Mid-Winter Christmas Festival -Wairarapa

We are transferred from our home address in the greater Auckland/Tauranga or Christchurch areas. Within 25 k of our local airport.  (ask for prices from other areas.) to our local airport for the short flight to Wellington.  On arrival we are met and transferred to our hotel in central Wellington for overnight. Time to explore the shops or visit Te Papa before joining our Tour Manager for dinner.

After our buffet breakfast we join our coach for our journey to the scenic Wairarapa. We make a stop at the Remutaka Crossing Memorial which commemorates 60 thousand New Zealand troupes who made the crossing from the Military Camp in Featherston and Hutt Valley between 1915 and 1919. It represents the experiences they had on their march.  We travel on through Featherston and a visit to Rototawai Gardens and homestead with a collection of paintings, prints and sculpture by established contemporary New Zealand artists. The Bidwell’s arrived at this property in March 1843 and still farm here today.

We stop in Martinborough, so we have time to get some lunch before travelling on to our “home away from home” for the next 3 nights.  The lovely Parehua Resort.  Here we enjoy our own cottages featuring picturesque views over the resort’s rural landscape. It offers a private entrance, an open fireplace and a private deck. There is a kitchenette with a microwave, hob, refrigerator and tea/coffee making facilities. All Garden Cottages include Brand New Hot Tubs.   Unpack and really make the most of this delightful area.  Join your Tour Manager for Dinner tonight.

Enjoy breakfast and then we join our coach and travel through to Masterton.  Here we can visit the Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of art and History which opened its doors in 1969.  Time also, to enjoy Masterton itself, the largest town in the Wairarapa before we visit Stablehouse Gardens, a Garden of New Zealand National Significance with its Classical Formal lines and cloistered rows of abundant colour and fragrance.  Then it’s on to Urlar Winery (pronounced Er La—” of the earth”.)  Here we enjoy a wine tasting and a light lunch.  We head back to our hotel to enjoy a relax before heading into Greytown which has been transformed into a Christmas wonderland.  Wrap up warm and enjoy the sights at your own pace.  Watch for the snow machine gently making snowflakes as you head up the street.  Music and entertainers will be out on the streets, and they have a wonderful “Foodtruck” area if you fancy something light to eat whilst you  people watch.  Return to our waiting coach for the short trip back to our cottages where a nice hot cuppa can be enjoyed before bed.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Today we will visit Greytown in the daytime for a look around the shops and perhaps visit the Cobblestone Museum with its many historic items on display. We then join our hosts at the Cuckoo Café for an afternoon tea with a glass of bubbles for those who want.  We have the opportunity to participate in a craft session.  This is an easy—all levels catered for—session where you create a vintage Walnut pin cushion which then becomes a delightful keepsake or gift. (If you don’t want to join the craft session you will still receive one of these that we have premade.)   Time to check out the European Christmas markets if we haven’t already before heading back to Parehua Resort for a “Festive” themed dinner.

Sadly, today we must leave our cosy cottage and join our coach once again for our drive back to Wellington. Here we enjoy a sightseeing tour including Mt Victoria and Oriental Bay. The coach will stop at Te Papa and there will be time for a visit and to have lunch (own expense) before we head out to the airport for our flight back to our home city.

On arrival in our homeport we will be met and taken back to our home addresses anywhere within the 25K radius of our local airport.

Wellington passengers will be taken back to their home addresses.