Cascades et vins de Piha
Description
Si vous souhaitez garder votre après-midi libre ou si vous avez un vol à prendre, cette édition matinale plus courte de notre excursion d'une journée complète dans les vignobles de Piha Waitakere Ranges vous emmène voir la colonie de plage de sable noir de Piha, puis les cascades tranquilles et sereines de Karekare. Avant d'être ramené à l'Auckland Sky Tower, vous pourrez déguster du vin au vignoble Soljans à Kumeu. La famille Soljans peut se vanter de produire du vin depuis 5 générations à Auckland et est toujours une entreprise familiale. Ils produisent des mélanges de Méthode Traditionnelle, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Gewürtztraminer, Pinot Noir, Muscat pétillant, Pinotage et Merlot Cabernet Malbec. Ils produisent également un Porto Tawny de 10 ans d'âge que vous pourrez essayer.
Options de l'excursion
Itinéraire
Piha est une colonie côtière en bord de mer, l'une des nombreuses à environ 50 minutes en voiture du quartier central des affaires d'Auckland. Nous traversons la vallée d'Henderson, le cœur historique pionnier de l'industrie vinicole néo-zélandaise, où de nombreux vignerons croates se sont installés et ont commencé par récolter les anciens arbres Kauri pour le bois et la gomme, une exportation précoce. Piha est célèbre pour son sable de fer noir magnétique volcanique et est un avant-poste très populaire à visiter pour les habitants et les touristes. Les voyageurs s'arrêteront au belvédère de Piha pour une vue magnifique sur la colonie en contrebas avant de descendre et de marcher sur la plage. La mer côtière de Tasman est très spectaculaire à regarder, mais aussi dangereuse avec des déchirures et de grosses vagues et des conditions météorologiques orageuses en hiver. En été, c'est un paradis pour les surfeurs et a accueilli les championnats du monde de surf des moins de 16 ans. Profitez du temps sur les plages de Piha Sud et Nord et admirez l'emblématique Lion Rock.
Karekare est un autre village proche de Piha dans les montagnes de Waitakere. La cascade est l'une des nombreuses belles chutes d'eau naturelles à 15 minutes de marche dans la forêt tropicale. Dans cette forêt protégée, vous verrez un arbre Pohutukawa vieux de 500 ans, une espèce que les Néo-Zélandais appellent familièrement l'arbre de Noël indigène de Nouvelle-Zélande, car il ne fleurit que pendant un mois en décembre. Vous verrez une large gamme d'autres plantes et arbres indigènes différents, notamment le lin indigène et l'unique « fougère argentée », l'icône la plus célèbre de Nouvelle-Zélande. Au pied des chutes se trouvent plusieurs palmiers Nikau, le palmier des antipodes qui pousse le plus au sud du monde. La majeure partie du sentier menant à la cascade a été gravillonnée pour plus de sécurité. De temps en temps, en automne, vous verrez des canards et des anguilles indigènes qui viennent curieusement à la surface pour regarder les gens. Le trajet en voiture dans la forêt de Piha à Karekare dure 20 minutes et la marche du parking aux chutes dure 10 minutes. Nous passons environ 20 minutes près des chutes de Karekare.
Soljans Estate est une entreprise familiale de vinification fondée en 1937 et fondée en 5e génération. Pionniers dans la vinification néo-zélandaise, ils produisent des vins mousseux Méthode Traditionnelle, des vins rosés, du Chardonnay fermenté en barrique, du Pinot Gris et une petite quantité de Pinotage. Leur producteur de Marlborough leur fournit du Gewurtztraminer, du Sauvignon Blanc et du Pinot Noir. Ils produisent des assemblages de Syrah et de Cabernet élevés en fûts de Hawkes Bay et du Muscat doux et pétillant de Gisborne. Ils ont également une réputation enviable pour leur Porto Tawny 10 ans vieilli dans des fûts géants Totara artisanaux de 3 400 litres. Soljans possède également une boutique de souvenirs et peut organiser l'expédition de n'importe lequel de leurs vins à votre porte en Australie, au Royaume-Uni et aux États-Unis. Vous dégusterez un minimum de cinq vins dans la cave et Soljans vise à satisfaire différents palais et préférences le jour même.
Points forts
Ce qui est inclus
Lieux et horaires de prise en charge
Nous collectons uniquement auprès des Hôtels ou Hébergements avec drive-in ou zones de chargement dédiées. Si votre hôtel ne figure pas dans la liste, contactez-nous et nous vous indiquerons le point de rendez-vous le plus proche. Cette visite ne revient au Sky City Hotel que par la Sky Tower - Pas d'exceptions.
Avis des voyageurs
Informations importantes
- Déconseillé aux voyageurs avec des problèmes à la colonne vertébrale
- Déconseillé aux voyageurs avec des problèmes cardiovasculaires
- Déconseillé aux femmes enceintes
- Transports en commun disponibles à proximité
- Convient à toutes les conditions physiques
- L'âge minimum pour boire de l'alcool est de 18 ans.
- Le temps total passé à conduire le véhicule pour cette visite panoramique est d'environ 3 heures
- Non recommandé pour les clients souffrant d'un handicap au niveau du genou ou de la hanche
Avis(9)
Driver/ owner / tour guide was amazing. Knew all about the wines as well as the countryside. He managed to provide interesting dialog all the way to the various locations. Has half day 1 winery and full day 2 wineries. Both had excellent wines.
Hi Donald, Thanks for booking the tour and thanks for the great review. I hope you'll follow NZWINEPRO® on Facebook or Instagram where I post interesting things I come across on tour. Best regards - John McFarlane
We booked this activity through Viator several weeks in advance. We received confirmation and tickets. We arrived at the pickup location early and messaged the operator to ensure we were in the right location. We did not receive a response. Contacted Viator directly who spoke with the operator wan advised that we had not been out on their calendar. We had one day in Auckland and were left with no tour as everything else was booked. So unprofessional and they didn’t even respond to us. I would give them zero stars if I could. Nothing was offered to compensate for this oversight.
Hi Pink, We collect from 14 major hotels and cruise ships from the Port. Normally when we receive a booking through Viator we respond to it asking where the client is staying so that we can schedule their pickup in a logical order depending on the number of pickups and their locations around the Auckland central business district The client responds and the booking is confirmed. This is all done through the email intranet or chat system that is part of the Viator booking system. You received an automated E ticket that said "confirmed" but that is not a confirmation from the operator , that's a confirmation that you simply have a ticket. When you buy an Airline ticket you are still required to check in and it's the same with us. In your case, the booking never got put in the calendar so we did not know there was a booking until Viator phoned us which was the first communication we had with you through them. You booked something and never contacted us prior to the departure date and time to confirm or reconfirm that the details on the ticket were correct - which they were not. This has happened before. Sky City Hotel is simply a default location which we have to put in. It's one of the 14 hotels While we accept this mistake was ours, you never reached out once in the communication through the Viator Chat system like most seasoned travellers do well in advance. If you leave contact to the departure time there is a real chance the tour has already departed If you had contacted us in advance you could have been collected directly from your cruise ship like the other travellers that went on the tour that day that communicated with us efficiently. We have a log of the communications with you after the tour had departed, but prior to that we received no telephone call, no messages - nothing. The terrible reviews are all unfortunately clients that did not get to go on tours - and so your review is a reflection of that rather than of the tour itself and I understand you are disappointed. I am personally very sad this occurred and that you missed out on an amazing experience. You received a full refund To anyone reading this I guess the moral of the story is book direct with the operator and don't go though 3rd party on-sellers where communications sometimes fail or don't happen at all. We were supposed to contact you but you could have done a lot more to contact us in the weeks leading up to the tour date. Mellissa Wiles - Tour Co-ordinator
Booked this activity several weeks in advance. We received our confirmation and tickets. We arrived early at the pickup location and messaged the operator to make sure we were in the right location. We received no response. We contacted Viator and were told the operator didn’t put our booking on his calendar! We had one day in Auckland and we were left with no tour as everything else was booked. Very disappointing and so unprofessional that the operator did not even respond. Nothing was offered to compensate for this oversight. I would give zero stars if I could.
Hi Tommi, We have already responded to your partners 1 star review. We are sorry for this error which was a complex administrative mistake that we acknowledge. Small businesses grow from learning from mistakes and evolving to ensure they are not repeated. We are sorry for the disappointment that you missed your tour. The departure time was brought forward to accommodate the departure of the cruise ship you were on and this should have been communicated to you. Kindest regards Mellissa Wiles - Tour Co-ordinator
We took the half-day Waterfalls and Wine option and while there were nice moments on the tour the majority of the outing was spent traveling in a somewhat cramped van. The pick-ups of participants began at 9-ish, not the tour itself. Then, after 50 minutes of driving there were two stops at nearly identical beaches (20 minutes each), and one 5-minute hike to an attractive waterfall. As a result there was only time to enjoy a single wine tasting. Perhaps we didn't read the fine print closely enough but we anticipated more hiking and wine tasting and less motoring. The all-day tour might have been more satisfying, as Piha IS a beautiful location and it simply takes time to get there and back.
I'm disappointed in your review which is quite at odds with other reviewers of the same tour. There is no public transport to Piha or Karekare and there are a limited number of tour companies prepared to go there because the roads are so hard on vehicles. You clearly did not read the inclusions which state you would visit black sand beaches at Piha, 2 of them, visit a pretty waterfall after a short walk in the forest at Karekare and taste wine a Soljans Vineyard. It was all in the description, but you make it sound as though if we availed more time there would be time for more wine tasting. You are a dreamer and quite naive and definitely ungrateful. Perhaps you should have booked the longer version that others on the tour paid for, which included lunch and a second winery - But you opted for the shorter and much cheaper edition, so I throw it right back at you. It is quite a drive I concede but there are amazing views and getting to these places is not easy at all. So thanks for your completely average review.
It was a great experience, largely because our guide, Jon, was so knowledgeable! This area of the country is magnificent.
Hi Theresa, Thanks for your great review. I'm so pleased you enjoyed your tour and that the inclusions met with your best expectation. Kind regards - John McFarlane
Perfect day! We just wanted a half day tour as we had a lot of things planned and this fit the mold perfectly. John was an incredible guide and was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. It was awesome to see a waterfall and piha- and the vineyard was the perfect way to end the day. Would highly recommend!
Hi Valerie, I'm so happy you enjoyed this tour - Piha is a magic place - The wine afterwards the cherry. Thanks for your great review.
We did a similar excursion with the same company a few years ago. Enjoyed then and enjoyed it again this time. We were lucky the wet weather held off while we visited Piha Beach and waterfall.
Hi Monika, Thanks for the great review and for choosing NZWINEPRO® twice. I do hope you'll follow my business @nzwinepro on Facebook or Instagram where I post things of interest that I discover on tour. All the best - John McFarlane
We had already toured the city and Waiheke island, but we hadn't seen the beaches or rain-forest of the nearby west side. I'm glad we took this tour. It gave us a chance to view more of the unspoiled beauty of New Zealand. Added plus was that this tour finished by 2pm enabling us to catch our evening flight home without needing to rush.
Hi Jay, I'm delighted you enjoyed Piha and the waterfalls. This morning tour is becoming very popular for people departing on early flights or cruise ships and still wish to have a few hours before departure. I do hope you'll follow my business @nzwinepro on Facebook or Instagram where I post things of interest I come across on tour. Kind regards - John McFarlane
What a wonderful tour! John was our guide and was so clear and communicative from the very start. His insights into New Zealand history and culture was fasinating and vast. Piha beach and the waterfall were beautiful and we stopped at several locations for breathaking photos. Boy does John know about wines! We had a great stop at a winery to taste test and learn about how wines came to be grown in NZ. Also got to sample some local manuka honey which was an added bonus! They have a full day version of this tour, with lunch but this shorter one was perfect for us as we made it back to Auckland by early afternoon to rest, shop and meet friends for dinner! In fact, John gave us a leaflet with various recommendations that did not dissappoint! We had a fabulois meal of green lipped mussels and frites at The Occidental and visted several other recommendations - all A+++! This is a must do tour!
Thanks for your fantastic view of the Piha Waterfalls & Wines Tour. I appreciate the positive feedback and I'm pleased the nzwinepro® newsletter had some things for you to do and see. This shorter tour is very popular for people leaving on an early flight or cruise but still want to see the wild west coast, nature and then taste wine. I do hope you'll follow my business @nzwinepro on Facebook or Instagram where I post things of interest I come across on tour. Best regards - John McFarlane
