Travel Alerts: BLEACH Festival Gold Coast, Lake Taupō Cycle challenge, Milford Sound small-group cruises, Intrepid Premium Family trips, and Air NZ Christchurch routes
Families can now travel in smaller groups through destinations like Egypt, India and Borneo.
Intrepid is for families
Intrepid Travel has launched a Premium Family range with eight new small-group itineraries across Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, India, Borneo, Vietnam, Morocco, Thailand and Egypt, with departures from December 2026.
Groups are capped at three to five families per trip and led by Intrepid’s most experienced local guides, with all logistics handled end-to-end.
Standout itineraries include a nine-day Borneo trip combining an overwater villa on Gaya Island, a coral planting workshop and visits to the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre; a Morocco 10-day journey with a Sahara desert camp, Gnaoua music performances and workshops in pottery, calligraphy and cooking and an eight-day Egypt itinerary built around a three-night luxury Nile cruise . The India Golden Triangle trip takes families to the Taj Mahal at sunrise and into Jhalana Leopard Safari Park by 4WD. intrepidtravel.com/en/family.
SIX60 returns to the Gold Coast
SIX60 will headline BLEACH Festival on the HOTA Outdoor Stage on the Gold Coast this October, their first Australian festival performance in seven years. The Gold Coast’s flagship contemporary arts festival runs from October 1 to 11, 2026, and organisers deliberately shifted from the traditional calendar to align with New Zealand school holidays.
The wider program opens at dawn on October 1 with THAW, a giant block of ice suspended by crane on Surfers Paradise Foreshore by Sydney company Legs on the Wall. United States soul vocalist Lady Blackbird and Australian electronic duo Electric Fields share a free double-bill stage. British designer Morag Myerscough, known for installations at Coachella and the Paris Olympics, brings her BEACON light-and-sound work in partnership with Gold Coast arts group Everybody Now. This event invites Kiwi visitors during the school holiday window, making a Gold Coast trip a natural fit around the festival. More details and tickets will be available at hota.com.au/whats-on/live/festivals-and-series/bleach-2026.
The ride to 50
The Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge turns 50 in 2028, and the build-up starts now. Entries opened May 25, for the 48th edition on Saturday, November 28, 2026, circling 160 kilometres of lake shoreline.
Nine categories run across the weekend, anchored by the Shimano-sponsored Round the Lake circumnavigation. This invites elite and amateur riders to cycle side by side, making it one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest mass-participation rides. Mountain bike, gravel and family ride options mean the event functions more like a festival than a race. Now in its 48th year, the event is run by a charitable trust supported by Lake Taupō Rotary, with surplus funds going back into the local community. . cyclechallenge.com
New ways to experience Milford Sound
Southern Discoveries has spent 70 years running cruises on Milford Sound, and it has never offered anything quite like this. The operator is introducing new Mercedes Sprinter vehicles - perfectly paired with two new small-group products departing from Queenstown or Te Anau.
The first option, Small Group Travel and Discover More Cruise, combines the Sprinter transfer with a full-day cruise on the fjord. The second, Small Group Travel and Captain’s VIP Lounge, adds exclusive use of the only fully private cabin on any Milford Sound vessel, the Captain’s VIP Lounge aboard Pride of Milford, with priority boarding, a dedicated onboard host, all-inclusive lunch and drinks, as well as access to private outdoor viewing areas. Both products will also cap group sizes. southerndiscoveries.co.nz
Christchurch new direct flights with Air NZ
South Island travellers can fly direct to Singapore, Tokyo and Perth from Christchurch from late October 2026, removing the stress of an Auckland connection for long-haul routes. Air New Zealand launches Christchurch-Singapore from October 28, Christchurch-Tokyo Narita on November 28 and Christchurch-Perth on November 30, pending regulatory approval. All three routes will operate three times weekly on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.
Wildlife photography hits Auckland
From June 27, 2026, the Auckland War Memorial Museum will open the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. The touring show draws its final selection from tens of thousands of entries submitted by photographers across more than 90 countries, presenting the year’s most striking wildlife images in a single curated display.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year consistently ranks among the museum’s most-visited touring shows, and the June 27 opening aligns with the start of the July school holidays. aucklandmuseum.com/visit/exhibitions/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-2026
