Small group touring and the Lands Down Under – they add up to a perfect combination as we travel from Australia’s sophisticated Sydney, sacred Uluru (Ayers Rock), and the wondrous Great Barrier Reef to New Zealand’s towering Mount Cook and breathtaking Milford Sound, plus Rotorua, Queenstown, and Auckland.
- Settle in for a long international flight to Australia
- Welcome to Australia!
- Transfer (included with air package) to hotel
- Spend the day at leisure - relax, refresh, and beat jetlag!
- Briefing to meet Tour Director
- Welcome dinner at the hotel
- Tour Sydney: The Rocks historic neighborhood, Darling Harbour, Mrs. Macquarie’s Point, Rose and Watson’s bays, and Bondi Beach
- Catamaran lunch cruise around Sydney Harbor
- Tour of the Sydney Opera House
- Visit to Featherdale Wildlife Park
- Afternoon at leisure
- Fly to Australia’s Outback
- Visit Kata Tjutja National Park, site of the Olga Rocks
- Tour of sacred Walpa Gorge
- Sunset over Uluru
- Dinner under the starts during special Sounds of Silence experience
- Optional sunrise over Uluru
- Time at leisure
- Participation in traditional Aboriginal dot painting experience
- Travel day - depart Uluru for Cairns
- Day-long boat excursion to the Great Barrier Reef
- Swim, snorkel, or view the reef at Michaelmas Cay
- Visit Mossman Gorge for a Ngadiku Dreamtime Walk
- Travel to mountain village of Kuranda
- Gondola ride by Skyrail
- Travel day via Sydney to Christchurch
- Morning city tour: Botanic Gardens, Cathedral Square, Memorial to victims of the 2011 earthquake
- Afternoon at leisure
- Depart by coach to Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park
- Lunch at a local farm
- Morning tour of alpine Mount Cook Village
- Visit to Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Center with 3D planetarium movie and Hillary Gallery
- Time in village for lunch on own
- Afternoon at leisure to relax, hike, or optional scenic flight
- Depart for Queenstown
- Stop in Arrowtown and visit Kawarau Bridge Bungy
- Mid-afternoon arrive in Queenstown
- Day-long excursion to Milford Sound, including nature cruise
- Optional return to Queenstown on optional scenic flight
- Day at leisure
- Depart for Maori center of Rotorua
- Panoramic tour of Rotorua
- Visit Paradise Valley Springs
- Drive to National Kiwi Trust
- Evening visit Te Puia Thermal Reserve and Cultural Centre
- Travel to Auckland with stop at Ruakuri Caves
- Arrive in Auckland - on own for dinner
- Half-day tour of Auckland
- Visit the War Memorial Museum
- Farewell dinner
- Return flight to U.S.
*Note: Some details subject to change prior to program - travelers will be notified of significant alterations to program details.
Moderate
Faculty
Associate Professor, Emeritus, of Anthropology
Professor John Watanabe, associate professor of anthropology, has taught at Dartmouth since 1989. He earned his B.A. in anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1975, and his Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University in 1984. He researches and writes on historically Maya peoples in Guatemala and Mexico, and how colonial Latin America and later national societies shaped – and were shaped by – indigenous identities and communities. More broadly, Watanabe has written on ritual and religion in human evolution and the social organization and ritual economies of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. He has served as chair of the Department of Anthropology and president of the New England Council of Latin American Studies; between 2006 and 2019, he directed Dartmouth's Anthropology study abroad program in New Zealand six times. In 1993, Watanabe received the Karen E. Wetterhahn Memorial Award for Distinguished Creative or Scholarly Achievement from Dartmouth College and has held national fellowships from the Michigan Society of Fellows, National Science Foundation, National Humanities Center in North Carolina, and National Endowment for the Humanities.
