Throughout this journey, enjoy menus that offer sumptuous dishes featuring the best of New Zealand’s clean and crisp ingredients. Experience freshly caught seafood direct from our coastal waters, including green-lipped mussels, crayfish and sea run salmon. Taste grass reared award winning cuts of New Zealand lamb, beef and venison. Sample fresh produce as well as New Zealand’s award winning cheeses.

Beginning in Auckland you will travel the North Island, taking in the restaurants of Auckland before travelling to the geothermal region of the Central Plateau where you will stay at Treetops Lodge. Treetops Lodge offers you the opportunity to learn about New Zealand’s Maori cooking and traditional ingredients. From here you will travel to the fruit bowl of New Zealand, known as the Hawke's Bay, where long hours of sunshine produce wonderful fruit and outstanding wines. Your final destination in the North Island will be Wharekauhau Country Estate near Martinborough, where you will find a great farmers market, wonderful wineries and boutique producers of fine foods.

In the South Island your travels will include the wine region of Marlborough, before travelling down the east coast (enjoy fresh crayfish on the side of the road!) to Christchurch and your wonderful accommodation at Otahuna Lodge. Here you will experience excellent cuisine, much of which is freshly sourced from the gardens and paddocks of the property itself. You will finish your stay in New Zealand at renowned Blanket Bay, whose magical chefs have won numerous national and international accolades.

Your New Zealand vacation includes private day tours with local guides who will take you to visit local growers, wine makers, delicatessens and farmers, who will explain how and where they source their ingredients. You will also have the opportunity to experience some of the best local restaurants.

A special feature of this journey is the opportunity to spend time in the kitchen of one of New Zealand’s finest luxury lodges and watching and working with some of the best chefs in New Zealand. You will be offered the chance to help these chefs create your evening meal and in doing so share some of your culinary ideas with them.

For those who have a particular interest, Lookout Point is able to make arrangements for guests to attend individual or group cooking schools with internationally acclaimed cooking instructors.