2026 Tour Day 2: Climbing Mount Eden

Kia Ora! This is Layla with some updates from our first full day in Auckland, New Zealand.

After our long days of traveling, both flight groups made it to Auckland at around 5:30am.

We met our wonderful tour guides Chris, Marius, and Legend and spent some time exploring the airport (we even tried some popular New Zealand snacks, like L&P Lemonade and Tim Tams!) before we loaded the buses for Mount Eden.

We climbed up Mount Eden, to Auckland’s highest natural point, and learned about the history of New Zealand’s volcanos, walked around the large crater, and got a wonderful view of the city.

Next, we went to a marina where we saw many notable superyachts . After crossing a lift bridge, we had lunch at Commercial Bay, a mall with an amazing food court, where we tried food from a variety of restaurants and cuisines.

After lunch, we made the three hour bus ride to our hotel in Rotorua, where we had a delicious buffet dinner and sang happy birthday to Ellen, Maestro Smith’s wife!

After dinner, everyone settled and relaxed in their hotel rooms. Still adjusting to some jet lag, everyone was a bit tired, but today was certainly a wonderful day and made us super excited for everything else that’s in store for us this trip!

New student blogs are posted every day! See what we’ve shared so far.

Follow along on Instagram and Facebook for live updates from our student social media team. We’ll also send several emails with special highlights during tour, so make sure you’re part of our mailing list!

Learn more about GTCYS’ 2026 tour to New Zealand and Australia.