How to meet the royal couple while they're in New Zealand

Saturday, 27 October 2018

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex depart Sydney Airport to fly to New Zealand on Sunday.

The royals are coming! After a hugely successful visit to Australia, Fiji and Tonga, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are now on their way to New Zealand to finish up their 16-day tour.

The couple spent 10 days on official engagements in Australia, winding up with the Sydney closing ceremony of the Invictus Games for war wounded that Prince Harry founded.

Prince Harry and Meghan will be in New Zealand for four days.

Harry and Meghan took a Royal New Zealand Air Force plane for the flight to Wellington on Sunday, and are due to land on Sunday afternoon.

So when and where can you catch a glimpse – or perhaps even meet – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?

With a personal entourage of 10 surrounding them everywhere they go, things were bound to get a little cramped around the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Andrew Hornery investigates.

* Meghan and Harry's Abel Tasman details kept under wraps

The royal couple have just finished a tour of Australia and the Pacific.

* Nearly half of Kiwis think the royals' visit is a bad use of taxpayer money**

If you want your own chance to chase after the royal Daimler, as people did during Queen Elizabeth's 1954 visit, fling yourself off a bridge to impress the royals with your diving skills like the children of Rotorua that same year, or nick a tree freshly planted by a royal hand – this happened in 1990 – this is your chance.

Prince Harry and Meghan will touch down on Sunday to begin their much anticipated four-day tour of New Zealand.

Prince Harry and Meghan will be touring the country for four days.

There will be opportunities for the public to see the glossy magazine cover-gracing couple in Wellington, Auckland, and Rotorua. Read on, for their detailed itinerary.

WELLINGTON

Flying in to Wellington with our medal-winning Invictus Games team on Sunday, they'll be welcomed at Government House with a powhiri and haka. Listen out for a 21-gun salute in the late afternoon.

The general masses' first official chance to see – and if they're lucky, shake the hands of – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be at the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park. They'll lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior and go for a public walkabout.

This event will go from 4.45pm to 5.35pm, but you'll want to arrive early as thousands of people are expected to turn up.

Afterwards the couple will return to Government House to celebrate the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage in New Zealand with Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy.

Monday will be madness, kicking off with a morning visit to iconic Wellington eatery Maranui Cafe at 10am to discuss mental health projects operating around the country, with an emphasis on youth wellbeing.

TASMAN

Harry and Meghan will then pop across Cook Strait for a bush walk in Abel Tasman National Park and barbecue. They'll also plant a tree, as royals are want to do. This will definitely be your best bet to recreate the drama of Southland's pin oak, planted by the Queen then stolen by an apparently still-at-large-thief.

Back in the capital in the evening, the couple will face the ghouls and goblins of newly opened Courtenay Creative – and meet young artists eager to display their talent in fantasy horror make-up, costume and virtual reality.

AUCKLAND

On Tuesday the Duke and Duchess will be in Auckland engaging in a 'welly-wanging' contest, which we believe means throwing gumboots. They'll do this at the North Shore's Queen's Commonwealth Canopy between 11.45 and 12.45.

Next stop is Pillars, a charity supporting children with a parent in prison, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Our Government donated $5000 to Pillars as a wedding present to the royal couple.

Between 4pm and 4.20pm is an ideal time for Aucklanders to spy the royals, as they'll be downtown strolling the viaduct.

That evening, at 7pm, they will reconnect with the prime minister at a reception held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

ROTORUA

After travelling to Rotorua on Wednesday morning, the couple will experience a formal powhiri at Te Papaiouru Marae from 11.30am and lunch held in Meghan's honour.

In the afternoon they will meet kiwi chicks at Rainbow Springs, followed by a public walkabout through Rotorua's Government Gardens from 3.30pm to 4pm.

Prince Harry and Meghan's final excursion will be with a group of local mountain bikers later that afternoon. They will traverse a series of suspension bridges slung between ancient redwoods, at the Redwoods Treewalk.

That evening they'll be whisked back to Auckland to depart New Zealand the next day.