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Coach & International Travel
Coach & International Travel
Day
1: Monday 16th September 2024 (D)
All aboard! Today we make our way down to Melbourne. As the
flight is in the morning, stay the night at the Best Western Airport Motel. Get
to know your fellow travellers over a 2-course meal.
Day
2: Tuesday 17th September 2024 (B, D)
After breakfast! The hotel will transfer you to the airport
where you go through formalities and board your flight to Wellington.
Welcome to Wellington! The capital of New Zealand, a compact
city with much to offer. After leaving the airport we will be transferred to
our accommodation for the next two nights.
The Sofitel Wellington is a luxurious property, as you settle in take
advantage of what the hotel has to offer. Dinner will be served by Sofitel.
Day 3: Wednesday 18th September 2024 (B,
D)
Have a relaxing start to the day, enjoy at your leisure
breakfast and then the day is yours. You might like to spend your time
strolling the streets and saying Kia Ora to the locals, relaxing by the water.
Or you might like us to organise something for you. Today is a free day!
Day
4: Thursday 19th September 2024 (B, D)
The Chathams are part of New Zealand so there are no border
controls or formalities on arrival. You could however show your passport, in
the hope of getting a CHATHAM ISLAND franking stamp from the hotel. During the
flight you may like to put your watches forward. The Chathams are 45 minutes
ahead of NZ time (but 20 years behind the times).
Arrive Chatham Islands (Tuuta Airport 19 km northeast of
Waitangi Township). Upon arrival, we
will assemble in front of the aircraft for a group photograph. We will be met
at the airport by our host and tour guide, Toni Croon. During your stay, we
will visit the four corners of the Island and the special places in between.
Due to the very changeable weather, please pack your day bags for four seasons
in one day. Comfortable footwear is recommended as you will be crossing over
farmland. The water is fine for
refilling your water bottles. A notice board will be put up every night, with
hints on your next day’s adventure. At the hotel, check in and freshen up for dinner.
Retire to the bar, mix with the locals and relax ‘til the small hours. Wi-Fi
code is available at the lounge bar. If Wi-Fi is in your unit, the code will be
printed on the back off the Wi-Fi.
Day
5: Friday 18th September 2024 (B, D)
When you arrive on the Chatham, you feel you are in the New
Zealand of 40 years ago. The abundance of seafood (we are talking crayfish,
paua, groper and blue cod) makes you wonder why you have to go so long between
bites in other parts of the country. Today there will be optional Activies
available. Accommodation on Chatham will be Hotel Chatham and Travellers Rest.
Optional
Activities (weather permitting)
Pitt
Island
Day tour out
to Pitt Island ($450 per person). Book on the day at the hotel.
Please be
mindful; if you go to Pitt Island you may forgo a day’s activities on Chatham. Pitt
Island involves a lot of variables. I let the hotel look after this 100% as
they are in constant communication with Pitt Island. After you arrive on the
Chathams, mention your interest at the hotel office. You might get there. You
might be able to fly. You might have to go by boat. The weather might allow it
to happen. You might not get there at all. On the other hand, you might just
strike it right. Pitt Island is always a big MIGHT. It’s a great place to visit
if you can.
Fishing
Optional
activities (subject to minimum number and weather permitting). The hotel has
its own boat, the 40 ft Nancy Kay. Up to 12 people at a time can enjoy 2-3 hrs
of Chatham Island deep sea fishing, hand lining for Blue cod and Hapuka.
Weather permitting, this option is complementary. All fish generally comes back to the hotel
and frozen in packs for pax to take home on the last day. Additional charters
are available for up to eight keen fisher- people @ $200 pp for two to three
hours. However, please note that five blue cod and one hapuka pp is the limit
on these charters. Times for fishing are tide dependent and on number of pax
going, we can do 3 trips on same day, each going for 2-3 hours. Extra, fresh
"free flow” blue cod can be bought at $65 per 2 kg to bring home. Toni will
have got numbers of persons going and arranged the fishing trip the night
before. Overall Catch Limits The following is hereby agreed by the signatories
to this MOU: The maximum take to be adopted in the interim until the legislation
is in place is as follows: Species Daily Catch Limit Blue cod 5, Hapuka 2, Paua
5, Rock lobster 2, Kina 10 Accumulation is all at the one-day limit Messaging
to Visitors
Those who
haven’t gone fishing will have had time to look around "Downtown Waitangi” with
a visit to the museum and shop (and have your passport stamped).
Day
6: Saturday 19th September 2024 (B, D)
Kaingaroa - Northern
Part of the Chathams
Depart hotel by bus. Drive out to to Splatter Rock. These
rocks on the western end of Wharekauri Beach are from "Middle Earth” and the
metamorphic glass in them sparkles in the sun. The farm we travel through is
Wharekauri Farm Station. It is 28,000 acres in extent. There are 40 miles of
fencing, 12,000 sheep and 260 acres under crop. Ocean Mail Reserve. Continuing
to Ocean Mail Scenic Reserve we take a boardwalk and wander through this
wetland area. J M Barker Reserve
(Hapupu) Tree Carvings, Dendrogliphs (tree carvings). At Hapupu Historic
Reserve we discover another unique archaeological site. Carved into the bark of kopi (karaka) trees
within the reserve are Moriori tree carvings – known as dendroglyphs. They are
among the little evidence of pre-contact Moriori culture remaining on the
island. The last remaining trees were expected to die and disappear between
2015 and 2017. However, they are still there in sad shape. We also visit
Broughton Landing, an old mission and whaling station, and the farm "Mission
Station” owned by the late Jim Muirson. Jim had 1,400 hectares, running 3,000
ewes and 350 cows. This is where we will be able to view the remains of a
wrecked RNZAF Short Sunderland and a newly arrived Fokker Friendship, in the
process of preservation. This particular Sunderland aircraft provided an
aviation lifeline to the island until it was holed by a rock while taking off
from the Te Whanga Lagoon in 1959. We travel across many paddocks to reach the
huge fir seal colony at Point Munning. Back to the hotel, check in and freshen
up for dinner. Retire to the bar, mix with the locals and relax ‘til the small
hours.
Day 7: Sunday 20th September 2024 (B, D)
This morning we journey down to the southwestern part of the
island where we visit Awatotora Reserve. This is an area of regenerating native
bush, and home of the Chatham Island wood pigeon (parea), which we hope to
spot. Bus for Blind Jim’s Creek (fossilized shark teeth). On the shores of
beautiful Te Whanga lagoon, near Blind Jim's Creek, careful fossicking is
likely to be rewarded by the discovery of fossilised shark teeth. Around 30
million years old, these incredibly ancient objects are almost as scarce as
hen’s teeth but can be found in the Chatham Islands. To find a tooth from a
creature that was eating fish long before the first primate - let alone the
first human - walked the earth is amazing. I am sure that by the time you leave
Te Whanga Lagoon, you will all be in possession of one or many of these prized
ancient fossils. Nikau Reserve. Nikau
Bush is a 19-hectare reserve located 1.5 km north of Blind Jim’s. It conserves
broadleaf forest with a fine stand of nikau palms, the best on the island. This
is the only palm native to the Chatham Islands, an even more impressive sight
when flowering and bearing fruit. BBQ picnic lunch and a cup of tea or coffee
on the way. Running southwest of Waitangi, the Tuku Road provides views of rich
farmlands and shoal coastal waters. The stunning Tuku Reserve lies in the
valley, a great place for viewing parea, the Chatham Island pigeon, and other
bird life Back to the hotel. Check in and freshen up for dinner. Retire to the
bar, mix with the locals and relax ‘til the small hours.
Day 8: Monday 21st September 2024 (B, D)
Southeast and the Owenga fishing settlement.
Depart for our journey out to the southeast and fishing
settlement of Owenga. The first stop is
the Moriori Kopinga Marae, sited on the hilltop at Te Awatea. This is the only Moriori marae in New Zealand
sited on the hilltop at Te Awatea. Kopinga Marae, shaped like an albatross when
viewed from the air, continues to amaze visitors. Learn the culture, learn
about the History of the first inhabitants fo the Island. Panoramic views
across lake Huro to Waitangi and across Te Whanga to its entrance at Te Awapatiki.
Tommy Solomon Statue at Manakau, Owenga. Tommy Solomon (7 May 1884 to 19 March
1933), is believed by most to have been the last full-blooded Moriori, the
indigenous people of the Chatham Islands. Kopi Farm. Enjoy a few hours with
Bridget and John Preece. They have a lovely bush walk and will talk you through
their journey to build a TV1 Grand Designs house. Return to the hotel for a
day’s de-brief at the bar.
Day 9: Tuesday 22nd September 2024 (B, D)
Waitangi West
A bus will leave the hotel with everybody on board. We travel
"out west” to Waitangi West. Here we will enjoy a packed lunch and a cup of tea
or coffee. We travel over part of the Waitangi West Station, consisting of
3,412 hectares carrying 10,000 sheep. Recently the station was bought by a
Chinese buyer for $5,000,000. Stone Cottage (under renovation and possibly not
open) and Maunganui Bluff. The cottage was built between 1866 and 1868 for the
Moravian missionaries who arrived in the Chathams in 1843. These German
missionaries made no converts, but had a significant input into the history and
lifestyle of the Chathams. They introduced large-scale horticulture, sheep
farming, shipbuilding and literacy. The cottage was built largely of local
stone and timber, reflecting the missionaries' attitudes. They were committed
to the idea of being self-reliant in their own lives and, as an example to
others, used only local materials. We then visit the safest fishing harbour
with the most shipwrecks on the island, at Port Hutt. Our next stop is the
amazing Basalt Columns at Ohira Bay. Over farmland down to Ohira Bay lie
massive olivine basalt columns, part of lava flows dated nearly 80 million
years ago. They comprise an interesting geological formation ̶ a series of
pentagonal-shaped volcanic rock columns on the shoreline. They are not found
anywhere else on the island and in only two other places in the world ̶.
Giant’s Causeway, one in Northern Ireland and one in Scotland. We stop of on
the way home at Admiral Farm, named after the abundant butterfly. This is a
fourth-generation Chathams property, owned by the Croon family, with a gorgeous
garden featuring the eerie skeletons of dead kopi trees and great drifts of the
stunning Chatham Island forget-me-not. Lois and Val Croon will be in
attendance. Complimentary drinks and wine will be provided. Return to the hotel
for a day’s debrief at the bar.
Day 10 Wednesday 23rd September 2024 (B,
D)
Today we say goodbye to this remote part of New Zealand. We
fly back into Wellington and will be transferred to the Sofitel, for our
overnight stay.
Day 11: Thursday 24th September
It will be an early start this morning as we head to the
airport. Go through airport formalities, on arrival into Australia, Cardwells
we will be waiting to take you back to your original towns.