Safari of the Scenes, a tour well worth doing!
Day 2 - Queenstown and surrounding area.
On our second day in Queenstown we did the
Safari of the Scenes tour with Nomad Safaris. This is a 4 hour tours that starts
with a pick up at your hotel at 8:30AM. Lord of the Rings fans will be happy to
know they visit several locations where the film was filmed, thus the name
Safari of the Scenes. However this tour was in existence before the film
actually came out. It covers the Wakatipu Basin and part of Skipper’s Canyon.
The tour is done in a Land Rover Defender
as the terrain warrants nothing less than a reliable 4WD. We start out with a
steep climb up the Misty Mountain range from where we were blessed with
incredible views of Deer Park Heights.
We also visited Arrowtown which is rich
with history from the Gold Rush dating back to the 1800’s. The main street
still looks like it could be a gold rush town from the 1800’s. The Arrow River today
is still panned for gold and on occasion some get lucky. Our tour actually
included a lesson in panning and we all had a go, no one got lucky, but the
homemade fruitcake served with our coffee by our driver was worth writing home
about.
This was definitely a very fun part of the
trip as the Land Rovers ford the river several times as we travel down the
river. Make sure you take your pictures with the window closed on this part! |
| Chard Farm Winery |
We visited the Kawarau Gorge on a rather
narrow road with a rather curious sign (see picture to the right), that is apparently built for two way traffic; thank goodness this is
not part of my daily commute! From here we could see the original site of
the first commercial bungee which was started by A. J. Hackett. There is even a
winery situated off this rather tiny road. Apparently the owner had great
insight as it is a successful business now producing 6 variety of wines. But, when he first started most believed them foolish to even try.
The last part of the tour was to Skipper’s
Canyon and in my opinion it offered the most incredible views of the day. The
day was sunny and bright and because it was New Zealand’s fall the tussock (native
wild grass) was stunning to see with the shades of gold, brown and orange. Not to mention the while seated on the passenger
side, which was also the outside edge of the road the view was literally heart
stopping! Skipper’s road is considered one the top 25 most scenic drives in the
world and probably one of the scariest, but so worth it! Our tour concluded at our
hotel so we could get ready for our next adventure.
Nomad Safaris also offers other tours in
the area including Glenorchy, private tours and they also have All Terrain Vehicle options.
I’d be happy to give you the details on your next trip to Queenstown.
Denise Gushue - Certified Travel Advisor
Kiwi Specialsit
1 comment:
Wow, Denise! I sure would love to get to NZ! It looks absolutely stunning! I'll keep reading your blog for more tips and insights for my planning ...
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