New Zealand Dec. 25 2022 report

[MKMK]

Day 7: Arthur's Pass to Monteith's Brewery

The train stops at Arthur's Pass before continuing on to Greymouth. We are headed to Greymouth, but we get off the train at Arthur's Pass to join Ricky and the bus because it is faster to drive the rest of the way than to stay on the train.

The bus stops so we can see a viaduct that we will be driving over. At one point the slope of the road reaches 16%. I'm happy to leave the driving to the professionals.

We also stop briefly by a hotel that has a Gollum statue (from Lord of the RIngs). I think there were also Smaug and Gandalf figures.

We also pass by a town called Moana (not making this up), by a lake

When we reach the town of Greymouth, we first stop by the area where the Grey river meets the sea. The town gets its name from this, being placed at the mouth of the Grey river. We see the turbulent Tasman Sea that separates New Zealand from Australia. There is also a restored WW II pillbox that you can check out.

Lunch is at Monteith's Brewery. ABD covers 2 beers per person of drinking age, plus the buffet lunch.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post this amazing trip report. We are going during Spring Break and can't wait!

 

[sayhello]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post this amazing trip report. We are going during Spring Break and can't wait!

Which departure are you on?

Sayhello

 

[giantwiant]

Just echoing others with deep appreciation for such a thorough trip report. It's wonderful that there are people willing to take the time to share with strangers.

 

[Mathmagicland]

If you sit on the bottom of the punting boat, is there enough room to stretch your legs out?

Hi - I recall stretching my legs out, but I am not a tall person. There is room plus you could always sit a little at angle and stretch your legs that way if taller, and have plenty of room.

 

[sayhello]

Hi - I recall stretching my legs out, but I am not a tall person. There is room plus you could always sit a little at angle and stretch your legs that way if taller, and have plenty of room.

Thanks! Just wanted to be sure my knees wouldn't be pulled up close.

Sayhello

 

[Mathmagicland]

Thanks! Just wanted to be sure my knees wouldn't be pulled up close.

Sayhello

Not even close unless maybe you are over 7 feet tall. There is more room than it looks in the pics. We had blankets in November & I remember the blanket covering my legs out straight.

 

[MKMK]

Which departure are you on?

Sayhello

March 27

 

[sayhello]

March 27

Ah! That's the one right after us.

Sayhello

 

[LionKingClan]

March 27

We’re on the March 27th trip!

 

[mraviator]

Fellow Dec 25 traveler here (Michael)! You're doing a great review job with this one, balanced, fair and spot-on.

For any foodies out there, I would like to add that my wife (a foodie) was not exactly impressed with the overall food offerings. Granted, we're the frequent Disney cruisers, and therefore spoiled with a large selection of all kinds of fancy and not-fancy foods while cruising.

For this ABD tour, the selection -- and the act of picking foods off a large menu -- were few, i.e. either fixed menu with few options or buffet with some options, but generally of the fried variety. Honestly, even for me, the lack of greens and abundance of fried foods was a bit much by the end of the tour (although the farewell dinner was outstanding!). Let's just say, much of it is comfort food, and things kids and most adults will like.

I do agree though, the lack of wine tasting on Waiheke was strange...

Carry on!

 

[sayhello]

For this ABD tour, the selection -- and the act of picking foods off a large menu -- were few, i.e. either fixed menu with few options or buffet with some options, but generally of the fried variety. Honestly, even for me, the lack of greens and abundance of fried foods was a bit much by the end of the tour (although the farewell dinner was outstanding!). Let's just say, much of it is comfort food, and things kids and most adults will like.

Oh! That's disheartening! I had my gallbladder removed recently and really can't tolerate fried foods much. I hope there's enough options for me! I generally eat a lot of veggies, too. I've informed ABD about the fried foods thing; I'll have to be sure and mention it to the Guides, too.

Sayhello

 

[Eastridge]

I might go out in the open car for a while, but the whole time? How long are you on the train? (And worth it).

Sayhello

I don't recall the exact length but the train ride was about 1.5 - 2 hours. I wasn't in the open air car the entire time, just most of it

 

[Eastridge]

Fellow Dec 25 traveler here (Michael)! You're doing a great review job with this one, balanced, fair and spot-on.

For any foodies out there, I would like to add that my wife (a foodie) was not exactly impressed with the overall food offerings. Granted, we're the frequent Disney cruisers, and therefore spoiled with a large selection of all kinds of fancy and not-fancy foods while cruising.

Didn't realize you were on this board. If you have additional comments please feel free to add them to the report!

I ate too much on this trip, probably because I don't normally have a buffet breakfast each day. But yes, Disney cruise food is better overall than what we had on this trip, and certainly we had nothing comparable to Palo or Remy on the Disney ships. The strengths of this trip are in the scenery and experiences.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 7: Hokitika and Te Waonui hotel

After lunch, we drove along the coast to a small town called Hokitika.

The scenery struck me as a mix of Hawaii, Colorado and Alaska. Being near the ocean, combined with some of the mountains and waterfalls, reminded me of Hawaii. But it wasn't hot and humid enough and the plants are different. Other mountains looked more like something from Colorado or Alaska, especially the snow-covered peaks and the glaciers, but the mountains weren't as tall and treeline was much lower in elevation. Arthurs Pass was less than 3000 feet in elevation. And there are far more lakes in the South Island.

The bus parked near a driftwood sign spelling out Hokitika. We had about an hour to walk around and shop. The guides pointed out two stores in particular. The Gold Room is a place to get jewelry, and the Westland Greenstone store has a large selection of jade.

We arrived at Franz Josef and our fourth hotel, the Te Waonui. This was a unique hotel, nestled into its surroundings. It felt like being in a rain forest or a jungle. It was also generally quiet. I don't think I've previously stayed at something like this.

Our room had a direct view of the surrounding rain forest:

This was the hotel where we did some laundry. There were two pairs of machines.

You may have noticed a trend in this report. Except for the Park Hyatt, each hotel room had a quirk or issue. In this hotel, the shower stall floor is slippery but we found a bath mat, or you can probably ask for one at the front desk. The two issues here were that WiFi was slow, and I had trouble controlling the AC. There was a remote control and I guess I couldn't figure it out because the room ended up being too hot and stuffy during the day, and then at night the fan kept blowing cold air in. At one point I ended up unplugging the fan at night so we didn't get a cold draft all evening.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 7: New Year's Eve dinner

This was New Year's Eve, so it was fortunate that Disney provided dinner this evening. This was scheduled to be another adult and junior dinner, but instead everyone ate in the Canopy restaurant at the hotel, where each family had an individual table. Instead of a buffet, we had a set menu, which I'm showing below. The food was decent but not as good as Disney cruise ship meals.

ABD did not provide alcohol with dinner, which I found a little disappointing given that it was New Year's Eve. I wasn't about to buy an entire bottle of champagne but would have liked a small flute so that we could toast the new year.

But the guides did do something that made this night special for me! We were celebrating an upcoming milestone anniversary, and the guides recognized that by giving us a card and two special pins. I haven't seen these pins previously -- has anyone else? I recall Kira saying that these are a new design.

 

[Eastridge]

And now a public service announcement...

Before I start reporting on Day 8, let's take a moment to discuss a nuisance on the west coast of the South Island. Bugs. In particular, sandflies. From Franz Josef to Queenstown, expect to deal with these.

Sandflies are tiny black bugs that bite and suck blood. Here's a link:

Sandflies

My son took advantage of the beautiful setting of the Te Waonui hotel as a backdrop for some short talks he needed recorded. So I shot video of him giving his talks at various places. Inevitably, as I had to hold his phone still to record the video, I would get bitten by a sandfly. The bites are painful, and they tend to not to be chased off just by blowing on them.

The guides bring bug spray and we brought it also. I'm not sure how effective that was for us.

I killed six bugs in the South Island bus, some of them sandflies. All of those were bloody.

They weren't a major problem and don't let this stop you from doing this trip, but just be aware and prepared.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 8: Franz and Family (New Year's Day)

On this day, we had a hiking tour of the Franz Josef glacier valley in the morning. After that, we were on our own. Rather than having another group lunch, ABD gave us cash to cover lunch and everyone split up. This is the only long "on your own" time during this trip.

Franz Josef is a tiny town. Really tiny. It's easy to walk the length and there's really only one street with stuff. It was New Year's Day, but fortunately all the tourist activities were open. Some restaurants were closed but enough were open that food wasn't a problem. The guides had reserved dinner spots at Monsoon for anyone who wanted those reservations. We found a grocery store that was open. The afternoon is a good opportunity to do helicopter rides, skydiving, hiking, or any of the other available activities.

Note that this is a rain forest area next to a glacier. Annual rainfall is over 140 inches and there is a 40-50% chance of rain on any given day. Fortunately for us the weather was perfect, and it stayed excellent all the way until Day 12 when it started raining. But at that point we were flying out. So our group got very lucky with the weather, except for the thunderstorms during the America's Cup activity.

We started the day by walking to the building where the hiking guides were. We then drove to the parking lot for the hike. This required crossing a river. The original bridge was destroyed by a flood, so they now have a Bailey bridge. Bailey bridges were developed in WW II. They are made of prefab components that are small enough that crews can assemble them without special equipment like cranes. However, they can be strong enough to allow tanks to cross. I had never seen a Bailey bridge before so I very interested.

The hike is divided into two parts. The first goes to a lookout point to see the Franz Josef glacier. The other is walk to Peter's Pool. The terrain is flat and this hike is not strenuous at all. There are toilets in the parking lot so there is a bathroom break in between.

During the first hike, the guide takes us into the rain forest and talks about the plants and wildlife. We had an opportunity to eat a leaf from a plant. It is peppery and then hot. Tip: don't swallow it.

You can see the tip of the glacier on the upper left, behind the mountain on the left. Also note the waterfall on the right.​

You don't get close to the glacier. If you want to go on the glacier, take a helicopter ride.

The second part of the hike is to Peter's Pool, which is very pretty and is a good backdrop for photos

 

[Mathmagicland]

And now a public service announcement...

Before I start reporting on Day 8, let's take a moment to discuss a nuisance on the west coast of the South Island. Bugs. In particular, sandflies. From Franz Josef to Queenstown, expect to deal with these.

Sandflies are tiny black bugs that bite and suck blood. Here's a link:

Sandflies

My son took advantage of the beautiful setting of the Te Waonui hotel as a backdrop for some short talks he needed recorded. So I shot video of him giving his talks at various places. Inevitably, as I had to hold his phone still to record the video, I would get bitten by a sandfly. The bites are painful, and they tend to not to be chased off just by blowing on them.

The guides bring bug spray and we brought it also. I'm not sure how effective that was for us.

I killed six bugs in the South Island bus, some of them sandflies. All of those were bloody.

They weren't a major problem and don't let this stop you from doing this trip, but just be aware and prepared.

In November, we only saw a couple of them the entire trip. The local guide explained they seem to be more visible & annoying in the warmer summer temperatures and by areas around water. So maybe they won’t be quite as bad in their fall for the March trips.

 

[sayhello]

In November, we only saw a couple of them the entire trip. The local guide explained they seem to be more visible & annoying in the warmer summer temperatures and by areas around water. So maybe they won’t be quite as bad in their fall for the March trips.

I sure hope so! It was bad enough with the midges in Iceland. And they didn't bite!

Sayhello

 

[distravel]

Beautiful photos! Thanks for taking the time to write this detailed trip report. My husband and I are going in mid March so this info will really help us out.