Saturday 29th October.
Fly into Queenstown, and for those of us who have been privileged to stay at some very pleasant locations around the world I consider Millbrook Resort, our accommodation while in Queenstown, to be up there with the best. I have included as attachments to this email a number of photos taken at Millbrook when we visited there in 2005 and I know it to be every bit as charming now as it was then. Check out the web site at www.millbrook.co.nz .With the two hour time difference between Eastern Australia and New Zealand most of Day One will be taken up with travel and settling into Millbrook and I’m suggesting we should check in individually at reception and meet for pre-dinner drinks at the Hole-in-One Café and Bar prior to dinner at the Millhouse Restaurant.
Sunday 30th October.
A relaxed day today and a not too early start. Breakfast is available up until 10.00am in ‘The Clubhouse’ either taken in the charmingly restored building itself – once a large granary or outside on the Terrace. Later in the morning we will take our coach into Queenstown for an orientation tour of the town and surrounds before boarding the only remaining passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship in the southern hemisphere the TSS Earnslaw for a three and a half hour cruise over Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak High Country Farm for lunch before returning to Queenstown and some time for a wander around this bustling lakeside town prior to returning to Millbrook. Dinner this evening at the Millhouse Restaurant.
Monday 31st October .
Let’s not rush into the morning but enjoy breakfast at a respectable hour. We leave Millbrook today for Te Anau, gateway to Fiordland; however before leaving Queenstown we will ride the Skyline Gondola to the top of ‘Bob’s Peak’ for spectacular views over Queenstown and across Lake Wakatipu to Coronet Peak and the Remarkables. An opportunity to pick up some lunch in Queenstown before commencing the 174 km drive along lakeside and then through sheep and deer farming countryside to Te Anau. Our accommodation in Te Anau is at the pleasantly situated Distinction Hotel. Our rooms all lookout across the garden to the lake, with its spectacular backdrop of the Murchison mountains. Time this evening for a stroll along the shore of the lake prior to dinner at our hotel.
Tuesday 1st November.
The road from Te Anau to Milford Sound is a stunning alpine drive as it winds its way 116 kms around and over jagged mountain peaks and alongside fjords before reaching the head of the sound from where we will take a two and a half hour Lunch Cruise to the mouth of the Sound. The Fiordland Regional Tourism Organisation comments ‘Arriving at Milford Sound, take time to view the breath-taking scenery as steep, wooded cliffs rise sheer out of the still, dark waters and Mitre Peak at 1692m looms ahead of you. As you sail out into the fjord towards the Tasman Sea watch as penguins, dolphins and seals frolic in the waters close to the boat. Visitors to Milford Sound will not be disappointed. It is truly spectacular, with scenery that has remained unchanged throughout the ages. In 1883 Explorer James Hingston wrote "For thousands of feet upwards the eye looks upon straight cut rocky frontages, not worn smooth by time, or by wind or water, but as sharply defined and as fresh looking in all respects as if riven asunder but yesterday by the stupendous wedges of Titanic Masons”. The Maori were the first to attribute the creation of the fiords to a 'titanic mason', Tute Rakiwhanoa who hewed out the steep sided valleys with keen edged adzes. No other explanation seems to fit, as it is impossible to comprehend the sheer breadth of geological events that created this seemingly perfect sculpture, as sheer cliffs rise vertically upward from the ocean.”
We return to our hotel mid-afternoon for a time of relaxation prior to dinner this evening at our hotel.
Wednesday 2nd November.
The programme today is yet to be firmed up but will include some time cruising on the beautiful Lake Manapouri (see a couple of photos taken during our visit in 2005), later in the day we will travel by coach back to Queenstown and our accommodation at Millbrook, arriving in time for that ‘quiet lie down or stroll around the exceedingly pleasant grounds of the resort’ prior to dinner this evening at the Millhouse Restaurant.
Thursday 3rd November.
Today a mix of the exciting and the sedate. This morning a choice from the ‘bizarre’, the ‘somewhat bizarre’ or “is there someone else I can speak to other than you Geoff?”
For those of us who recall a number of perilous experiences white-water rafting in various locations around the world, and who are ‘hanging out’ for yet another opportunity to ‘brave the rapids’ this time on the Shotover River, this is for you (and me).
Something not quite so exhilarating , but still quite exciting and worth ‘bragging to the kids about’, is a Jet-boat ride down the Shotover River.
Should either of the above not hold any appeal, the coach will take the remainder of the group to a number of scenic locations around the Queenstown area.
Late morning and we all meet up again in town for lunch prior to taking an afternoon drive out to Glenorchy. Considered by some to be the most scenic drive in New Zealand the road from Queenstown to Glenorchy for the most part clings to the sides of the mountains which plunge steeply into the deep waters of Lake Wakitipu. Arriving at Glenorchy time to wander around this rather isolated town but where the coffee and cake is as good as you’ll get anywhere in New Zealand. Although returning to Queenstown by the same route the mountain and lake views change constantly, as new peaks and vistas come into view and perspectives alter. We arrive back in Millbrook in the late afternoon, time again to enjoy the ambience of the location prior to dinner at the Millhouse Restaurant.
Friday 4th November. Breakfast this morning, as with all days at Millbrook will be taken at ‘The Clubhouse’. With members of the group departing at various times today I have not included in the overall cost, transport to the airport, which is only a relatively short distance away. I would think however we would be able to arrange some combined travel on the day with a view to minimising the cost of transfers.
Europe 2000 * Europe 2002 * Canada and Alaska 2004 * South
Island of New Zealand 2005 * Croatia/Slovenia/Scandinavia
2006 * Gardens
of Japan, American National Parks and Regional Britain 2008 * The best of Eastern and Western Europe 2010
