Our Sub Antarctic islands holidays & tours
It’s a running joke for New Zealand that it often gets missed off world maps – but if there’s somewhere even more likely to fall off the edge, it’s the Subantarctic Islands, the specks that slip southwards to the Ross Sea. Uninhabited, they are known as bird havens, and for their megaherbs of unusual size and age. Our Subantarctic Islands holidays give you amazing access to unique penguin breeding grounds and unparalleled birdwatching. These small ship expeditions don’t just adhere to wildlife-watching guidelines, but have helped put them in place, and our cruises are kept small to reduce their impact. On this responsible adventure, you’ll engage in citizen science and speak to scientists and park rangers, who are ensuring their biodiversity doesn’t, indeed, fall off that map.
New Zealands Subantarctic Islands cruise
Wildlife voyage to the Subantarctic inc Macquarie Island
From
US $9990 to US $10490
12 days
ex flights
Antarctica and New Zealand Subantarctic Islands cruise
Travel from New Zealand on the ultimate Antarctic voyage
From
US $31500 to US $33075
4 weeks
ex flights
Wildlife Cruise of New Zealand Subantarctic Islands
New Zealand's wildlife rich & remote Subantarctic wilderness
From
US $5850 to US $6145
8 days
ex flights
New Zealand and islands bird watching cruise
The ultimate Subantarctic Island birding expedition cruise
From
US $15995
17 days
ex flights
Contact Us
Call us for a chat about our holidays. We are happy to discuss your holiday and help in any way we can. No bots, queues or awful hold music.
01273 823 700
Call us until 6pm
Calling from outside the UK
Subantarctic Islands highlights
The Antipodes Subantarctic Islands are small, unique formations nestled in a huge expanse of wild Southern Ocean. The only knowledge you’ll have of routes, maps and itineraries is where you’re headed next and (vaguely) when; this part of the world plays to its own rules and you’ll sail between each archipelago to no other timetable than Nature’s own. Your captain and tour leader have an exceptional knowledge of the ‘routes’ available and will ensure you reach as many fascinating places as possible – as long as you’re safe while doing so – and you’ll be hopping on and off the boat wherever you can.
1.
Antipodes Islands
2. Auckland Islands
3. Bounty Islands
4. Campbell Island
5. Macquarie Island
6. Snares Islands
2. Auckland Islands
3. Bounty Islands
4. Campbell Island
5. Macquarie Island
6. Snares Islands
Antipodes Islands
1. Antipodes Islands
The Antipodes Islands are famed for their spectacular and inaccessible cliffs that encircle the main island peaking at a towering 1,200ft tall. Home to many indigenous bird species, the island group lays claim to two-thirds of the world’s erect-crested penguin population, as well as their enemy – the northern giant petrel – which attack the penguins and forage the eggs and chicks of other seabirds.
Auckland Islands
2. Auckland Islands
Home to a massively diverse variety of species, the Auckland Islands are a national nature reserve and are renowned for their raw beauty. There are several islands in the Auckland group and their landscape, characterised by looming precipitous cliffs and huge sea caves, provides excellent breeding grounds for New Zealand sea lions, southern right whales and yellow-eyed penguins.
Bounty Islands
3. Bounty Islands
The bleakest and most desolate of New Zealand’s outlying islands, the Bounty Islands aren’t known for their flora, but they are home to one of the world’s only two colonies of erect-crested penguins; the world’s principal colony of Salvin’s albatross; and, the very rare bounty shag, a black and white cormorant that nests on anxiety-inducing narrow cliff ledges and of which only hundreds remain.
Campbell Island
4. Campbell Island
Shaped like a dragon in flight, Campbell Island is the most southerly of the Subantarctic six and is high and rugged, broken by narrow, sheltered inlets. Made up of grassland, shrubland and bright megaherb fields, it also has a sub-alpine dwarf forest and is home to the Campbell Island teal, a small, flightless and nocturnal species of dabbling duck. Hard to believe it’s on this planet!
Macquarie Island
5. Macquarie Island
Lying southwest of NZ’s Subantarctic Islands, almost halfway to Antarctica, Australian-owned Macquarie Island is often the furthest-flung port of call on Subantarctic cruises. Dubbed ‘one of the wonder spots of the world’, it is a long, narrow formation with lush landscape sprouting lime green megaherbs in huge clusters. It’s the only home of the magnificent royal penguin, of which there’s reckoned to be 3 million!
Snares Islands
6. Snares Islands
Influenced by a warm current, which fixes the temperature at around a mild 11oC, the Snares are an island group bordered by steep cliffs and covered in deep, dry peat soil that supports vast, colourful herb fields. Cruising the rugged coastline in a zodiac, you’ll learn how the islands got their name, spotting Snares crested penguins, cape petrel and Buller’s albatross nesting in the cliffs as you go.
Our New Zealand sub-Antarctic cruises reviews
5
