See up close for yourself the grandeur of the towering Southern Alps and Canterbury braided rivers, near the home of Mona Anderson.
Explore deep into Canterbury’s high country, Lake Coleridge, the headwaters of the Rangitata River on both sides, to the legendary Mesopotamia on the southside and Erewhon Station on the northern side. Experience farm hospitality and enjoy tours hosted by local guides to Peel Forest, and Orari Station to hear the fascinating history. Enjoy unique accommodation staying on a station at Lake Coleridge for two nights and at The Vicarage in Geraldine for three nights. This tour combines history, visiting iconic stations with lovely gardens, meeting high country folk. There will be free time to explore the charms of Geraldine from cheese to a boutique gin distillery, art galleries to speciality shops. Geraldine “One of the prettiest inland towns in the Dominion” as quoted in the Press, Countryside Wanderings, March 1911. Come and discover it with us.
Christchurch
8:00am
We pick you up from Christchurch and travel north towards the township of Rangiora Waimakariri’s largest town, to start our tour of Route 72 heading towards the Canterbury high country.
We will stop at some of the small townships along the way. In Cust we will enjoy a cuppa at the renown Route72 Café and Emporium, then off through Oxford, Sheffield.
We head west over Porters Pass, then turning off the main highway we skirt past Lake Lyndon as we get closer to Lake Coleridge, stopping off at various places of interest. After arriving at Lake Coleridge we will explore the north side of the lake and view the awe inspiring Southern Alps and dam, before returning to settle into our farm stay accommodation for the night. We will enjoy a meal at the well known Terrace Downs.
Accommodation at a high country station, in quality shearers quarters.
Breakfast prepared for you this morning by your guide. Today we will be exploring the local area, meeting the farmers, and enjoying country hospitality, after a farm tour we return to our accommodation for a homestead lunch, then onto another station to see their garden and enjoy a cuppa.
Inclusions Accommodation second night at our high-country farm. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner tonight is a BBQ at our accommodation.
We leave our accommodation and travel south stopping off at a local gorge for a photo opportunity before heading to a classic country store. We travel off the scenic highway and again head for the hills to another high-country station for lunch and a garden tour. In the afternoon we drive to Geraldine to stay at the Vicarage, historic luxury accommodation for 3 nights.
Inclusions Accommodation at The Vicarage, Breakfast, Lunch Dinner at a local restaurant.
After breakfast at a nearby popular café, we travel back up country to discover a whole valley with a local guide explaining the history, farming, stories etc. We stop off at different points of interest including Lord of the Rings film locations. We visit an iconic station to view the gardens, historic buildings, and tour around part of the farm. We return to Geraldine with dinner at our accommodation.
Inclusions Accommodation at The Vicarage, Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Dinner
We leave Geraldine after having another fabulous breakfast and travel up country to follow the Rangitata River to visit another historic farm to see the Clydesdale horses, meet the owners and hear about their station life on the farm. A wagon ride is possible. Returning to Geraldine you are free to explore the town, with its many speciality shops, a wonderful museum, Gin tasting facility, art gallery, cheesery [the only place in NZ that sells deer cheese], or a walk into original bush accessed from the town centre and much more.
Inclusions Accommodation at The Vicarage, Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch Dinner at a local restaurant.
After breakfast we meet up with a local farmer who takes us on a tour to one of the iconic places of the Geraldine area. Loads of history and wonderful gardens, historic buildings all from a little-known area of Canterbury. A spot of lunch in Geraldine before we drive back to Christchurch Airport by 3pm for your fight or we will drop you off at your accommodation.
Inclusions Breakfast, and Morning Tea.
Loved the whole trip. Especially the family involvement in developing the land and how the stations were run. Loved the picnic lunches out in the grass. So much to say about how good it all was. We have done a lot of travelling both domestic and international and this trip rates highly. Accommodation was excellent. Loved the Barker story. That was special too. Very much appreciated being able to visit the houses at the stations.
This is the big tour without big distances: big mountains, big spaces, big skies, big rivers, big horses, big back country men and capable country women, within two hours of Christchurch. It supports the adage, “One cannot do it on their own. We can only get to see these things by being an organised group”. The tour includes two big rivers: Rakaia and Rangitata, at a time of year when they are subdue, but their capacity to flood is evident. And the tour includes the lives of locals who are willing to share their ‘Big Country’ lives. We learn of their lives while enjoying all the comforts one expects ‘out on the plains’, including the gourmet delights of Geraldine
I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the trip to the High Country Stations of Canterbury. It was fabulous and so was the weather !! It was so lovely to meet many of the amazing people who are farming this wonderful area tucked away behind the foothills mostly .The accommodation, meals and companions were outstanding. Our visit to the Orari Gorge and Peel Forest stations were very special with lovely areas of native bush as well as beautiful plantings of exotic deciduous and many magnificent redwoods & other fur species of trees which in several cases had been planted from the 1860’s onwards. Thank you for a fantastic and unique wonderful experience.
