The Cass Valley 4WD tour to Waterfall Hut, through part of the 19200ha Glenmore Station was superb!
Difficult to put into words how magnificent & unique the experience was.
A Landscape photographers’s heaven!
The Driver / Guide Paul was friendly & knowledgeable.
Tour was scheduled for 3 hours but expanded to nearly 4 hours!
Although the weather on the day was dull with weak sun, it did not detract from the experience. If anything the soft light added another dimension and made for good photography.
Well worth a detour/visit to Lake Tekapo to go on the Tour.
Given our experience would totally recommend.
This 4WD Tour of the Back Country was without doubt one of the most outstanding we experienced in our visit to South Island. We were picked up outside the Tekapo tourist office in the town centre, along with one other couple, prompt at 1.30pm. Chris, our driver, gave us a quick safety briefing, and we set off in our Land Rover Defender of a certain age, Turning west out of town, we headed up Godley Peaks road, past Mt John observatory, and after a couple miles parked up alongside Lake Tekapo whilst Chris pointed out the various salients we would visit on the tour. We found out that we would mainly tour Glenmore Station, a vast farm estate, and eventually end up at the shepherd's hut in the Cass Valley. Chris was a consummate and skilled storyteller, stopping to show off the various bird and other wild life as well as the semi-wild stock, sheep and cattle, the latter most difficult to round up particularly the youngsters. At times his skillful handling of our vehicle inspired mock terror as he drove up and down the hills and valleys, with the Land Rover defying gravity. He was clearly a very proud, articulate and knowledgeable Kiwi and you felt , like the Maori, he was part of the land rather than of it. it goes without saying that wherever we looked, whether stopped or moving, the views were extraordinary. On our arrival at the hut in the Cass, he once again surprised us by offering to make "nice cup of tea" using waters from a mountain spring, accompanied by a choice of chocolate goodies! He spoke poignantly about the life of the people that work on the stations, often alone with their dogs, sheltering from foul weather, as they drove the sheep off the mountain tops, down to safe pastures for the winter. This was a very profound, almost religious exxperience, in the company of a man we were very privileged to spend just a few hours with whilst in New Zealand.