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Bespoke travel studio
Queenstown HQ · 45.0312° S, 168.6626° E
Now booking 2026/27
Trips built around feelings
New Zealand, felt — not just seen
We are Emotion Journey, a Queenstown-based studio designing tailor-made trips across New Zealand — fjords at dawn, vineyard tables, alpine silence, and the occasional casino night when the mood calls for velvet and neon.
Lake Wakatipu, first light
This week
3 departures · 2 seats left
18°C · clear alpine air
Milford Sound
Queenstown
Rotorua
Wānaka
Auckland
Fjordland
Milford Sound
Queenstown
Rotorua
Wānaka
Auckland
Fjordland
01 · Where we go
Pick a landscape, we handle everything else
Five regions we know street by street. Every route starts from our South Island destinations map and bends around your pace.
All destinations
Signature
Queenstown & The Remarkables
Adventure capital energy with slow mornings on the lake — our home turf.
Fjordland
Milford Sound overnight
Sleep inside the fjord, wake to waterfalls nobody else hears.
See the route
Rotorua
Thermal valleys & Māori heritage
Steam, storytelling and a hangi dinner done properly.
See the route02 · Featured journeys
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03 · The difference
Planners, not resellers
We drive these roads ourselves. Every lodge, table and boat in our itineraries is somewhere we have actually been — usually more than once, usually arguing about which visit was better.
Maya Ellison
Founder, lead planner
The Velvet South itinerary
Adults only
18+ · play responsibly
04 · After dark
Mountains by day, velvet by night
Our after-dark line pairs alpine days with evenings at New Zealand's most interesting casino hotels — lakefront gaming rooms, jazz corners, chef-led late suppers. We arrange the table, the driver and the next morning's slow breakfast.
- Hosted entry at partner casino hotels
- Private transfers — nobody draws driver-short-straw
- Optional seats at seasonal casino events
05 · Field record
Numbers we stand behind
updated monthly
0+
Trips delivered
Since 2017, across both islands.
0
Avg. rating
From post-trip calls, not pop-ups.
0%
Rebook or refer
Most new clients arrive via friends.
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Partner lodges
Hand-held contracts, direct lines.
06 · How it works
Four coffees to take-off
From first hello to wheels-up usually takes ten days. Urgent? We have built a trip in 48 hours — it was a weird week, but it worked.
Start step one
Step 01 — The call
A 20-minute conversation
What you love, what you skip, budget honesty. We take notes, not payments.
Step 02 — The draft
Route sketch in 72 hours
A day-by-day outline with real lodges and real prices. You poke holes in it.
Step 03 — The lock-in
Bookings, beds, boats
We confirm every moving part and send one tidy document. Deposit secures it.
Step 04 — The trip
We ride shotgun (remotely)
Live support while you travel — weather pivots, table moves, plan Bs.
07 · Travellers talking
“
They planned the trip around how we wanted to feel — nobody had asked us that before.
Hannah & Joel — Melbourne · Fjord & Flame, March 2026
"Milford at sunrise with zero boats around. I still don't know how they pulled that off."
Priya S.Sydney
"The casino evening was a laugh — hosted entry, great table, and a driver waiting at 1am."
Marcus T.Brisbane
"Our planner rerouted a whole day around weather before we'd even finished breakfast."
Elena V.Auckland
08 · From the notebook
Notes from the road desk
Short, honest dispatches from our planners — what is quietly excellent right now, which track reopens in spring, and where the locals actually eat.
2,400+ readers
09 · Ready when you are
Tell us the feeling. We'll draw the map.
One call, one draft, one unforgettable trip. Start with a quick hello or browse our tailor-made journeys first.