This was my first tour with JY and will not be my last! Met some lovely people and had some truly fantastic experiences. Some of my notes are below but the summary would be if you are thinking about taking this tour… DO IT! Such a wide variety of amazing experiences – beautiful scenery and a lovely group of like minded travellers to enjoy it with.
I have plenty of pictures that I would be happy to share, also please let me know if you have any questions.
Day 1/2 – 21 of us flew from Heathrow to Hong Kong . Some of us met in the lounge at Heathrow that JY had booked for us beforehand. We met our TM Sarah Wrightson here and she asked us to meet her at the baggage carousel once we got to HK. The flight with Cathay Pacific was around 12 hours. Once in HK we were quickly through Immigration and once we had all claimed our bags we were ready to go. We were met by our local guide, Anna and boarded the bus for the journey to The Cosmopolitan hotel on HK Island. Transfer was around an hour. We checked into the hotel and Sarah offered to meet anyone who wanted at 7pm in the lobby to walk to find dinner. Most people took her up on this and we splintered off into various restaurants along the way. Back to the hotel for an early night, jet lag permitting. The rooms at the hotel were very nice and they provided a free android phone that you could use as a wifi hotspot for your own phone for free. I took it with me everywhere and was really impressed with it. You could also use the phone to make free international calls to 9 countries including the UK which was a great touch.
Day 3 – Breakfast in the hotel and then met the rest of the group in the lobby for our included HK City Tour. We started by getting the tram up to The Peak. It was a bit foggy when we first got there but the views were great. Next we drove to Aberdeen to see the fishing village and there was an option to go on a Sampan boat around the harbour for a tour which I think everyone in our group enjoyed. Seeing the contrast between the boats that some of the fishermen live on right next door to the deluxe yachts in the harbour was very interesting. Our final stop was Stanley Market where we had time for lunch and could go shopping if we wished. We got back to the hotel mid afternoon and Sarah gave us an optional tour that night of a cruise and dinner.
Day 4 – Today was a free day and I did the optional tour to Lantau Island. We got the ferry over to the island and then visited Tai-O which is a fishing village where the houses are built on stilts over the water, Next we drove up to the Big Buddha and had a tour there. We walked down the 268 steps (yes, I counted!) and then had an included vegan lunch at the monastery. We got the cable car from Ngong Ping 360 which is a small commercial area 5mins walk from the Buddha. The journey in the cable car took about 20mins and gave really great views, including going right by the airport that we would be flying out of at 9pm that evening. Journey back to the hotel took a long time because of traffic so when we arrived it was already time to leave to get to the airport. It would have been good if we could have met the others at the airport rather than retracing our steps. Our flight to Auckland was slightly delayed and took 11.5hrs.
Day 5 – It took quite a while to get through Immigration and bag checks at Auckland airport. Dogs were sniffing all of the bags to detect any contraband. Our coach driver for the North Island, John met us with a smile and we also met 5 new fellow travellers joining us from Melbourne after completing the JY tour of Australia. Transfer to the City Life hotel was less than an hour and we arrived mid afternoon, Sarah hosted a welcome meeting at the hotel that night to explain more about the trip and then we had an included welcome dinner which was excellent.
Day 6 – Included City tour this morning and then a free afternoon. A group of us took the ferry over to Devonport and had a lovely time exploring.
Day 7 – Stopped at Waitomo caves en route to Rotorua, We had a great guide at the caves and they were fascinating to see. One of the highlights of my whole trip was going into inner caves in pitch darkness and silence on a small boat with our guide pulling us along on a series of ropes. If you looked up you suddenly saw hundreds of twinkly golden lights – glow worms! It was magical. We arrived in the lakeside town of Rotorua mid afternoon. The weather had clouded over so optional flight excursions were deferred until the next day. The Sudima hotel was well located, near to the famous Polynesian Spa. 3 of us rented a private spa pool with views over the lake and had a great time. Rotorua is famous for its volcanic pools and stinky sulphur smell – once experienced, never forgotten!
Day 8 – Free day today with most people taking one of 2 optional tours. One group went to Hobbiton to see the film sets from the Lord Of the Rings films. I went with the other tour to Rainbow Springs which is a nature park. Enjoyed our time here and I have a great picture of the intrepid few (inc TM Sarah) as we plummeted down the log flume! Next we took a trip up the gondola (= cable car) for great views and an included wine tasting. We then met up with the rest of the group at the lake for our optional flights. We had the option of either a helicopter or float plane ride over Mount Tarawera. I’d never been on a float plane and really enjoyed it. Dinner that night was included at a Maori village where we experienced some of their cultures and traditions and enjoyed the show and Hangi dinner. The singsong on the bus on the way home was a real giggle.
Day 9 – Visited the Te Puia Thernal Reserve where it was very interesting to see the geysers. After a stop at Huka Falls we travelled through the Esk Valley wine region and arrived at the Art Deco town of Napier. The Scenic hotel was in a great location and all rooms had a lovely view. Not much time to explore the town before we left at 6pm for an included dinner at the Mission Estate Winery.
Day 10 – An early start for some as they got up to watch the Rugby World Cup final at 5am. We had 300km to travel to get to Wellington so most of the day was spent on the coach, but there were plenty of stops for ‘facilities’. We had a tour of Wellington city sights upon arrival and were then dropped us at the James Cook hotel where we said a fond farewell to coach driver John. The hotel had an excellent value buffet dinner and Sarah negotiated a discounted price for us.
Day 11 – A free day…. time for a lie in! A group of us arranged to meet up for breakfast and then took the cable car up to the lookout point and Botanical Gardens. We then went back down and visited the Te Papa museum which was excellent and free to visit. Managed to fit in a spot of souvenir shopping too.
Day 11 – Took the ferry to the South Island. Our bags got shipped separately so we had to put them outside our doors for collection at early o’clock. Ferry took around 3.5hrs and was very blustery out on deck. JY had reserved a lounge area for us which was a great idea. We arrived at Picton on the South Island and after a quick lunch stop in we drove to Christchurch, stopping off at a seal viewpoint and Kaikoura on the way.
Day 12 – Brian our new driver for the South Island dropped us at Christchurch station and we caught the Trans Alpine train to Arthur’s Pass. Stunning scenery and the open sided carriage gave a chance to get some great photos, although it was freezing! We then drove on via Hokitika to the Franz Josef. We drove towards the glacier and had the chance to go on a lovely walk to get closer. I took an optional helicopter flight over the glacier and it was a fantastic experience. We flew right up and landed at the top of the glacier, a real highlight. A few of us booked a table at The Landings for dinner which is just across the road from the Scenic Hotel. We had a lovely meal but the portions were huge.
Day 13 – Drove through National Park areas en route to Queenstown. We stopped a few times at scenic lookout points and also stopped to walk to Blue River. It was a nice walk but there were a couple of footbridges that were a little swingy. We had lunch in Manakora and then stopped at Mrs Jones’ Fruit Farm where they serve huge fresh fruit ice cream cones :o) We got to Queenstown at around 4pm and a group of us did the Kawarau Jet Boat ride which was fabulous – highly recommend.
Day 14 – Up early for the long drive to Milford Sound. We stopped at Te Anau mid morning and then went via Eglington Flats and Mirror Lake. The final loo stop was at Knob’s Flat! And then it was on to Milford Sound via the Homer Tunnel. We had a 2.5hr cruise on the sound and a picnic lunch was provided. It was great being up on deck but very cold and blustery. The scenery was beautiful and the whole day was topped off by us seeing several whales breaching.
Day 15 – A free day.It was great having 3 nights in the same hotel, had chance to unpack properly and see the bottom of the suitcase! There was an optional excursion this day but I chose to get the hotel shuttle into Queenstown to do some shopping and try the famous ‘Fergburger’. They are open from 8.30am – 5.30am and are famous for their great burgers and long queues. I timed it just right and got there in time for brunch and can highly recommend. That evening all of us had signed up to do the Walter Peak dinner cruise. We travelled across Lake Wakatipu onboard the TSS Earnslow which is a vintage steamship. We then had dinner at Walter Peak Farm which was great. There was a sheep shearing demonstration in the barn afterwards and then we reboarded the boat for the journey home. There was a pianist playing on the way back and song sheets were handed out for those wanting to sing along. A great end to the evening.
Day 16 – We visited Arrowtown which is an old gold mining settlement and then went to where bungy jumping was invented! One intrepid member of our group took the plunge (literally) and about 10 of us went on the zip wire, which was great fun. For info, both are free for the over 75’s! We stopped in Cromwell for lunch which is a heritage town and then made our way to Omarama which is kind of in the middle of nowhere. The hotel was poor here but there are not many options halfway between Queenstown and Christchurch.
Day 17 – We drove through some beautiful scenery, first stop was Lake Pukaki. We then went to Lake Tekapo where some of us had booked a flight over Mount Cook. The weather was looking a bit sketchy but we got a call to say we were ok to go and it was a really great flight. Above the clouds it was lovely and sunny and we got really close up to the mountains. One tip would be to wear sunglasses as I got a bit snowblind from the sun reflecting off the snow. We arrived in Christchurch in the afternoon and had a quick city tour. The city is still devastated by the earthquake in 2011, many empty plots where buildings used to stand… very sad. We had our farewell dinner in the restaurant of our hotel, the Christchurch Rendezvous.
Day 18/19/20 – Left the hotel at around 7am for our flight to Auckland and then on to Hong Kong and finally London. A loooong day… door to door my journey was 40 hours but it was worth every minute.
