Pure Freedom - Flexible New Zealand Bus Tour
WHY STRAY?
We stay closer to the action:
Near Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach; on a marae; in a West Coast Pub; beside six national parks (including Tongariro, Mt Aspiring, Fiordland and Abel Tasman) so you can easily access the good stuff.
We stop to do things along the way:
The Tongariro Crossing or skiing in winter; a walk or sea kayak in the Abel Tasman National Park – ‘must do’ things that other trips don’t include. We are not an express service, we Stray!
We use mini coaches:
The benefits are many; you don’t feel herded around, we get many more accommodation and activity options; it’s easier to meet people; plus we can get you to the off the beaten track places and do more in a day!
We offer outstanding unique stops and activities:
Don’t settle for average, most of the best stuff to see in NZ is off the tourist trail - a Maori cultural stop-over, a lodge in native bush, bone carving in Barrytown, a wildlife stop-over on Stewart Island, surf school, mussel tasting in Abel Tasman, a luxurious alpine lodge in National Park – all exclusive to Stray and some of our top-rating features.
The best people:
We attract independent people of a wide range of nationalities and ages to be crew and customers - people who want to get involved in the place they are travelling rather than just look out the bus window.
We give our driver/guides market-leading training to help guide you around New Zealand; as well as being your local on hand, they provide commentary, book beds and activities, and provide guidance on things as varied as history and culture to the best drinking spots.
These are all people that you’d like to adventure with.
Save by getting off the beaten track:
Firstly, you save because we go to out of the way places like Raglan, the Catlins, and the Abel Tasman so you don’t have to buy costly extra side trips. We save you time by picking you up and dropping you off at your accommodation; and by our extensive knowledge of where and what the best things in New Zealand are. We get you deals on the activities over the routes so you can afford to do more and there are always free activities for you to do; but the less obvious way that you save money is because we go off the beaten track and do down-to-earth activities with locals. For example, our Maori cultural experience – not only is it more authentic than the big mainstream options you’ll find it about $40 cheaper as well!
Orange is the new green – with one of New Zealand’s most efficient bus fleets:
Stray is committed to environmentally sustainable tourism. Rather than just token gestures of energy efficient light bulbs and recycling (which we do anyway) we lead the market with the newest bus fleet to reduce our emissions (with the best fuel economy and Euro 3 and 4 spec engines) instead of just trying to off-set them. By choosing Stray you are helping reduce your own carbon output – travelling on a bus is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to travel, but only if the bus is full! We reduce our departure days and bus sizes in winter when there are less travellers to New Zealand, to further reduce unnecessary output.
It’s real:
Stray has extremely high customer satisfaction and referrals (97.5% - it appears 2.5% of people don’t like getting off the beaten track) because we offer adventurous travellers more of what they want – down-to-earth, real New Zealand. The key difference is you really can realistically do the things that we list in our brochure and on this website. Many of the things that we identify on our trips we have to go out of our way to do. For example, the Tongariro Crossing and Hot Water Beach are part of our normal itinerary so Stray offers the best chance to do them on our trips. You don’t have to hop off the bus and make your own way to enjoy these iconic NZ activities. It amazes us that we have to say this but be wary of brochures/websites that indicate that they do things (like go to the Abel Tasman or Raglan) without saying how they do so (when they really make you buy a transfer with another operator). Be aware also that you simply can’t access much of what we think is the best stuff in New Zealand by using public transport – it simply doesn’t go there.
You’ve come all this way – don’t miss out on the best stuff. Stray.
Cheers, Neil Geddes
