book on line but unable to book. I would like to book trip for 26th November. We are on the ruby princess
Written 23 November 2019
Ok you can certainly book for the 26th of November. There are two online booking systems operational: one through my website and one through tripadvisor (Viatour) can you tell me which one you are having a problem with and what the nature of the problem is?
Written 24 November 2019
Do we just book when we get off our cruise ship or can we book before we leave Australia? Where can I find a list of the different tours?
Written 5 February 2017
You can book either online before you leave or at the Port. In Port Chalmers there is an isite that has posters of all the different operators for you to choose from and book there. Many other ports have a similar situation.
In general it is far cheaper to book with the operator directly than go through the ship.
Written 5 February 2017
I would like to know if it is possible to rent a car at port Chalmers for the day ?
Written 29 November 2016
It is possible. Pegasus do it for instance.
rentalcars[odt]co[dot]nz/dunedin-port-chalmers/
Written 30 November 2016
John can you provide bus tour company you used at Port Chalmers and any other suggestions you may have.
Written 24 April 2015
Hello there, John used exploring New Zealand which is my company. We do tours for cruise ship passengers, tours of the Orokonui Ecosanctuary and other charter trips.
Any other questions, just ask.
Thanks
Written 25 April 2015
Showing results 1-4 of 4