As a paying passenger in the lead vehicle of this 4WD tour you can enjoy being driven in convoy style on private farms as well as Molesworth and Rainbow Stations in the beautiful Marlborough high country, in exchange for assisting our guide with small tasks.
Hanmer Springs
Meet in Hanmer Springs at our partner motel at 6.30pm
Pre tour accommodation is in a Hanmer Springs motel. The second night is in a Blenheim motel.
Two nights are accommodation in stylish new accommodation on a high country station. You will have your own individual bedroom. Bathroom facilities are shared.
Daily breakfasts are full cooked or continental style on the station and continental at the motel, one lunch is on a farm with the owner and other lunches are picnic style enjoyed in the wide open spaces of the backcountry, evening meals are two courses, and tea breaks will be served from our onboard supplies of locally roasted plunger coffee or tea and home baking.
If you have any particular food allergies or tastes please let us know on your pre trip booking form.
Your role will be to travel in the lead vehicle with the tour leader so you will be in a prime seat with personal attention. To open any gates along the route To assist with assist with morning tea setups during the day and unloading catering supplies from the lead vehicle at the end of each day.
Night before tour starts, arrive in Hanmer Springs at our partner motel.
6.30 meet your driver guide in the carpark of the motels. Walk to the restaurant for the evening meal with the driver / guide.
Accommodation:
A friendly owner with a spacious, comfortable motel in the Alpine village of Hanmer Springs, a short walk to the Hot Pools with a variety of shops and restaurants/bars.
Meal:
Evening meal in Hanmer Springs, included.
Departing at 8am and heading into the back country over Jacks Pass. We stop off at the old accommodation area of St James station is see the historic woolshed and other buildings. We travel further up Molesworth Station following The Clarence River and wide-open valleys, stopping at historic places with a detour into Mailings Pass with stunning views of the Southern Alps and the vast Adda Valley. We stop to enjoy the scenery at various vantage points enjoy morning tea beside the Waiau River. We drive back over Mailings Pass, stopping off at the picturesque Lake Tennyson with its amazing backdrop of mountains. Highlights will include Island Saddle, the Tarndale Lakes, and driving through towering mountains ranges. Our drive takes us through beech forest and farmland of Rainbow Station. After coming out of Rainbow station we drive through the many vineyards that are creeping into the upper reaches of the Wairau Valley, overnighting in Blenheim.
Accommodation:
A modern spacious motel close to the centre of Blenheim.
Meals: Continental style breakfast served in your room. Tea breaks will be served from our on-board supplies of locally roasted coffee or tea and home baking. Picnic style lunch. Dinner at a local restaurant.
Your drive starts by taking the coastal route around the Wairau Lagoons over Redwood Pass into the Awatere Valley with its interesting history. Enjoy morning tea with Martin and Jane on their vineyard, hear all about the wine industry and enjoy a wine tasting before we head up the Awatere Valley. Can purchase wine. We will drive up to the Black Birch Range to a height of 1693m, with amazing views up the Awatere Valley, Inland Kaikoura Range and The Wairua Valley. We then visit a high-country sheep and beef farm for lunch and see the range of clothing their merino wool is made from. In the afternoon we drive up The Awatere Valley to our 2-night accommodation in one of New Zealand’s most remote high-country stations, nestled in the upper reaches of the Awatere Valley. After arriving and settling in enjoy drinks and nibbles and a hot tub soak all before your Farm to Table evening dining experience with a meal cooked for you by the station’s private chef.
Meals:
Continental breakfast in room. Morning tea at a vineyard homestead. A beautiful 2 course lunch will be on a private high-country station today served by Hugo’s wife, Kelly our informative hostess. Tonight, a Farm to Table evening dining experience with a meal cooked for you by the station’s private chef, wine and beer available for purchase tonight.
Accommodation
Tonight’s stay is at Middlehurst station. Spacious and delectably comfortable rooms in The Quarters, one of New Zealand’s most remote high-country stays. Features luxury linen and bedding, robes, underfloor heating, unlimited Wi-Fi and sliding doors opening out to lawn and mountain vistas, shared lockable bathrooms. outdoor wood fired hot tubs for you to enjoy.
After breakfast, cooked or continental or both, we set off around 9am to drive to a neighboring farm to explore some of the 35,000-acre station. Morning driving includes multiple river crossings, driving round spurs, through bush and flat grassy expanses with a cuppa in a back-country hut. We return on the same route with multiple river crossings, arriving back at the homestead for lunch. After a short drive back up the road we turn off onto a farm track. We drive up onto flat grassy flats ascending to a lookout point. Here on a clear day, you can see Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku, the highest peak outside of the Southern Alps. Views of the Upper Awatere Valley and the remnants of an extinct volcano Driving down from the heights back to the valley floor for dinner and stories of the day over a few drinks.
Accommodation:
As the night before.
Meals:
Chef prepared breakfast, tea breaks will be served from our onboard supplies of locally roasted plunger coffee or tea and home baking. Picnic lunch today. Farm to Table evening dining experience with a meal cooked for you by the station’s private chef, wine and beer available for purchase tonight.
After breakfast, we head further south to enter Molesworth Station. See the original Cob Cottage and enjoy a picnic lunch surrounded by history, nature and the extensive hills. Driving through the legendary station with stories along the way and stops for the massive views, reaching Hanmer Springs via Jacks Pass around 4pm. Say goodbyes to your driver.
Accommodation: not included tonight.
I have just arrived home and thoroughly enjoyed my trip which was more than I could have wished for.
The hot tub was fabulous at sunset with the birds returning and a huge moon! So peaceful.
I would like to thank you for a fabulous 4 day Tour
Chris was Excellent and we learnt so much from him being in the lead vehicle
As a dental assistant, I will be advising all patients to enjoy the Molesworth Station experience somehow through Sth Is Tours
I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed my recent 4WD drive tour up the Awatere valley and Molesworth and to thank you very much for allowing me to travel as a passenger in the lead vehicle with Chris. I felt very safe with him and learnt a lot as we chatted as we went along.
I really appreciated going literally off the beaten track to places I would never have access to. I also enjoyed seeing a little of how a high country station works and meeting the owners.
I also really enjoyed your home baking. I am sure I put on a few kilos with all the lovely food we consumed on the trip.
I would highly recommend this tour to others.
I am very pleased with my recent 4WD tour…what a great combo, 2 nights on a high country station with great company too. Couldn’t have been better.
