Australasia Nature Sabbatical - An Epic Adventure Down Under

Forty-four days across Australia and New Zealand, which the operator frames as a sabbatical rather than a holiday, and at six weeks that is the right word for it. The wildlife is the organising principle.

Melbourne opens it with four nights, including the little penguins that come ashore at St Kilda pier after dark, among the smallest penguin species in the world. Tasmania follows with five: Cradle Mountain for night-time spotting of Tasmanian devils and eastern quolls, sea kayaking at Freycinet, the MONA museum in Hobart, and a flight over Maria Island.

South Australia takes nine nights. Baird Bay allows swimming with wild sea lions and dolphins in open water, which is a rare permission, and Wilpena Pound follows with Bunyeroo and Brachina gorges and a trek into Sacred Canyon with an indigenous guide to see Aboriginal rock carvings.

New Zealand takes the rest. Seven nights out of Auckland cover Tiritiri Matangi, a predator-free island sanctuary where birds extinct on the mainland have been reintroduced, canoeing on Lake Taupo past Maori rock carvings, the geothermal field at Orakei Korako, an overnight on Kapiti Island and Te Papa in Wellington. Nine more on the South Island after the Picton ferry take in Abel Tasman and the Tonga Island marine reserve, Hokitika on the west coast, an ice walk on Fox Glacier and a finish at Queenstown. Original Travel include the hire cars, internal flights and ferries, accommodation, the guides and activities, concierge access, a 24-hour helpline and carbon absorption. International flights and most meals are separate. Prices run from 12,450 to 16,150 pounds per person. Wild animals being wild, no particular sighting is promised.