Rangitikei Historic Homes
Highlights
Spend two days visiting the magnificent Historic Homes around Rangitikei with our guide, John Vicker
The Herb Gardens in Ashhurst
Old Gorge Cemetery
Woodville and the Woodville Pioneer Museum
Huka Falls
Northern Explorer Train
Next tour will be in January 2019. Please check again for updates.
Our tour takes us to Rangitikei where we visit the fascinating Historic Homes around this area.
We spend two days looking around the homes with our renowned guide and expert, John Vickers. Other highights include seeing a unique garden in Ashhurst and going to Woodville and its Pioneer Museum.
We stay in Palmerston North for four nights at the Copthorne Hotel. We end our tour with a wonderful, relaxing train journey home on the Northern Explorer, traversing Tongariro National Park and winding through the famous Raurimu Spiral.
Itinerary
Day 1
Our journey starts as we leave Auckland and head south, picking up our other passengers along the way. We arrive at the Huka falls and stop to marvel at the thundering yet beautiful 11 metre high waterfall. The water flows over the falls at a rate of 220,000 litres per second.
No wonder it’s so noisy and one of the most popular places to visit in New Zealand. We have our lunch stop in Taupo. Continuing around Lake Taupo and across the Desert Road, we cross the Rangitikei River at Mangaweka and travel through Kimbolton to our hotel for the next four nights in Palmerston North.
Day 2
Today, we visit the wonderful historic homes for which this area is noted. Our guide, John Vickers, is a recognised expert and will provide us with a very interesting day. A tasty lunch is also included.
Day 3
We spend our second day with John for another fantastic time looking at the stunning historic homes in this area.
Day 4
We start the day with a walk around the visual and fragrant Herb Farm in Ashhurst set up by Lynn and Bill Kirkland. While walking around the gardens, we can take some time out to enjoy one or two of the themed gardens in this beautiful and tranquil rural setting. Following morning tea at Herb Farm, we travel to the Old Gorge Cemetery for a guided tour. This historic cemetery features graves of pioneers, notable personalities and early settlers of Woodville. After lunch in Woodville, we visit the Pioneer Museum where we can look back in time to the old pioneer days before we make our way back to Palmerston North.
Day 5
An exciting day as we board the Northern Explorer for a wonderful, relaxing train journey home traversing Tongariro National Park and winding through the famous Raurimu Spiral which is regarded as an ‘engineering masterpiece’. The final destination is Auckland but passengers can be dropped off at other stations along the way by prior arrangement.