Hi my name is ToniMaree... I will be leaving from Auckland on Sep 26 to do the Grand Explorer... very excited!! Is anyone else doing the same trip? Would love to hear from you

Hey, a friend and I are thinking of booking the grand explorer tour (departing Sept 27th from Auckland). Are you going by yourself? What city/country are going from?

Hello there.

I have booked myself on this 15 day Contiki, September 26 2008.
Planning on arriving a day or 2 in advance and thinking it may be nice to stick around for a little while, following the tour, to do my own thing at leisure and catch up on anything i miss out on.

It seems every little tour i take, there is a minimal amount of other people or people that i have absolutely nothing in common with. It was suggested that i pop on here to possibly meet and greet others plaanning to be aboard the same tour.
If this is you, lovely and i hope to be in contact with you at some stage prior to September 26.

Lauren

Hi Mandy, Hi Lauren... I will arrive on the 26th, day before the trip and will stay one extra night afterwards... am very excited about this trip, plan to do a lot of the extras.... I am travelling by myself from Australia... my email is tonimh21@yahoo.com.au if you want to drop a line... nice to meet you both!!! Toni

Just a query do you know if the Grand Adventurer and the Grand Explorer are lumped together as they do the same places, the explorer just has a few days tacked on the end. If myself and a friend are doing the adventurer which starts on the 27th Sep. We are from Aus also and are coming in the day before.

Hey Toni and Lauren - Sorry it's taken a while to reply - things have been a bit crazy. My friend and I are in the process of booking at the moment, so all going well we will be on the Grand Explorer tour leaving Auckland on Sept 27th. We'll be arriving on the 26th and then staying on a few days in Christchurch afterwards.
Jade - As for your query I have no idea, but based on the previous contiki tour I've done I wouldn't think so. However, I have a friend who did the Grand Explorer tour over Xmas and she mentioned that her tour was constantly meeting up with other groups. She also mentioned that her group and another one actually ended up joining up and doing part of the tour together so I guess anything is possible.
Mandy :-)

Mandy- Hi! Glad to hear you are booking, it will be a great trip. Where are you from? Seems a lot of Aussies do this trip.

Jade- sounds like you are interested in the reverse direction option leaving from Christchurch? The way it works is that different tours join up on the one coach throughout the journey. The Explorer being the one that does everything, has other groups joining at various stages, eg, northern highlights will join in wellington etc. It is cool however, as you will know your own group and have a friend base there... with the opportunity to meet more people along the way.

Hello there Jadeh
To be completely honest with you, i have absolutely no clue about the 2 tours; however, i would presume not. So you are doing the Adventurer?
Why not do the Explorer instead?
Myself (oh i am rude, aren't i sorry, i'm Lauren, from Syd) and ToniMaree will be going on the Explorer... Join us, it will be a hoot!

Jadeh-
Well well well. It looks as though i could be wrong about the tours hooking up. Re: Mandy1982 2nd April post.
My bad

Mandy-
Excellent, the more the merrier!!!

Well now I am confused... oh well I guess I may or may not come across you guys while we are over there. Yeah I am starting in christchurch and making our way up to auckland, and i chose the adventurer over explorer as I wasn't to interested in bay of islands and also time wise my friend and I couldnt get any more time off work. Although we are staying in auckland for a couple of days after the tour has finished.

Jade... you are doing the trip in reverse direction... we are doing it in the regular direction... You leave from where we finish and vice versa. ..at some point half way through the buses may come across each other possibly. Hope you have a great time

hey my boyfriend and i are doing the northern highlights tour which departs 27th sept from auckland so who knows might speak with some of you. catchya

Great Kylie!! looking forward to a great trip.. will meet you then!! Maree

Hi.....I'm Caz (27 Aussie from Sydney).....Just booked the tour starting in Auckland 27th....arriving the night before at around 11:30 staying at the mecure....then doing tour and then staying a night after in christchurch then headed back to sydney on the sunday....looking forward to travelling again....spent 6 1/2 months last year in europe/uk so this should be great
Cheers