James Travel

If you’ve had thoughts of travel to the South Pacific in the back of your mind for awhile, now is the time to bring them to the forefront, and seriously look at a vacation to Australia and New Zealand. 

A recent, and all too quick, trip “Down Under” amplifies the fact that this is not the place to go for a short-stay getaway.   Be sure to give yourself time to recover from your long journey and rejuvenate yourself for all the high-energy fun ahead of you. A short 1 ½ hour drive from Sydney brings you to the village of Katoomba, and the Spa/Hotel Lilianfels.    The Tatler Cunard Travel Guide named Lilianfels Blue Mountains as one of the 101 Best Hotels in the World.  Their category is listed under “Five Great Escapes for the City Slicker.”  Treat yourself to a Marine Mask Massage or soak in the whirlpool and float a few lazy laps in their indoor pool, with a spectacular view of the Jamison Valley.  An extra day or two here will really get those Trans-Pacific kinks out as well as giving you the opportunity to visit the quaint garden towns of Leura and Bullaburra.

OK, now you are ready to storm Australia, from “Penguin Parades” on Phillip Island, a sunrise climb at Ayers Rock, diving at the Great Barrier Reef, Sky rails over the Kuranda rainforest and way too many other choices.  Or, you could just run yourself ragged in Sydney, a vibrant city where public transportation choices included trains, buses, boats and monorails. Attend a performance at the famed Sydney Opera House; shop for opals in the district of “the Rocks” or the latest and greatest thrill is a “Bridge Climb”, where you don a “bridge suit” and harness and set off with a guide across catwalks, ladders and arches to the top of the Harbour Bridge, an exhilarating 425 feet above sea level. 

While you’re in the hemisphere,… a 3 hour flight on Air New Zealand will get you from Sydney to Christchurch, on the south island of New Zealand.  A trip from Christchurch south to Queenstown, via Mt Cook, is like a trip back in time.

If you love yourself, you will give yourself the present of a visit to Grasmere Lodge, a high country retreat just 75 miles from Christchurch.  The 10 bedroom homestead was once the base for a sheep station covering 43,000 acres.   Leisurely pursuits here include tennis, croquet, a heated outdoor swimming pool, fishing for the area’s legendary trout in one of five lakes or three rivers nearby, skeet shooting, bushwalks in Arthur’s Pass National Park and kayaking.  For skiers there are two commercial ski fields and three club fields within easy reach, and heli-skiing from the lodge is available by arrangement. Their matchless cuisine and exquisite wine cellar offer unforgettable pleasures in a setting that defines serenity.

If you think you’ve seen it all, keep heading south. Expect to be amazed at some of the most indescribable scenic wonders on earth.   Wow!  That’s a pretty broad statement,  considering there are lots of mountains and lakes in the world.  But for some reason, the mountains and lakes and plains in New Zealand have an almost magical, primeval look to them. Round a corner and there’s a glacial lake, in a color you’ve never seen before.  (Lake Tekapo,  hmmm is it blue-green or green blue?) More exotic scenery is presented on the drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound, through the lush, temperate rainforest of Fiordland National Park. If the weather is good, the vistas will be spectacular.  Should the weather happen to be rainy, countless, nameless waterfalls appear out of nowhere.

If this all seems a bit too tame for you, there’s always jet boating on the Dart or Shot over Rivers, and for the real adventure lover zip out to the Kawarau Bridge, the site of the worlds first bungee jump by AJ Hackett.   This could be the leap, and the trip, that matches the name of the mountains surrounding Queenstown…The Remarkables.

James TravelPOINTS 1-800-538-7461/303 442-2340, www.travelpoints.com 

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