Travel 1Votes
NEW ZEALAND
THE growth of aviation in recent years has been so rapid that it is difficult to keep pace with day to day developments, yet each new record flight to Australia, the Cape, or any other distant point has made the world a little smaller. Journeys to Africa and the Far East, which, even in recent years, required weeks to accom- plish, are now made in a few days. Not many years ago Australia and New Zealand were so remote from England that very few Englishmen could hope to see them; yet, last year, a woman in Brisbane, who is a grandmother, decided to visit her relations in England; she travelled by air. She has just set off from Southampton on her return flight of 13,000 miles to Australia, and declares that she felt safer in her chair in the flying boat than in her armchair at home. A journey to Sydney from England takes only nine days by air, costing £16o, and New Zealand can be reached in from 13 to 14 days. By steamship this journey would require from 34 to 43 days and it would cost from £74 to Ltoo. Many people prefer to use both methods of travel by means of the inter-change trips, in which part of the journey is made by air and part of surface travel. Steamships such as those of the Orient Line, the Shaw Savill Line, the Blue Star Line, or the P. and 0. leave nothing to be desired where the comfort and convenience of passengers is con- cerned, and upon reaching New Zealand the visitor is surrounded by almost every imaginable interest, from natural wonders, such as the famous Glowworm Cave of Waitomo to the Alpine playground at Mt. Cook. The climate has no extremes of heat or of cold, travel facilities are up- to-date, hotels are comfortable, and, in the larger centres, as luxurious as anyone could desire.
The New Zealand Government main- tain a Tourist Bureau for the benefit of visitors, which provides a service, entirely free of charge, complete in every detail. This Department will prepare itineraries especially to suit the wishes of individual visitors; visits can be arranged at centres to coincide with carnivals, agricultural show, race meetings, &c., and the Department also undertakes to arrange visits to woollen mills, dairy factories, and other industries of special interest. This service also operates in London, at the office of the High Commissioner for New Zealand, 415 Strand, London, W.C. 2. A tour of 3o days arranged by the Tourist Bureau commences from Auckland, and covers practically all the special attractions of both islands. It includes visits to the Glowworm Cave at Waitomo, Rotorua with its Fairy Spring, geysers, boiling springs, and mud pools. Here, also, one sees the Maori people in their natural setting. Arrangements at Rotorua include the Six Lakes, and Waimango, and full- day excursions to Maori villages. The tour continues to Wairakei, with excursions to Geyser Valley, Karapiti Blowhole, the Aratiatia Rapids, and visits Tongariro National Park, the beautiful Wanganui River, and thence to Pipiriki and Wan- ganui. • Wellington is reached on the four-
teenth day, and Picton two days later by inter-island steamer, then on to Nelson, by way of the bush-clad Buller Gorge to Westport and Hokitika, where the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers descend to within 60o feet of the sea-level. The ferns and tropical vegetation in this district are very remarkable, many people declaring it to be the most beautiful region in New Zealand. From Hokitika the tour con- tinues to Christchurch, and thence to Wellington, which is reached on the thirtieth day. The cost of the tour, in- clusive of first-class travel throughout, full accommodation at the best hotels, all meals, sight-seeing excursions, and cars for transfers is £58 12s. sterling. This is but one of many torus, ranging from eight days to one month, any of which may be changed to suit the convenience of individual travellers.
NEW CRUISES
On April 6th and 29th Messrs. Lam- port and Holt continue their popular Easter Cruises, the first, by ' Voltaire' leaving Southampton on April 6th for the Mediterranean, visits being made to Gib- raltar, Villefranche, Naples, Capri and Lisbon. The cruise takes 18 days and costs from 25 guineas. The Vandyck ' leaves Liverpool for the Canary Islands, making calls at Casablanca, Teneriffe, Santa Cruz de la Palma, Madeira and Lisbon. The cruise costs from 25 guineas and lasts 18 days. On April 29th the ' Voltaire' sails from Southampton for the Eastern Mediterranean, calling at Gib- raltar, Athens, Alexandria, Malta Bizerta and Lisbon. This is a 24-day cruise, from 35 guineas. There are later cruises in May to Madeira, the Atlantic Isles, and the Mediterranean. The famous Amazon Cruises by the Booth Line seem to be more popular than ever this year, which is not surprising, for a more unusual holi- day it would be difficult to find. The cruises take seven weeks, and calls are made at Lisbon, Madeira, Para, and Manaos, where the ships stay four or five days. The excursions, the cost of which is included, are particularly interesting; one being to the Taruma Falls in the heart of the forest. At this season the river is at flood,. and passengers are taken through the flooded forest in flat-bottomed boats. Another excursion visits the lagoons where the giant water-lilies abound. The s.s. Anselm ' leaves Liver- pool on March 28th and May 31st, while the s.s. ' Hilary' leaves the same port on April 18th and June 17th. The cost of these cruises is from E75.
Previous page
