Air New Zealand has teamed up with the long-running US show The Amazing Race to give away a luxury week in New Zealand, and the timing is no accident: host Phil Keoghan is from Christchurch, the South Island city now in its global spotlight as the show enters its 39th season.
The prize is built around one lucky winner plus a guest, and it starts with the part most people dread — the flight. Round-trip Business Premier seats on Air New Zealand are included, from the US to Auckland, then on to Christchurch. Anyone who has done the long haul to New Zealand in economy will appreciate why that matters most.
Once on the ground, winners get five nights split across three five-star properties: Sudima Christchurch City in town, Flockhill Lodge out in the high country, and Hapuku Lodge & Tree Houses near Kaikoura. The itinerary packs in a jetboat safari, ziplining, a scenic train ride and a dolphin encounter, plus three tours — a walking food tour, the Mahika Kai Waka tour, and entry to the Tram & Botanic Garden. Lunch at C1 Espresso, a Christchurch institution famous for firing takeaway cups through pneumatic tubes, rounds things off.
Entries close on October 21, 2026, and winners are drawn at random and notified around October 30, 2026. You enter through Air New Zealand's own sweepstakes page with your contact details, so it costs nothing beyond a minute of admin.
The fine print matters, though. Only legal residents of the United States can enter, and residents of Florida and New York are excluded entirely — a common quirk of US sweepstakes law. The trip also can't be taken during two blackout windows: December 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027, and May 23, 2027 to July 2, 2027. Plan around those and you're fine.
Why bother even if you never win? Because the itinerary doubles as a ready-made template for a South Island trip. The mix of city-base hotel, lodge stays, adrenaline activities and a food tour is exactly how a well-planned Christchurch-plus-Canterbury week looks in real life — and Hapuku's tree houses are worth booking regardless of any contest.
For US travellers, it's a rare no-cost shot at a business-class trip to a destination that usually demands serious savings. For everyone else, it's a nudge to look at Christchurch beyond its gateway-city role — as a base for whale-watching near Kaikoura, jetboating on the Waimakariri, and some of the country's best inland scenery at Flockhill.
