MARCH 12 - 23, 2010
NEW ZEALAND TOUR ITINERARY
DAYS O1 and 02 MARCH 12 / 13 USA-CHRISTCHURCH
Cross International Date Line MEALS ALOFT
DAY 03 MARCH 14 CHRISTCHURCH-ASHBURTON
Our private coach meets us at the airport and drives us to nearby Ashburton, where we check into our charming farmstay accommodations. Dinner is included.
FARMSTAY D
DAY 04 MARCH 15 ASHBURTON – THE ASHFORD 5 DAY RETREAT BEGINS
Our coach will pick us up at 8:30 a.m. and take us to Ashford Handicrafts, Ltd. for a tour of the factory. Morning tea will be served in the Ashford Café in the adjacent historic Mill House. We'll meet Jo Reeve, our tutor for today, in the upstairs classroom. She'll share her secrets to carding, blending and novelty spinning. We'll build a rainbow and learn color blending. From our pack of luxury fibers, we'll experiment with fiber blending and spin our carded fiber into novelty yarn. Lunch is served in the Ashford Café.
At 6 p.m. there is a cocktail party at the home of the Ashford proprietors. Dinner is served at 8 p.m.
FARMSTAY BLD
DAY 05 MARCH 16 ASHBURTON
We drive to Mill House and meet this morning's instructor, Cindy Begg, who will show us how to find our ideal fleece! We'll learn to identify different fleeces and how they should be spun for the finished purpose. Morning tea is served before we skirt a white and colored fleece. After lunch, we meet Shona Schofield, who will help us create a beautiful Merino silk scarf in nuno felt. At 5 p.m., we return to our farmstay for dinner. At 7 p.m., we'll attend a class on color and enjoy some special pampering with a massage and pedicure.
FARMSTAY BLD
DAY 06 MARCH 17 ASHBURTON
Today we experience a high country adventure! We'll visit Lake Heron Station, an extensive sheep station at the base of the Southern Alps, with amazing scenery and stunning views of the mountains. Watch musterers and shearers at work. Board 4-wheel drive vehicles to go across country for lunch in an authentic musterer's hut. On the drive home, we'll visit Rangiatea Farm in the foothills, with its lush woodland gardens and jewelery studio where all the pieces are made from agate found on the farm. Then on to Homestead Farm to experience alpacas, up close and personal! We return to our farmstay around 5:30 p.m. Dinner---and a party!---begin at 6:30 p.m.
FARMSTAY BLD
DAY 07 MARCH 18 ASHBURTON
Priscilla Lowry will share her love, and knowledge, of silk with us this morning. After morning tea, we'll create luxurious silk yarn; after lunch, we'll dye the yarn. We return to the farmstay for dinner, then attend Priscilla's talk on "Did You Know the Virgin Was a Knitter?" an interesting journey through medieval manuscripts of textile crafts.
FARMSTAY BLD
DAY 08 MARCH 19 ASHBURTON
We spend the day with Nicola Bota, who will show us how to create beautiful, unique woven garments, or home décor, using the yarns we've created during the week. At 5 p.m., our marvelous workshop ends, and we bid farewell to our teachers and Ashford staff. We take home with us new skills, new experiences, and memories of the new friends made during this adventure in fiber. Dinner at 6:30.
FARMSTAY BLD
DAY 09 MARCH 20 ASHBURTON – CHRISTCHURCH – ROTORUA - TAURANGA
We are driven to the airport for our flight to Rotorua, on the North Island. Our private coach and guide meet us at the airport and give us an orientation drive around Rotorua City. We are now in a stronghold of Maori tradition and history, first settled in the 14th century. Lunch is at Kuirau Park in the city center and we walk around the beautiful grounds, exploring the geothermal activity of boiling mud pools for which the area is so famous. We'll visit a living, lakeside Maori village and the St. Faith Maori Church, with its richly decorated interior, see Maori carvings, Taniko weaing and tukutuku. We drive on to visit a wool milljust outside
of town.
A short drive along a picturesque old coaching road, through native bush and farmland, takes us to Captain Cook's Bay of Plenty, which he discovered in the 1700s. Our destination is the lakeside town of Tauranga, where we check into our simple but comfortable hotel located conveniently near restaurants, shops and the lake. Dinner tonight is a delicious barbecue aboard a harbor cruise boat.
HOTEL HARBOUR CITY MOTOR INN BLD
DAY 10 MARCH 21 TAURANGA
We have breakfast at a seaside café before going to the Majacraft Loom Factory for a tour and lunch. We'll meet with a master flax or wool weaver (to be determined). We may also meet with a spinning club and have a workshop, and meet with a craftsperson extraordinaire. Authentic fish and chips for dinner at the shore, caught today by local Maori fishermen.
HOTEL HARBOUR CITY MOTOR INN BLD
DAY 11 MARCH 22 TAURANGA
After our café breakfast, we'll visit a Maori marae, a family-based complex set in Te Puna where we will receive a sincere and unforgettable welcome (powhiri) and an understanding of the significant role of their ancestors. We will be immersed in their culture and beliefs through their art and stories and gain an insight into their traditional connections with nature. This program offers a rich and unique learning experience. The Maori family has invited us for a customary Maori hangi lunch, cooked in an underground pit filled with hot stones.
We'll learn to weave a flax flower form the native plant, phormium tenax (harakeke). The uses of the flax fiber were numerous and varied for Maori. Clothing, mats, plates, baskets, ropes, bird snares, lashings, fishing lines and nets were all made from flax. Babies were even given rattles made from flax. Other parts of the plant were also used. Floats or rafts were made out of bundles of dried flower stalks (kokari). The abundant nectar from flax flowers was used to sweeten food and beverages. Returning to town, we enjoy a special Farewell Dinner.
HOTEL HARBOURCITY MOTOR INN BLD
DAY 12 MARCH 23 TAURANGA – AUCKLAND – USA
After breakfast at a local café, we pack up and drive to Auckland, stopping at Karangahake Gorge for a walk, and to hear stories of days gone by about the gold mining history in New Zealand. We can walk the gold miners' trail and explore the relics along the way. Walk through the dark tunnel then negotiate swing bridges crossing the Ohinemuri River. We stop for morning tea in Katikati with time to look at the painted murals in this famous town.
Lunch is at the beautiful Ohinemuri Winery, just across the road from the old gold mining area. We drive on to the Auckland airport for our evening flight home. BL
Please note: Changes in content, pacing, hotels, etc., may occur due to circumstances beyond our control. Be assured we strive to make necessary changes equal or superior to original plans.
PRICE:
$3,585* per person in double accommodations, based on 10 people, LAND ONLY
TRIP INCLUDES:
- 5 day Ashford Retreat, including tuition, class materials & equipment use
- Most meals & non-alcoholic beverages
- Visit to Lake Heron Sheep Station
- 3 nights Harbour City Motor Inn in Tauranga with all meals
- Majacraft Looms private tour and lunch
- Maori experiences, including “hangi” lunch with family
- Meetings with special craftspeople
- Airport transfers
- Private coach transportation during program
- Airfare from Christchurch to Rotorua
- JOAN NOBLE AS TOUR MANAGER
- International air fare
- Tips to guides and drivers
- Items of a personal nature (i.e. laundry, telephone, alcoholic drinks, etc.)
* PRICE BASED ON CURRENCY EXCHANGE AS OF TODAY'S DATE
4/13/2009