Itinerary

Maori and First Nations food culture

Embracing a strong organic and seasonal approach, we prioritise taste over standardisation, contrasting with supermarket produce. This ensures our vegetables boast complex and bold flavours to elevate the Ahi dining experience.

Day 1

Rotorua (Te Puia)

Te Puia sits inside the Whakarewarewa geothermal valley, where Te Arawa have lived and cooked using the area’s natural steam vents for generations. A cultural performance is followed by a hāngi, meat and vegetables steamed for hours in an underground oven, the same cooking method the valley’s geothermal heat has supported for centuries.

Day 4

Bay of Islands / Waitangi

At the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, an evening begins with a traditional wero, or challenge, on a bush walk, followed by a cultural performance in the carved meeting house and a hāngi dinner, meat and vegetables layered in a hot-stone earth oven and served buffet-style back at the Whare Waka Café.

Day 7

Margaret River (Koomal Dreaming)

Wadandi man Josh Whiteland runs Koomal Dreaming out of Ngilgi Cave near Yallingup, combining a foraging walk for native foods with a didgeridoo performance amplified by the cave’s natural acoustics. The tour closes with a bush barbecue of kangaroo, emu and quandong, paired with Margaret River wine, built around the six Noongar seasons that have shaped Wadandi hunting and gathering for tens of thousands of years.

Day 10

Tasmania (Freycinet)

At Saffire Freycinet, Palawa man Mick Quillam leads a two-hour walk through the property’s native bushland, sharing knowledge of lutruwita passed down through generations of Tasmania’s First People. It’s a quieter, more personal counterpoint to the lodge’s other experiences, grounded in story and Country rather than produce.

Day 13

Margaret River / Augusta, WA

A rock lobster charter out of Augusta, where the Blackwood River meets Flinders Bay near the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, brings the day’s catch back to Injidup Spa Retreat, perched on the clifftop above Injidup Beach. Each villa has its own plunge pool and kitchenette, and the lodge’s chef will prepare a four-course dinner from the catch, served in the villa as the sun goes down over the Indian Ocean.

More Itineraries

Port Douglas & The Daintree, Australia

Beyond The Blue was founded on the belief that travel should feel personal, not prescribed. Through trusted local relationships and thoughtful planning, we create journeys that reveal the people.

Vanuatu – Espiritu Santo

Beyond The Blue was founded on the belief that travel should feel personal, not prescribed. Through trusted local relationships and thoughtful planning, we create journeys that reveal the people.

French Polynesia – Bora Bora & Moorea

Beyond The Blue was founded on the belief that travel should feel personal, not prescribed. Through trusted local relationships and thoughtful planning, we create journeys that reveal the people.