Cruise: New Zealand, the Tasman Sea and Australia

Bordered by the Tasman Sea on the west and the South Pacific on the east, New Zealand stretches almost 1,000 miles north to south. Eons of isolation have given the three main islands and a multitude of smaller islands a unique avifauna, with four endemic families, and an array of endemic species.  Thanks to cold and biologically rich waters, the archipelago also supports one of the world’s most diverse collection of breeding and foraging seabirds.

Our 2026 cruise starts and ends in Brisbane, allowing us to cross the Tasman Sea twice at quite different latitudes, as well as covering the entire east coast of New Zealand.  We should see over 45 species of tubenose including eight species (and many additional subspecies) of albatross. We’ll traverse these waters aboard a Princess cruise ship, which is of course both comfortable and well-appointed but also stable enough to permit telescope use even in rough waters. We feel this cruise offers arguably the best accessible seabirding experience in the South Pacific and probably one of the best in the world.

We should say that, in addition to spending five full days at sea and a day cruising in the world-renowned Fiordland National Park, we’ll arrange land-based expeditions for our six shore days around the North and South Islands of New Zealand.  During the course of these excursions, we’ll sample a broad cross section of the birds and habitats available in coastal New Zealand.

The short pre-tour extension offers four days of land-based birding around Auckland, with highlights including an opportunity to look for North Island Brown Kiwi near Kerikeri and a day visit to the famous Tiritiri Matangi Island, where the forests ring with a choir of native birds.

Our post-cruise extension will depart Brisbane for the island state of Tasmania for a week’s birding and natural history study in the central highland forests and alpine heath of the island’s interior. We’ll also be treated to visits to the gorgeous southeast coastline, the capital city of Hobart, and the remote and beautiful Bruny Island. In addition to all twelve Tasmanian endemic birds, as well as Tasmanian breeding specialties such as Morepork, Swift Parrot, Pink Robin, and the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot (offered as an extra day at the end of the tour), we’ll have excellent chances to see some of the country’s iconic mammals such as the Echidna, Platypus, Tasmanian Devil, and Eastern and Spot-tailed Quoll.

*NOTE – the 2027 Cruise will run round trip from Brisbane, with a pre-tour Brisbane-area extension. The itinerary will be posted here after the 2026 tour runs, but for a preview, please click here.