Auckland

Safaris & Wildlife Activities

Join a guided diving tour for certified divers around Goat Island and set off to discover the beautiful underwater world of New Zealand's first ever marine reserve alongside an experienced dive master. Begin with a fitting of your diving equipment at the dive center. You will then drive in your own vehicle 3 km to the Goat Island Marine Reserve to meet with your dive master who will be your guide for the day. Learn the history of Goat Island and get introduced to the marine life you are likely to see in New Zealand's first marine reserve. After a full and thorough safety briefing, head down to the water and begin the tour. Do one long dive in a shallow reserve with the opportunity to stay underwater for 70 to 80 minutes, dependent on individuals' air consumption. Explore further out into the bay and see the true beauty this magical place has to offer. Swim amongst huge snappers, red moki, goat-fish, triple fins, and schools of parore, kahawai, sweep, silver drummers, trevally. There are also crayfish, octopuses, stingrays, and, on lucky occasions, dolphins, seals, and orcas can also be seen.

Get extra value by visiting both the Hobbiton Movie Set and the 2 caves at Waitomo in one day with this tour. Avoid the trap of standard tours that only visit 1 cave, and enjoy more time off your coach to explore and less time hanging around waiting for others. The order in which you do the two activities changes from day to day but the start time always remains the same and pickup from centrally located hotels in Auckland is always included. On days where Hobbiton is visited first, get picked up from your hotel then travel through the Waikato region, passing by cattle, dairy, and sheep farms along the way. Upon arrival at Hobbiton, have some time to get something to eat or explore the Shires Rest souvenir shop before joining Hobbiton Tours for a tour of the Hobbiton Movie Set. Be transported into the movie set by one of their buses, then go on a guided walking tour of the set, which was used for all filming in the Village of Hobbiton in both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie series. Enjoy a complimentary drink at the Green Dragon before boarding the coach to return to Auckland. Next, take some time to eat your provided picnic lunch between Hobbiton and Waitomo Caves. On arrival in Waitomo, take a 90-minute tour of Ruakuri Cave, the largest and deepest cave in the Waitomo Complex open to the public. After Ruakuri, you'll have a short break before joining a group tour of the world-renowned Waitomo Cave. Walk into the stunning cave and admire its complex underground formation. Exit on a small boat through the Glowworm Grotto and marvel at millions of glowworms. The tour concludes with a return to Auckland and drop-off at your hotel.

Join a full-day scuba dive charter and dive in the beautiful marine reserves of Goat Island or Te Hāwere-a-Maki, New Zealand's first marine reserve established in 1975, on a small-group tour. Discover the bustling marine life beneath the water's surface, including jack mackerel, crayfish, red moki, eels, blue maomao, and much more on two dives at different depths.  Marvel at the variety of marine life habitats from rocky shores exposed at low tide to deep reefs, underwater cliffs and canyons, as well as sand flats. Watch the seaweed forests sway with the waves and the light playfully touch all that surrounds you beneath the sea. Goat Island and the Tawharanui Marine Reserve, off the North Island's northwest coast, are both excellent sites for certified divers, whether you are a beginner or an experienced diver, there is something for everyone here.