Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Grand Traverse, combining walks on the Routeburn and Greenstone Tracks (from $1660);
and the Classic, an eight-day tour combining the Routeburn and Milford Tracks (from
$3155). All trips include meals and accommodation in Ultimate's own comfortable huts.
It also offers a one-day Routeburn Encounter ($169).
Glenorchy Base
( 03-409 0960;
www.glenorchybase.co.nz
;
half-/full day from $350/420)
Specialises in guided walks
around the Glenorchy area. Highlights include bird-watching around Lake Sylvan and a
Routeburn Track day walk.
WALKING TOUR
Private Discovery Tours
( 03-442 2299;
www.rdtours.co.nz
)
Half-day 4WD tours head through a high-country sheep sta-
tion in a remote valley between Mts Earnslaw and Alfred (adult/child $185/92). Full-day
tours include LOTR sites around Paradise (adult/child $295/150). Prices include pick-up
from Queenstown.
DRIVING TOUR
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
THE REES VALLEY
Acclaimed NZ film-maker Jane Campion, whose 2013 TV series
Top of the Lake
was filmed in the region, re-
flects on her connection to the Rees Valley.
'As many times a year as I can, I travel to a holiday hut up the Rees Valley, at the top end of Lake Wakatipu. I
love the lake, the majesty of the surrounding mountains, the good weather in the basin, the walks, the rivers, the
end-of-the-world feeling and the laconic people who live nearby. Everyone who has visited me up here is infected
by the ready magic of the landscape and the sensation of worldly troubles dissolving. Lake Sylvan is one of many
good bush walks in the area - a fairly short walk for this scale of landscape, but the intimacy of being inside the
bush immediately gives you a sense of delight. Recently the lake has been high and is phenomenal to swim in.'
Sleeping & Eating
Kinloch Lodge
(
LODGE, CAFE
$
03-442 4900;
www.kinlochlodge.co.nz
;
Kinloch Rd; dm $35, d with/without bathroom from $140/85;
)
Across Lake Wakatipu from Glenorchy (26km by road; five minutes by boat), this
wonderfully remote 1868 lodge rents mountain bikes, offers guided kayaking and
provides transfers to tramping trailheads. The Heritage Rooms are small but stylish, with
shared bathrooms. Rooms in the YHA-associated hostel are comfy and colourful, and
