The Usha Mardia tour was made up of childhood friends & their wives who hailed from Jodhpur, Ahemdabad & Mumbai. These six couples made for a jolly group as they lsang Bollywood songs and laughed their way around NZ with Constance, their guide, at the wheel.
Exploring both islands, the group started with sightseeing around Auckland before heading south to Rotorua via the Botanic Gardens and Hobbiton.
This was followed by a morning drive to Taupo to visit the famous Huka Falls & honey shop then a visit to the Redwood Tree Walk & Te Puia where they saw geysers, boiling mud & our National Bird, the Kiwi in the afternoon.
On the return trip to Auckland they visited the Hamilton Gardens. The enclosed gardens are simply astounding with various themes such as English, Chinese, Japanese, Italian plus includes an Indian Char Bagh garden.
The group then flew to Queenstown for a few days stay. One day trip saw them witness Bungy jumping, sample wine & cheese at the Gibbston Valley vineyard, stop in the Kawarau Gorge to see the Roaring Meg Power Station, eat fresh fruit ice creams in Cromwell plus shop in Arrowtown and Queenstown itself.
The weather up until this point had been perfect and the rain conveniently arrived on the day that Altitude Tours took the couples across to the Milford Sound, which is always more magnificent when it’s wet, as the waterfalls truly put on a display.
Their final day in Queenstown involved more shopping and a drive out to Glenorchy on the northern arm of Lake Wakatipu, where they experienced a 2hr jet boat ride along the Dart River. They thoroughly enjoyed the thrill.
From there they travelled across the Crown Range to have a wee tipple at the Cardrona Distillery then have a brief look around Wanaka, another beautiful lakeside town, before reaching their next destination Mount Cook Village.
After a small morning walk on the Hooker Valley Track the group headed to Glentanner Station to experience a 40min Mountain High helicopter ride where they circumnavigated Aoraki/Mt Cook, NZ’s highest peak.
Next stop was the NZ Alpine Lavender Farm for a taste of their fresh fruit & lavender ice creams before driving atop Mt John for an impressive view of Lake Tekapo & the McKenzie Basin. Sadly it clouded over that night so no star gazing took place.
Enroute to Christchurch the group enjoyed having a browse around the shops of Geraldine & found some great items of alpaca, possum & merino wool clothing to take home for gifts.
On the last day of the tour, two couples chose to explore Christchurch and did a city tour by the tram and took a walk around the Botanic Gardens, while the other four couples visited the Antarctica International Centre in the morning to see the penguins, then headed out to Akaroa for a harbour cruise in the afternoon to see the Hector Dolphins (smallest in the world).
And before they knew it, their travels had come to an end and it was time to chalo (go).
