Leaving Christchurch at 8.00am, your tour will travel south to Geraldine. Geraldine is a beautiful, sub alpine village in Canterbury it is a wonderful place for a coffee and an amble around the array of shops: arts and crafts galleries, specialty food stores which sell high-quality local wines, cheeses, chutneys and gourmet items. Afterwards you will take part in a horse Trek through the dense virgin bush of the Peel Forest Park on the south bank of the Rangitata River: An unforgettable experience.
We will travel through Burkes pass on our way to Aoraki. The scenery spectacularly changes as you enter the McKenzie Basin. An expanse of tussock grasslands and New Zealand’s highest mountain Aoraki (Mt Cook) your tour will take you on a 2 hour alpine walk with wonderful views. The next stop is the Tasman glacier; this tour involves walking to the sparkling turquoise glacial Tasman Lake and the taking an instructive boat ride to the face of the advancing glacier. Eat, drink and just relax at the accommodation while delighting in the outstanding scenery that lies before you.
The village at Lake Tekapo has the cleanest and clearest air in New Zealand. We will visit the lake, and the much-photographed Church of the Good Shepherd. Afterwards it is time to relax in the Tekapo hot pools and look out towards the gorgeous turquoise-blue of the lake which derives its colour from fine glacial particles suspended in the water.
You will take the scenic route to Twizel along the huge man-made Tekapo Canal. En route you stop at the salmon farm. Lord of the Rings fans will love our trip to view where they filmed the massive Battle of the Pelennor Fields on the grassy fields to the left of this road. The tour will return to Christchurch arriving at 6.30pm.