Akaroa

[pingtontsang]

Hi Marcia - mkccltr,

 

Thank you for your good suggestion and the fraction cost of ship tours, that is very tempting.

 

Hsiu

[mrswhiskers]

My DH and I were in Akaroa on Oct 12th. We had originally booked a tour with Discovery Travel out of Christchurch but when our port got changed to Akaroa Discovery Travel adjusted our tour and came to Akaroa.

 

We had a new 18 passenger van/minibus that had A/C and very comfortable. We took a scenic ride over the mountain into Christchurch viewing the devistation from the earthquake. We stopped at a Gluten Free bakery. Of course there was other food but being gluten free it was a special treat to have a chicken pie.

 

We later went to the Willowbank Wild Life Preserve where there was many different species of animals. Could have spent more time there but it was an easy walk through on a wooden platform.

 

We took a different road back stopping for an ice cream and a potty stop. After viewing the port for Christchurch I was so glad we tendered in Akaroa. Christchurch would have been another shipping terminal where in Akaroa we went into a beautiful lagoon. They should make this there permanent stop.

 

Good luck and happy cruising whatever tour you take ours cost $50 US and 25 to get into the preserve. Well worth it.

 

Good to hear you enjoyed your stop in Akaroa Harbour. It is certainly a very beautiful spot & as you say not just another shipping terminal.

Also good to know Discovery Tours are going to Willowbank. It is great there with the kea & the kiwi house.

Do you know if they also go to the Antarctic Centre? I guess for those who want to you could contact Discovery as the Antarctic Centre is not far from Willowbank.

Thanks for posting your experiences.

[mrswhiskers]

Hi mrswhiskers,

 

Thank you very much for your prompt reply.:)

 

Yes, both trip are long, about 10 hours for Tranz Alpine Train trip and it begins with motorcoach travel two hours to Darfield, than another one and half hours to Arthurs Pass, on board the train from Arthurs Pass to Rolleston than bus - two hours ride back to the ship. the train journey does not go all the way to the West coast- Gregmouth, does it miss most scenic part of journey ? I do like the LTR movies, but to go to the sites not because " been there " feeling but for its fascinating scenery.

 

For sure, I will let you know about the decisions. You are right, may be one day we'll come back to do the other trip.:)

Thank you again. :):)

Hsiu

 

Hsiu

Wow! I didn't realise they actually bus you to Arthurs Pass then get the train back. I did wonder how it worked with the timetable. Arthurs Pass is the highlight of that trip. I wonder if anyone else watching this thread has actually done that trip & what they thought. It wouldn't be something I'd do :) but I live here & I can go there any time so it is very different for me.

The scenery is definitely amazing & the LTR trip is too. A bit different but still amazing. Perhaps have a look on flickr for peoples photos of the different areas including Akaroa.

Have you thought of doing one or two of the tours around Akaroa instead of one long tour? For example you could do a 2- 2 1/2 hr boat trip to see seals, dolphins, birds & maybe penguins or do the Pohatu Penguin tour or go swimming with the dolphins (they have fantastic suits for the swimming) & then a 1 hr A Classic Ride motorbike & sidecar trip around the top of the volcanic crater (it's extinct so no smoke) where you can see into the lower bays, see farm land & the mountains & sea or one of the farm tours (alpacca or Paua Bay...you can book direct with Shamarra Alpaccas but Paua Bay is a ship excursion)

The scenery around here is also amazing & whatever you choose to do will not disappoint you. Some people last week said it is the most beautiful place in the world here.

 

Hope this helps.

[Yolande]

Hi,

I just read all the posts it's help but I will have to get a good night sleep before deciding anything. We dont' want to do the same kind of excursion in all ports.

 

I'm surprise that no one speak about Fiordland National Park we are on Diamond Princess (January 11th to January 23rd).

 

Thanks to all of you, :)

 

Ginette

[mrswhiskers]

Hi,

I just read all the posts it's help but I will have to get a good night sleep before deciding anything. We dont' want to do the same kind of excursion in all ports.

 

I'm surprise that no one speak about Fiordland National Park we are on Diamond Princess (January 11th to January 23rd).

 

Thanks to all of you, :)

 

Ginette

 

Hi Ginette

Probably no one mentioned Fiordland because you don't leave the ship there as far as I know. It is stunningly beautiful & my husband & I spent out 25th wedding anniversary in Doubtful Sound. Last year we walked the Milford Track. It is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. You will have a wonderful day there. I had been having a hard time getting over our Alaskan cruise which I loved very much & Fiordland cured me :)

You are right to try to do different things in each port. For example swimming with dolphins at Akaroa is a much smaller dolphin than Bay of Islands. Just need to decide which you prefer or if there are other things you want to do which clash with experiences you could maybe have elsewhere.

Have fun!

[Corinium]

I've recently visited Akaroa (15 November 2011) on the HAL Volendam ship.

The highlight of our cruise was the 5 hour trip with the Robin, the local mail man

On his round of 120km delivering to 140 customers. He has a red mini van and can take upto 8 tourists for a cost of approx NZ$60 pp The scenery is spectacular and Robin is very knowledgable about the geography and nature.

Thoroughly recommend it. See following link for details

 

http://www.akaroa.com/fpnew/fastpage/fpengine.php/templateid/136/menuid/7/tempidx/36

[mrswhiskers]

I've recently visited Akaroa (15 November 2011) on the HAL Volendam ship.

The highlight of our cruise was the 5 hour trip with the Robin, the local mail man

On his round of 120km delivering to 140 customers. He has a red mini van and can take upto 8 tourists for a cost of approx NZ$60 pp The scenery is spectacular and Robin is very knowledgable about the geography and nature.

Thoroughly recommend it. See following link for details

 

http://www.akaroa.com/fpnew/fastpage/fpengine.php/templateid/136/menuid/7/tempidx/36

 

Excellent to hear you enjoyed the trip. It certainly covers some beautiful country & Robin is a mine of fascinating information.

[vkay]

Thanks for the feedback on Robin's mail run - we were lucky enough to be able to book a couple of seats for this coming January. Getting very excited now! :D

[blondie1234]

I too am deciding between the train (over $300 pp), LTR($250) and christchurch where you do a bus ride then they drop you off. I am most interested in scenery.

 

Is the lord of the rings and train worth the money? What is better and is train worth more money, probably $75 more than LTR?

 

What is tender situation for princess? I know when we were at Falkands last year it was a mess and basically if you were not on a tour it took 3 hours to disembark. If you are not on a tour do you have to wait hours?

 

Has anyone taken the tour to christchurch organized by the locals that leaves at 10:30? it goes to christchurch and some spots along the way. Princess only offers unguided to christchurch, the local one looks like you see more, any thoughts?

[Seattitude]

Excellent to hear you enjoyed the trip. It certainly covers some beautiful country & Robin is a mine of fascinating information.

 

 

I have been reading these posts and because of your information have decided to book the mail tour when we are in Akaroa on Feb 20th. I am waiting to see if there is availability. My husband still wants to go into Christchuch and go to the Antartic Center. It's the first time we will be going on different shore excuisions. Akaroa just sounds so wonderful.

Thank you!:)

[gerena]

You won't be disappointed with the mail run tour. We just returned from 3 b/b cruises and the tour in Akaroa was the highlight of New Zealand. Don't have time to post more as I'm still struggling with the 5 week catch up and Christmas!!!

 

Just Do It!!!!

[Musicgirlcruiser]

Here's another suggestion that I haven't read about here - Alpaca Experience. I'm not sure if this is everyone's cup of tea, but this was the most pleasant surprise for us and ended up being a highlight of our trip.

 

We also had no idea what to do in Akaroa, as this was a new port since the switch from Christchurch. We didn't feel like spending 3 hours to get to and from Christchurch so decided on a Blackcat harbour cruise and walk around town. There are lots of tours being offered on the dock, one of which was the Alpaca experience. We know this is not exactly what New Zealand is known for, but the kids fell in love with the picture of the alpaca in the poster, so we went for it. My elderly parents were not as enthusiastic.

 

The bus picked us up around 12:30pm. The driver gave a short tour and narrative of the town, then headed down the road towards Christchurch, then at a certain point, turned and climbed up the mountain at a steep angle till we reached a shed/ barn. Frank, Anya and their daughter Alex, the farm’s owners, were there to greet us. There was nothing commercial about this place. It felt like being invited to a friend’s farm. There were a few alpacas in the shed. They were simply adorable! We were allowed to lead them out to the fields and higher up the mountain, where even more alpacas allowed us to touch and hug them. The view was breathtaking spectacular! I’m not sure how this would compare to the scenic mail run, but my earlier unenthusiastic mom felt like twirling around and singing “Climb Every Mountain”. We stayed much longer than we planned, while Frank and Anya talked about their alpacas, their move from Auckland, their plans for their farm, etc. They were a lovely and warm family.

 

Soon we returned to the barn, and had some refreshments before leaving. The driver brought us to a photo stop, then to the cheese factory before bringing us back to town.

 

It turned out to be our most memorable experience on this trip.

[mrswhiskers]

I have only heard good reports of the Alpacca Farm Tour & yes the scenery is spectacular.

Another good one is Pohatu Penguins which goes to the South of Akaroa. For a great overview of the bays A Classic Ride 1 hr or 1 1/2hr tours you will see a lot the same as the mail run but without dropping down into the bays. The advantage of the bike & sidecar is that there is no roof so everything looks huge with vast open skies. Some of these businesses have Facebook pages & many have photos on their websites. Also there is a Facebook page called Akaroa 365 days of the year which has photos. Hope this helps.

[MrsMoo]

Mailrun tour was great, terrific scenery, off the beaten track where tour buses don't gp. Lovely morning tea provided. Highly recommended.

[alusru]

We were fortunate to be able to accompany Robin on January 20, 2012. What a great day we had!!! From the mail van (which was very comfortable) to the scenery to morning tea by one of the bays, it was a truly memorable day. He is a fountain of information and we went everywhere, even up people's driveways, to deliver the mail. Lots of wonderful sights and fun mail boxes too. We would definitely recommend this to anyone who is in Akaroa on a mail delivery day.

[Red Hat Cruise Cat]

I've recently visited Akaroa (15 November 2011) on the HAL Volendam ship.

The highlight of our cruise was the 5 hour trip with the Robin, the local mail man

On his round of 120km delivering to 140 customers. He has a red mini van and can take upto 8 tourists for a cost of approx NZ$60 pp The scenery is spectacular and Robin is very knowledgable about the geography and nature.

Thoroughly recommend it. See following link for details

 

http://www.akaroa.com/fpnew/fastpage/fpengine.php/templateid/136/menuid/7/tempidx/36

 

That is the tour we wanted to do, unfortunately, our port day is Sunday:(:(:(

[MMDown Under]

That is the tour we wanted to do, unfortunately, our port day is Sunday:(:(:(

 

You can contact him direct to see if he will arrange a private tour on the Sunday.

 

I had no trouble arranging a private tour for 8 on a Saturday, however, much to our disappointment, our ship missed the port.

[DrKoob]

We were on Celebrity's Century in January of this year and this port turned out to be my favorite in New Zealand.

 

You can read all about that port (and the others) here: http://web.mac.com/jimbellomo/Down_Under/Ports_of_Call.html

 

There are photos and more. Suffice it to say we did the harbor tour in a very small boat (I would highly recommend it) and a sheep ranch tour which was the best we did on the whole cruise.

 

You can read my full descriptions on the website above.

 

Jim

[erewhon]

Thank you for your interesting report and photos of your trip "Downunder".

[123cwm]

We were on Celebrity's Century in January of this year and this port turned out to be my favorite in New Zealand.

 

You can read all about that port (and the others) here: http://web.mac.com/jimbellomo/Down_Under/Ports_of_Call.html

 

There are photos and more. Suffice it to say we did the harbor tour in a very small boat (I would highly recommend it) and a sheep ranch tour which was the best we did on the whole cruise.

 

You can read my full descriptions on the website above.

 

Jim

 

Wow! What a great resource for our upcoming trip!! Thanks for sharing all your tips and photos. Even more excited now than ever!

[DrKoob]

Wow! What a great resource for our upcoming trip!! Thanks for sharing all your tips and photos. Even more excited now than ever!

 

You are very welcome. I get so much from Cruise Critic, it is always good to give back. Have a wonderful time next year. I know we did (as you can tell.:D)