050723 Autumn Colours & Fiordland - Flipbook - Page 2
FIORDLAND / TE WAHIPOUNAMU
9 NIGHT / 10 DAY – FLY CRUISE ITINERARY
Day 1 – Sunday 07 May 2023
Midday flight with Air New Zealand - Auckland to
Queenstown. Flights from other Air NZ airport can be
arranged. On arrival transfer to the hotel. Free afternoon.
Hotel:
The Rees Luxury Hotel – Lakeview room
• Puysegur Point, where we land at the old oil store (now a
DOC hut) and walk to the most isolated lighthouse in New
Zealand.
• Spit Island, an island connected to the mainland by a
beautiful sandspit at low tide. It was the site of two tragic
Maori battles in the 1780s.
• Cascade basin, a magnificent waterfall that plunges into
Long Sound.
We cruise around the inlets, and may do activities such as:
• View the rusting hulk of the wreck “Stella”, a steamship
that purposely ran aground in the 1800s after damaging
itself on a reef.
• Walk on the beach at South Port Cove and visit
McCallum’s sawmill boiler.
• Walk up to Lake Cadman, via the falls in Lake Cove at the
head of Edwardson Sound (20 minutes).
Evening: Meet for Welcome drinks in the
lobby before we take the shuttle into town for
our special Bon Voyage dinner at Rata Dining
Day 2 – Monday 08 May 2023
This morning we head to Arrowtown where we join a
historic walking tour of “Autumn Colours Central”. We then
head to Gibbston Valley Winery for a unique tasting in their
wine cave before going on to the Kinross Winery cellar door
for a special tasting of the wines from the five
neighbourhood wineries they represent. We follow this
with a tasty Al fresco platter lunch. Free afternoon and
evening.
Right beside Chalky Inlet is Preservation Inlet, separated by
Broke-adrift Passage and Treble Mountain. In the 1890s, a
gold rush occurred and mining towns sprang up at
Cromarty and Te Oneroa, where tracks and old mining
machinery can still be found. Possible activities include:
• Land at Krisbee Bay to view an old sawmill boiler at
Cromarty. The gold mine itself is many kilometres into the
hills.
• Land at Te Oneroa Beach and walk 10 minutes inland to
the old Morning Star battery boiler, where you may be able
to see the mine drives and even the remains of an aerial
cableway. On the other side of the inlet is the site of the
first whaling station in the South Island.
Day 3 - 9: FIORDLAND DISCOVERY CRUISE
Day 3 – Tuesday 09 May – Mon 15 May 2023
After breakfast we leave Queenstown by Mercedes Minicoach for a two-hour scenic drive to Te Anau. Fly via
helicopter from Te Anau and land directly onboard the
Fiordland Jewel, which will be waiting in Preservation Inlet.
Dusky Sound
At some stage, depending on conditions, we leave Chalky
Inlet and head up to Dusky Sound where we’ll cruise
amongst various islands, coves and passages, visiting many
historically significant sites such as:
Preservation Inlet also has some spectacular land features
and viewpoints, including:
• Luncheon Cove, where we walk around predator-free
Anchor Island (2.5 kilometres), a bird sanctuary near the
mouth of the fiord. You may see the South Island
saddleback and, occasionally, one of the 40 rare kakapo on
the island. This track travels up to a small lake in the centre
of the island.
