Thanks for the description of the Japan bike ride and the pictures!
New Zealand Dec. 25 2022 report
- Thread starter Eastridge
- Start date
Day 11: TSS Earnslaw
To get to the farewell dinner, we take a boat. Not just any boat. This is the TSS Earnslaw, a historic coal-fired steamship. We walked from the St. Moritz to where the boat is docked.
The boat makes regular trips between downtown Queenstown and Walter Peak farm on the other side of the lake. There were a few hundred people on the boat when we went. ABD had a few reserved tables in the covered area in the back. You can buy packages for the boat ride, farm show and BBQ dinner. Our ABD group did a private version of the show and dinner.
You are free to walk around the boat and see various areas, including the engine at the bottom and a room at the front that has historic photographs:
The Earnslaw was built in 1912, the same year that the Titanic sailed. And wouldn't you know it, we ran into an iceberg that had broken off of the Franz Josef glacier... just kidding, but you can go to the bow and do your "King of the World" pose if you want
To get to the farewell dinner, we take a boat. Not just any boat. This is the TSS Earnslaw, a historic coal-fired steamship. We walked from the St. Moritz to where the boat is docked.
The boat makes regular trips between downtown Queenstown and Walter Peak farm on the other side of the lake. There were a few hundred people on the boat when we went. ABD had a few reserved tables in the covered area in the back. You can buy packages for the boat ride, farm show and BBQ dinner. Our ABD group did a private version of the show and dinner.
You are free to walk around the boat and see various areas, including the engine at the bottom and a room at the front that has historic photographs:
The Earnslaw was built in 1912, the same year that the Titanic sailed. And wouldn't you know it, we ran into an iceberg that had broken off of the Franz Josef glacier... just kidding, but you can go to the bow and do your "King of the World" pose if you want
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Day 11: Walter Peak Farm
The boat docks at Walter Peak Farm, which is a gorgeous area with a dining facility, farm demos and lots of flowers. It looks like a beautiful place for weddings.
When we arrived, our ABD group was greeted by two herding dogs, and many people took the opportunity to pet them
Once we had gathered the group, the border collies led the way to the demonstration area, along with the guide from the farm who talked about farming and training herding dogs.
He did a sheep shearing demonstration
After that was the main event: the demo of sheep herding. There is a large, enclosed hillside area above the outdoor auditorium. Out there, somewhere, was a flock of sheep, I guess beyond the top of the hill. He called to one of the dogs and it sprang into action, leaping the fence and charging up the hill. Shortly after that, the dog flushed the sheep out, who came scrambling down the hill:
The border collies stare at the sheep and the sheep maneuver to stay as far away from the dog as they can. By issuing verbal commands, the farmer can have the dog push the sheep around simply through having the dog change positions. After a couple of demos and then remembering to open a gate, he had the dog push the sheep into the enclosure near the auditorium.
Apparently what these dogs love doing is chasing sheep. When the demo ended and the farmer called the dog back, the dog turned to look at us as if to say "Really? We're done?"
The boat docks at Walter Peak Farm, which is a gorgeous area with a dining facility, farm demos and lots of flowers. It looks like a beautiful place for weddings.
When we arrived, our ABD group was greeted by two herding dogs, and many people took the opportunity to pet them
Once we had gathered the group, the border collies led the way to the demonstration area, along with the guide from the farm who talked about farming and training herding dogs.
He did a sheep shearing demonstration
After that was the main event: the demo of sheep herding. There is a large, enclosed hillside area above the outdoor auditorium. Out there, somewhere, was a flock of sheep, I guess beyond the top of the hill. He called to one of the dogs and it sprang into action, leaping the fence and charging up the hill. Shortly after that, the dog flushed the sheep out, who came scrambling down the hill:
The border collies stare at the sheep and the sheep maneuver to stay as far away from the dog as they can. By issuing verbal commands, the farmer can have the dog push the sheep around simply through having the dog change positions. After a couple of demos and then remembering to open a gate, he had the dog push the sheep into the enclosure near the auditorium.
Apparently what these dogs love doing is chasing sheep. When the demo ended and the farmer called the dog back, the dog turned to look at us as if to say "Really? We're done?"
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BroadwayHermione5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2017
Just found this TR and am LOVING it! Thank you so much for your honesty and gorgeous photos!
Day 11: Farewell dinner
It was a short walk from the outdoor auditorium to the dining facility, past more glorious scenery and gardens.
We had the dinner in a private room, which was set up for the typical trip review at the end. Although this time we also got a copy of that on our phones. This was the first time I got a file to be able to watch it again.
By this time, all the teens had abandoned their parents and were sitting together, so it almost felt like an adults / junior dinner, just in the same room.
Dinner was a buffet with an extensive array of different food stations. I'm only showing a few of them. I think this is the BBQ buffet that everyone gets -- it wasn't a spread just for us. However, ABD did provide wine with dinner.
Some people were impressed by the dinner, such as the prawns shown above. There was also a big dessert station where some of the kids went nuts.
After dinner, Kira asked us what our favorite moments were and Nettie expressed appreciation that we came all the way to New Zealand to experience the country and learn about the Maori. Kira asked the teens to go thank their parents (and the teens were probably figuring out how to ask for another ABD trip in the future...)
Then we had 10 minutes to get back to the boat and return to Queenstown. It was the end of a long, successful and spectacular trip.
Well, not quite. We still had to get home (see Day 12).
It was a short walk from the outdoor auditorium to the dining facility, past more glorious scenery and gardens.
We had the dinner in a private room, which was set up for the typical trip review at the end. Although this time we also got a copy of that on our phones. This was the first time I got a file to be able to watch it again.
By this time, all the teens had abandoned their parents and were sitting together, so it almost felt like an adults / junior dinner, just in the same room.
Dinner was a buffet with an extensive array of different food stations. I'm only showing a few of them. I think this is the BBQ buffet that everyone gets -- it wasn't a spread just for us. However, ABD did provide wine with dinner.
Some people were impressed by the dinner, such as the prawns shown above. There was also a big dessert station where some of the kids went nuts.
After dinner, Kira asked us what our favorite moments were and Nettie expressed appreciation that we came all the way to New Zealand to experience the country and learn about the Maori. Kira asked the teens to go thank their parents (and the teens were probably figuring out how to ask for another ABD trip in the future...)
Then we had 10 minutes to get back to the boat and return to Queenstown. It was the end of a long, successful and spectacular trip.
Well, not quite. We still had to get home (see Day 12).
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sayhello
Have Camera, Will Travel
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
How long has it been since you've done an ABD? I've gotten digital copies of the slideshow since at least 2017 (China). I don't recall if we got one for the Danube River cruise in 2016 (I can't find one), but I know we didn't get it in 2013 or 2014. Those are the 2 years when I know for sure we never got them.
I've been driving myself a bit crazy, because I can't find the one from Iceland (2018). ETA: Found it! But now I can't find one for my recent New England ABD! I do love those slideshows!
Sayhello
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Before NZ, I did the Rhine River cruise and the Southern California short escape, both in 2018. The short escape didn't have a slide show at the end.
Day 12: Haere Ra
This is the travel day at the end of the trip, with no planned activities other than one more chance to enjoy the breakfast buffet and its lake view.
Our luck with the weather ran out on this day, as it was raining both in Queenstown and in Auckland.
The ABD trip does not include Milford Sound. You could extend the trip and do this on your own. I grabbed a bunch of brochures and this seems to be the situation:
But we had to fly out, which ended up being an adventure by itself...
This is the travel day at the end of the trip, with no planned activities other than one more chance to enjoy the breakfast buffet and its lake view.
Our luck with the weather ran out on this day, as it was raining both in Queenstown and in Auckland.
The ABD trip does not include Milford Sound. You could extend the trip and do this on your own. I grabbed a bunch of brochures and this seems to be the situation:
- This is an all day thing. From Queenstown, departures are around 7:30am, returning around 7:30pm
- At Milford Sound, you have maybe 2 hours on a boat to cruise around and see the fjords and waterfalls
- So you are going to spend most of the day on a bus. There are flight alternatives, which are much more expensive.
- Milford Sound is one of the wettest places on earth, averaging 240 inches per year (whoa). So I assume it's more likely than not that it will be raining while you are there
- The scenery does look spectacular and this would be an amazing capstone to this trip, although the weather would be a big factor in what you can see.
But we had to fly out, which ended up being an adventure by itself...
Day 12: Departure flights
ABD brought us to the airport two hours prior to departure. My previous experience with ABD is that they are conservative and usually get you there 3 hours in advance, so this means they are comfortable with Queenstown not requiring such an early arrival.
A couple of families departed at the same time, so Ricky took us on the bus. Kira joined us as she was flying out that day also. Kira had warned us that for most flights, you must collect your checked luggage in Auckland at the domestic terminal, take it to the international terminal, and then recheck it. For our flights, they were able to check our luggage through all the way to the US.
There were no problems in Queenstown. You do go through security but there wasn't a long wait. The flight to Auckland was on time.
Since we were worried that the luggage wouldn't be checked all the way to the US, we did wait around at the baggage claim in the Auckland domestic terminal to verify that our luggage wasn't delivered there. Then we headed to the international terminal. My plan was to catch the shuttle that goes between the two terminals, but we never found the shuttle stop. Instead, we found the walkway to the international terminal, which is a big green stripe, impossible to miss. We ended up just walking that and it didn't take very long to reach the international terminal. It took about 30 minutes from getting off the plane to reach the international terminal. I recommend walking rather than waiting for a shuttle.
There, we had to check in for our international flight (which didn't take long), and then go through three steps: a boarding pass check, an automated passport check, and then the security scan. And... the... line... was... so.... slow.... it.... was... extremely... stressful. We had two hours left before the scheduled departure time (again, I thought 2.5 hours for the connection was ample) and it took two hours for us to reach the gate. I think the security step was the bottleneck. I saw only about half of the stations staffed. We were concerned that we wouldn't make it onto the flight. When we finally reached security and went through, my wife's purse got triggered for an additional manual check. And there were 20 bags piled up for more screening before hers... I'm not going to write what I was thinking at that point.
My son ran off to the gate to try to hold the plane, and I followed (walking), not at all happy about splitting our family up and not wanting to have a situation where some people made the flight and others didn't. Once you get past security, it is still a long walk to the gate. I had planned to go shopping in the airport to stock up on chocolate and other stuff but had to skip all that.
Fortunately, our flight departed late (at least 30 minutes late). Once we all arrived at the gate, we boarded and I began to relax.
Kira was actually on a later flight from Queenstown to Auckland than our flight. But she managed to also make the flight to the US! I'm guessing the staff pulled people from the line who were on our flight and expedited them through the screening process.
I have no idea if this was an aberration due to the holidays, or the "new normal" due to COVID. But if you don't want to go through what we did, my advice is to schedule extra time, at least 3.5 hours and preferably 4 hours to make your connection in Auckland.
Another option might be to have an extra day in Auckland. Do the domestic flight, then spend time in Auckland, and do your departure back to the US on another day.
I read horror stories during summer 2022 of security lines at some European airports taking several hours. I didn't even consider that this might be the situation in New Zealand. But maybe these days we should be very conservative about making international connections and allocate much more time than what used to be normal.
Getting through customs in the US (at LAX) wasn't a problem on our trip. It didn't take abnormally long.
ABD brought us to the airport two hours prior to departure. My previous experience with ABD is that they are conservative and usually get you there 3 hours in advance, so this means they are comfortable with Queenstown not requiring such an early arrival.
A couple of families departed at the same time, so Ricky took us on the bus. Kira joined us as she was flying out that day also. Kira had warned us that for most flights, you must collect your checked luggage in Auckland at the domestic terminal, take it to the international terminal, and then recheck it. For our flights, they were able to check our luggage through all the way to the US.
There were no problems in Queenstown. You do go through security but there wasn't a long wait. The flight to Auckland was on time.
Since we were worried that the luggage wouldn't be checked all the way to the US, we did wait around at the baggage claim in the Auckland domestic terminal to verify that our luggage wasn't delivered there. Then we headed to the international terminal. My plan was to catch the shuttle that goes between the two terminals, but we never found the shuttle stop. Instead, we found the walkway to the international terminal, which is a big green stripe, impossible to miss. We ended up just walking that and it didn't take very long to reach the international terminal. It took about 30 minutes from getting off the plane to reach the international terminal. I recommend walking rather than waiting for a shuttle.
There, we had to check in for our international flight (which didn't take long), and then go through three steps: a boarding pass check, an automated passport check, and then the security scan. And... the... line... was... so.... slow.... it.... was... extremely... stressful. We had two hours left before the scheduled departure time (again, I thought 2.5 hours for the connection was ample) and it took two hours for us to reach the gate. I think the security step was the bottleneck. I saw only about half of the stations staffed. We were concerned that we wouldn't make it onto the flight. When we finally reached security and went through, my wife's purse got triggered for an additional manual check. And there were 20 bags piled up for more screening before hers... I'm not going to write what I was thinking at that point.
My son ran off to the gate to try to hold the plane, and I followed (walking), not at all happy about splitting our family up and not wanting to have a situation where some people made the flight and others didn't. Once you get past security, it is still a long walk to the gate. I had planned to go shopping in the airport to stock up on chocolate and other stuff but had to skip all that.
Fortunately, our flight departed late (at least 30 minutes late). Once we all arrived at the gate, we boarded and I began to relax.
Kira was actually on a later flight from Queenstown to Auckland than our flight. But she managed to also make the flight to the US! I'm guessing the staff pulled people from the line who were on our flight and expedited them through the screening process.
I have no idea if this was an aberration due to the holidays, or the "new normal" due to COVID. But if you don't want to go through what we did, my advice is to schedule extra time, at least 3.5 hours and preferably 4 hours to make your connection in Auckland.
Another option might be to have an extra day in Auckland. Do the domestic flight, then spend time in Auckland, and do your departure back to the US on another day.
I read horror stories during summer 2022 of security lines at some European airports taking several hours. I didn't even consider that this might be the situation in New Zealand. But maybe these days we should be very conservative about making international connections and allocate much more time than what used to be normal.
Getting through customs in the US (at LAX) wasn't a problem on our trip. It didn't take abnormally long.
We added two extra days to Queenstown before leaving on a Saturday. The main purpose was to fly-cruise-fly to Milford Sound on the day everyone else departed. That did not happen due to the rain that morning and all Milford flights were cancelled for the day. I did see several buses heading out to Milford that morning, and was told taking the bus there and flying back is the most popular way to do that trip. But I'm an aircraft nerd, so flying was more important to me. A good reason to come back some day!
We did book a white water rafting trip down the Shotover river. It was great fun, even though I'm not much of a water person. After changing into wet suits, getting helmet and life vest, you take an 11 passenger bus up sketchy dirt roads, with multiple hundred feet drop offs to one side or another. At one point you're looking straight down onto the river to the left of you as you traverse ~200 ft of the road seemingly sticking out of a near vertical to the right of you (these are old mining roads from the gold rush times). It gets your adrenaline going!
The white water rafting experience itself is quite active and a lot of fun. You learn multiple commands to obey (paddle forward or backward, reposition from the sitting on the edge of the raft to the bottom of the raft, etc), and each of the six people in the raft have a job to do. And you paddle a good amount too. Drops are placed into classes ranging from 1 (no biggie) to 6 (impossible to navigate). With the water level and flow rate that day, we experienced classes up to 4, and those definitely got you attention! Apparently it does happen that people get knocked out of the raft, but that did not happen with our group. I thought we did quite well, even though it was a mixed group of Americans, Germans, and Aussies.
As for our flight back, it's pretty much what @Eastridge described. Be on the lookout for SSSS on your Auckland to US boarding pass, however. When you get "quad S'd", you are subject to additional checking and scrutiny by the US border patrol (or rather in-country representatives of CBP). This is normal on international flights back to the US, and that happened to me, which added another 20 minutes after all three other checks were done. My wife and daughter went to the gate and I stood in line for 15 minutes, then 5 minutes additional screening (they basically swab things and check for explosives). Luckily our layover was 5 hours, so we were not in a time crunch. But it did explain why our boarding time was 1:15 hours before the actual departure time. It's likely to get people through the three security checks in time, in case you get quad S'd.
As for Queenstown restaurants...definitely eat a burger at Fergburger's, it's worth the wait in line! Even better is their gelato and coffee place right next door, which rarely/never has a line. My wife said it was the best coffee on the trip, and the gelato was excellent. I also had croissants from their bakery there, which were also very good. If you're into Asian/Asian Fusion food, White & Wong's was very good as well. Kira said Margo's (Mexican food) was her favorite, but you need to make reservation ahead of time as their hours are reduced and it's a small place.
Overall a great trip!
We did book a white water rafting trip down the Shotover river. It was great fun, even though I'm not much of a water person. After changing into wet suits, getting helmet and life vest, you take an 11 passenger bus up sketchy dirt roads, with multiple hundred feet drop offs to one side or another. At one point you're looking straight down onto the river to the left of you as you traverse ~200 ft of the road seemingly sticking out of a near vertical to the right of you (these are old mining roads from the gold rush times). It gets your adrenaline going!
The white water rafting experience itself is quite active and a lot of fun. You learn multiple commands to obey (paddle forward or backward, reposition from the sitting on the edge of the raft to the bottom of the raft, etc), and each of the six people in the raft have a job to do. And you paddle a good amount too. Drops are placed into classes ranging from 1 (no biggie) to 6 (impossible to navigate). With the water level and flow rate that day, we experienced classes up to 4, and those definitely got you attention! Apparently it does happen that people get knocked out of the raft, but that did not happen with our group. I thought we did quite well, even though it was a mixed group of Americans, Germans, and Aussies.
As for our flight back, it's pretty much what @Eastridge described. Be on the lookout for SSSS on your Auckland to US boarding pass, however. When you get "quad S'd", you are subject to additional checking and scrutiny by the US border patrol (or rather in-country representatives of CBP). This is normal on international flights back to the US, and that happened to me, which added another 20 minutes after all three other checks were done. My wife and daughter went to the gate and I stood in line for 15 minutes, then 5 minutes additional screening (they basically swab things and check for explosives). Luckily our layover was 5 hours, so we were not in a time crunch. But it did explain why our boarding time was 1:15 hours before the actual departure time. It's likely to get people through the three security checks in time, in case you get quad S'd.
As for Queenstown restaurants...definitely eat a burger at Fergburger's, it's worth the wait in line! Even better is their gelato and coffee place right next door, which rarely/never has a line. My wife said it was the best coffee on the trip, and the gelato was excellent. I also had croissants from their bakery there, which were also very good. If you're into Asian/Asian Fusion food, White & Wong's was very good as well. Kira said Margo's (Mexican food) was her favorite, but you need to make reservation ahead of time as their hours are reduced and it's a small place.
Overall a great trip!
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Thanks for adding the notes of your post-ABD activities! Would be interested in hearing about Milford Sound from anybody who did that.
Conclusion
I booked this trip 20 months before the departure, on opening day when it became available. In between, it was a waiting game to see if New Zealand would reopen, what the COVID rules would be both for NZ and the US, and whether this trip would even go. And then while we were on the trip, hoping that we wouldn't run into any serious problems. So I was very happy to successfully complete the trip, and that overall it went well.
While I listed details of some issues, this was a spectacular trip and I'm very glad we went. The guides were excellent and the trip was filled with moments I'll always remember. I could point to a highlight or something I was looking forward to virtually every day of the trip. It has a wide variety of activities and experiences, including a few unique to New Zealand.
If you do want to do this trip over the Christmas / New Year's holidays, pay attention to where you will be on those days. It worked out well for our trip but for other trips that apparently interfered with some planned activities.
I did the work to write this report as a way of giving back to this board, because I have benefited from trip reports that others posted. If you are considering this trip, I hope this gives you the details to make the correct decision for yourself. If you are signed up for this trip, I hope this helps you prepare and decide if there are activities you want to skip or substitute.
And while I can see ABD doing some fine tuning, I hope they keep the core of this trip intact. There appears to be a lot of interest on this board, and this trip is a winner.
I booked this trip 20 months before the departure, on opening day when it became available. In between, it was a waiting game to see if New Zealand would reopen, what the COVID rules would be both for NZ and the US, and whether this trip would even go. And then while we were on the trip, hoping that we wouldn't run into any serious problems. So I was very happy to successfully complete the trip, and that overall it went well.
While I listed details of some issues, this was a spectacular trip and I'm very glad we went. The guides were excellent and the trip was filled with moments I'll always remember. I could point to a highlight or something I was looking forward to virtually every day of the trip. It has a wide variety of activities and experiences, including a few unique to New Zealand.
If you do want to do this trip over the Christmas / New Year's holidays, pay attention to where you will be on those days. It worked out well for our trip but for other trips that apparently interfered with some planned activities.
I did the work to write this report as a way of giving back to this board, because I have benefited from trip reports that others posted. If you are considering this trip, I hope this gives you the details to make the correct decision for yourself. If you are signed up for this trip, I hope this helps you prepare and decide if there are activities you want to skip or substitute.
And while I can see ABD doing some fine tuning, I hope they keep the core of this trip intact. There appears to be a lot of interest on this board, and this trip is a winner.
BluesTraveler
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2015
Great trip report. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it.
CaliforniaGirl09
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2009
Really enjoyed the trip report. Thanks for writing. NZ is high on DH's list, but I suspect we will do a more hiking focused trip when/if we go. I"m not sure why but this ABD never called to me. And hearing about the food took it completely off the list, LOL.
I didn’t notice that until you pointed it out. Guess that’s an error in the menu. It was definitely ham…
I really enjoyed reading your detailed trip report! Based on your description of the Auckland airport we changed our departing flight from Queenstown to Auckland to an hour earlier so we will have more than 3 hours to make our international connection. Thanks for that tip.
Hope you don't have the problems making the connection in Auckland that we did!
A cyclone struck the North Island of New Zealand. According to the schedule, there should be an ABD group in New Zealand right now, Feb 9 - 20. I think that would mean the hurricane stuck on the day that group should have been flying to the South Island. I hope that group is ok and it didn't disrupt that trip too much.
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