16 October-1 November 2004. Duration: 17 days.

Welcome to this very special garden tour, which received many accolades from our tour group last year. Even though you may have visited the South Island of New Zealand before, consider coming again! This superbly organised tour is so different to any other…it is a unique chance to visit 25 glorious gardens, and is a must for any garden lover because most of these gardens are private ‘hidden gems’. The tour group is personally escorted from Perth via Melbourne by Gayle and Nic. (The return journey is via Sydney). You may join the group at either city, or the option is available to pay only for the land content, and find your own way to and from Christchurch. We guarantee a holiday full of fun, magnificent scenery, new gardening friends and wonderful memories. So come and enjoy the gardens of beautiful South Island as only Gayle can show you them!

Gardening Highlights (25 gardens)

In October the gardens of the South Island of New Zealand will be absolutely breathtaking. Enjoy:

-a carefully chosen selection of magnificent large country gardens, many with views to spectacular snow-capped mountains and lakes.

-five nights in beautiful English-inspired Christchurch, set on the river Avon, where one person in three is a gardener. It has been voted the Garden City of the World!

- especially, the privilege of visiting some very private gardens, including those of renowned NZ watercolourist Nancy Tichborne, and rosarian and "New Zealand Gardener" writer, Barbara Lee Taylor.

Seasonal highlights: include tree-like rhododendrons, mollis azaleas, flowering cherries, dogwoods, hawthorns, camellias, magnolias, lilac, viburnum, tree paeonies, clematis, wisteria, laburnum, trilliums, wood anemones, fritillaria, primroses, lily of the valley and Solomon’s seal. Spring flowering bulbs include sheets of daffodils and bluebells. Woodland paths lead to bog gardens where astilbe, candelabra primulas, hostas, Kingcup caltha and gunnera thrive. It will be simply magic!

Sightseeing highlights: lots for even the non-gardener to enjoy. Included is a Nature Cruise on the famous Milford Sound. Marvel at a myriad of waterfalls and walk through NZ rainforest. Gaze at a glacier; take an optional helicopter ride and land on the snowclad Southern Alps. Explore scenic Banks Peninsula and the picturesque French village of Akaroa.

We take you inland to McKenzie Country and Lake Tekapo, NZ’s most scenic turquoise blue lake, where the air is the clearest in the Southern Hemisphere!

We even lunch at the world’s only mainland Albatross colony on the Otago Peninsula.

Sit in a vintage Spitfire plane and tour the NZ Fighter Pilots Museum. We allow ample shopping time for antiques, NZ craft and woollen products. .

Taste test your way around the South Island, trying delicious creamy NZ icecream, cheeses, berryfruit, wines and beers, not to mention the venison, succulent NZ spring lamb, trout and salmon!

Also, before or after this tour, you have the chance of extending your stay, especially if you want to explore the North Island

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Getting to Christchurch

Arrive Melbourne Domestic Terminal 6.10am. Transfer to International Terminal; meet other tour members and have time for duty free shopping before departing Qantas 8.10am, arriving Christchurch 2.25pm. Remainder of day and evening free. Overnight, the first of 3 nights at the elegant COPTHORNE HOTEL, CHRISTCHURCH CENTRAL.

Christchurch

First stop is at beautiful Edwardian gardens for spectacular blossom and morning tea. Then we visit the famous Christchurch Botanic Gardens (one of the top ten botanic gardens of the world). Here, after a guided tour and lunch, you can stay, or coach back to our hotel. Free time after 3.30pm, with your own choice of dinner venue. Overnight COPTHORNE HOTEL.

Christchurch hills-Christchurch

Firstly be amazed at a huge retail plant nursery. Then to our first award winning, English-style garden, where an ancient wisteria drapes the historic stone house. It has stunning harbour views and many exotics, including wonderful rhododendrons. Then on to one of NZ’s most celebrated gardens, nestled into the hillside overlooking the bay. It is famous for its formal terraced upper gardens that surround the historic stone home, and the extensive lower woodland gardens. Time to buy a café lunch, enjoy a scenic coastal drive, then change at our hotel for a very special gourmet WELCOME DINNER, complete with NZ wine, in a beautiful private Christchurch home and garden. Overnight COPTHORNE HOTEL

Christchurch-Ashburton

After breakfast, a free morning in Christchurch. Depart 1.30pm southwards through the Canterbury Plains, with views of the snow-capped Southern Alps. This afternoon we visit one of NZ’s most beautiful, award winning, privately owned country gardens. The huge flowering cherries in the woodland should be spectacular, creating carpets of petals beneath. Afterwards here we will enjoy drinks, followed by a delicious spit-roast dinner. Overnight HOTEL ASHBURTON

Ashburton-Lake Tekapo-Timaru

First stop is to buy authentic NZ quality natural woollen goods. Have your purchases posted home to save on NZ GST! Then time for more shopping and a cuppa in the charming village of Geraldine. Lunch today is in a huge woodland cottage garden of incredible beauty. The afternoon is pure scenery. We drive inland, up to the rugged MacKenzie Country to scenic, turquoise-blue Lake Tekapo. Here a tiny stone church has memorable views over the lake to Mt Cook. Time for another cuppa in this peaceful village, before travelling down to the coast. The evening is yours to enjoy, dining in-house or discovering nearby Timaru cafés overlooking Caroline Bay. Overnight BENVENUE HOTEL/MOTEL, TIMARU.

Timaru-Oamaru-Waianakarua

Today southwards to a farm, where a park-like garden has ancient trees, a lake with white swans and huge magnolias. These romantic gardens surround the grand old homestead. Then south into North Otago and Oamaru, known for its superb limestone buildings. Here in the historic precinct you can explore, shop, and buy lunch. Then south again, up into the mountains to a spectacular large country garden. From here there are panoramic forest, river and ocean views. After a garden viewing, nearby homestay owners will collect us for tonight’s homestay. This promises to be a treat, and includes a welcome afternoon tea and tour, a wonderful homebaked dinner and no doubt interesting conversation. Overnight NZ HOMESTAY

After a country breakfast, your hosts will return you to the Moeraki Boulders café, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Then south to check in at our hotel in the historic city of Dunedin. We’ll lunch before travelling out to another wonderful large country garden. Here there are a woodland and creek walk, an orchard carpeted in bulbs, a pond and an exquisite cottage garden filled with perennials and heritage roses. After afternoon tea you can be returned to our hotel or left in Dunedin (late night shopping tonight). You may dine in town or at the hotel. Overnight, the first of a 2-night stay, is at the SKYLINE LEISURE LODGE, DUNEDIN

The first garden we visit is a large terraced woodland one with a rare collection of exotic vireya rhododendrons; the second is huge, hidden in a valley of native bush, at the eastern end of the Otago Peninsula. The owners love blue and yellow, and this garden is simply paradise. Then we’ll lunch at the remote Royal Albatross Centre before enjoying spectacular views of Otago Harbour before our return to Dunedin. Here we’ll tour historic Olveston House and its gardens before arriving at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens, home to a wonderful rhododendron dell and the largest rock garden in the southern hemisphere. You can stay here until dusk if you like as the hotel is opposite the gardens. Overnight at SKYLINE LEISURE LODGE.

Today we head into Southland to one of the best gardens in NZ, an extensive woodland one, famous for its birdlife, series of ponds and mature trees. After buying lunch in Invercargill, we travel north for a cuppa in another farm garden where the owner says she never ever waters! This woodland garden has wonderful views of snow-capped mountains. Then we travel into Fiordland to the magical village of Te Anau, set amidst mountains and next to NZ’s largest, most attractive glacial lake. Dinner and overnight at KINGSGATE HOTEL, TE ANAU.

Today is a day for awesome scenery as we drive over spectacular alpine roads, past rushing waterfalls and Mirror Lake, through rainforest and the incredible Homer Tunnel down to dramatic Milford Sound. On the ‘Milford Wanderer’ Nature Cruise boat, we will cross the still waters, and see wildlife. We’ll lunch on board before we return by coach for free time in Te Anau. Then on to incredibly beautiful Queenstown, nestling by Lake Wakatipu, with views of the impressive Remarkable Mountains. Overnight, the first of a 2-night stay, at the luxurious MERCURE RESORT, set high above QUEENSTOWN. Tonight you may dine in-house or use the courtesy shuttle bus into town to eat out.

Today after breakfast is your free day in Queenstown to spend as you choose. We will list many options. Enjoy! Overnight again at MERCURE RESORT

We head north for morning tea at another stunning garden, with a backdrop of lake and snow-capped mountains. Here there are historic chapels, beautiful spring blossom, water features, and books and paintings for sale in the owner’s art gallery. Then on to shop and buy lunch in historic Arrowtown. Next over the spectacular Crown Range into Wanaka, at the heart of the Southern Lakes, and ringed by snow-clad peaks. Another superb garden with streams and waterfalls awaits you. Optional trip to NZ Fighter Pilots Museum. Lastly, by the lake, we’ll discover a delightful smaller garden, brimming with rhododendrons. We stay and dine at friendly, wood-panelled MT. ASPIRING HOTEL, WANAKA

Wanaka- Haast Pass- Fox Glacier

Another day of spectacular scenery as we travel to the rugged west coast, a world heritage area. After buying lunch at a salmon farm café (where whitebait and salmon chowder are delicacies), we arrive mid afternoon to view Fox Glacier. Dinner at our hotel, the stunning new TE WEHEKA INN, FOX GLACIER.

Fox Glacier- Hokitika- Punakaiki Rocks.

This morning you have the chance to take an optional scenic helicopter ride (own expense). This premier flight affords views of both Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers and you’ll get to stand in snow on the top of the Southern Alps! Shopping time at Franz Josef village and viewing of glacier before arriving at Hokitika to shop at local jade factories and other craft outlets. Afternoon tea at a delightful coastal garden, memorable for its terracing, stone steps, maples, rhododendrons and native NZ species. North via Greymouth to Punakaiki Rocks, where our oceanside villas are close to the famous pancake rocks and blowholes. Overnight at PUNAKAIKI ROCKS VILLAS.

Punakaiki Rocks-Greymouth-Christchurch

Another day of magnificent scenery as we coach eastwards from Greymouth, across the Southern Alps down to Christchurch. Mid afternoon arrival in Christchurch and a memorable visit to some magnificent mollis azalea gardens. Free time late afternoon and evening. Overnight at COPTHORNE HOTEL, CHRISTCHURCH CENTRAL

Christchurch-Akaroa-Christchurch

The best left to last! Travel with us to the Banks Peninsula, and the picturesque historic French village of Akaroa. There will be breathtaking views of sea and countryside at every turn. Shop for craft before our privileged visit to artist Nancy Tichborne’s private garden and watercolour studio. Time then to lunch and shop in enchanting Akaroa. That afternoon Barbara Lee Taylor, renowned rosarian and author, will show us her charming historic home and cottage garden. Afternoon tea is at an elegant homestead and garden with its superb colour-scheming and enchanting vistas. This memorable day concludes with our WINE TASTING and FAREWELL DINNER at a winery, famous for its beautiful food and gardens. Overnight again at the COPTHORNE HOTEL.

Christchurch and departure

Free morning in Christchurch before early afternoon departure to airport. Time for duty free shopping before boarding Qantas 3.10pm flight to Sydney, arriving

International Terminal 4.35pm. Connecting flight departing Domestic Terminal 7.15pm, arriving Perth at 9pm. Welcome home!

Tour Price
                            (including GST)  Aust $ per person twin share                         

NZ tour price includes

Return group economy airfares, Qantas ex Perth & Mel,

returning via Sydney to Perth

8 quality hotels, 1 seaside villa and 1 NZ homestay, with twin/double share accommodation with private facilities.

Introductory 3-night stopover in Christchurch (with 2-night stopovers in Dunedin, Queenstown and Christchurch). Free day off mid- tour in Queenstown.

16 cooked breakfasts (B) and 4 lunches (L)

7 dinners (D), including gourmet Welcome Dinner in a Christchurch home, Farewell Dinner at Christchurch garden winery.

9 morning/afternoon teas (MT AT) and 2 wine-tastings (WT).

Entrance fees to 25 gardens.

Five star air-conditioned coach, recliner seats, rest room.

Ticket wallet and pre-departure tour briefing mailout.

Detailed garden information booklet, one per person.

Tour led by Gayle and Nic Monzu.

Complementary membership of Gayle’s garden travel club, "Gardening Friends,