Greetings from New Zealand

Elizabeth Lee, Events Coordinator for Region 35; and Kate Veeder, MMC for Region 35 have put together for REGION 31 members / spouses / family members / friends what we believe will be the ULTIMATE HOLIDAY OF A LIFETIME.

Sweet International Quartet Champions “THE BUZZ” will be presenting two workshops in New Zealand and all Sweet Adeline members of this tour will be attending the workshop weekend in Christchurch, New Zealand.

To date, Kate put together seven successful tours for Region 35 (she is not a travel agent, just a well travelled Kiwi who volunteers to put together these cost-shared tours). Six of those tours have been in the United States for 2 x weeks duration and run immediately following International Convention & Competition. The 7th tour was a tour for Region 35 members who travelled in 2004 to Perth, Western Australia to attend the “Voices Down-Under” workshop weekend.

THURSDAY JULY 5
Full day trip to Matakohe Museum; Morris & James (pottery manufacturer and Ascension Vineyard. Evening – get together for welcome reception and sing with three Auckland choruses.
OVERNIGHT: AUCKLAND

FRIDAY JULY 6
Travel to Rotorua. Tour of thermal area to include evening dinner/Maori cultural show by the Tamaki Bros.
OVERNIGHT: ROTORUA

SATURDAY JULY 7
Travel to Taupo. Stop enroute @ Wairakei/thermal area; ½ day tour of Taupo. Optional –  Fly fishing for the keen trout  Fisherman; golf for those  Interested; tour of unique  Art/garden home.
OVERNIGHT: TAUPO

SUNDAY JULY 8
Take day trip from Taupo to New Zealand Art Deco City – Napier. Visit lavender farm; Vineyard; walking tour of Art Deco buildings.
OVERNIGHT: TAUPO

MONDAY JULY 9
Travel to our Capital City, Wellington.
OVERNIGHT: WELLINGTON

TUESDAY JULY 10
Full day touring Wellington including visit to the “Beehive”; Te Papa (New Zealand’s modern National Museum); Cable car ride. Evening – Welcome reception and sing with Wellington choruses.
OVERNIGHT: WELLINGTON

WEDNESDAY JULY 11
Inter-island ferry (3 hour journey) From Wellington to Picton (Marlborough Sounds). ½ day tour of Blenheim/Renwick including lunch @ Alan Scott’s vineyard.
OVERNIGHT: BLENHEIM

THURSDAY JULY 12
Travel to Hamner Springs. Afternoon luxury relaxing time at the Springs!
OVERNIGHT: HAMNER SPRINGS

FRIDAY JULY 13
Travel to Lake Tekapo. Visit Church Of the Good Shepherd @ Lake Tepako.
OVERNIGHT: LAKE TEKAPO

SATURDAY JULY 14
Travel to Mount Cook.
OVERNIGHT: MOUNT COOK

SUNDAY JULY 15
Travel to Queenstown. ½ day tour of Queenstown.
OVERNIGHT: QUEENSTOWN

MONDAY JULY 16
Day trip to Lake Wanaka
OVERNIGHT: QUEENSTOWN

TUESDAY JULY 17
FREE DAY in Queenstown So many options – golf; jet boat Rides; bungee jumping; gondola ride etc.
OVERNIGHT: QUEENSTOWN

WEDNESDAY JULY 18
Day trip to Milford Sound. Boat ride @ Milford Sound.
OVERNIGHT: QUEENSTOWN

THURSDAY JULY 19
Travel to Christchurch via Arrowtown; Alexandria. Welcome reception and Sing with Christchurch choruses.
OVERNIGHT: CHRISTCHURCH

FRIDAY JULY 20
“THE BUZZ” workshop/coaching for Quartet members. Pick up “The Buzz” Weekend registration packs. Free time to tour Christchurch City for those not involved in Quartet workshop / coaching.
OVERNIGHT: CHRISTCHURCH

SATURDAY JULY 21
Full day workshop with “THE BUZZ”. Evening public show performance by “The Buzz”.
OVERNIGHT: CHRISTCHURCH

SUNDAY JULY 22
Full day workshop with “THE BUZZ”.
OVERNIGHT: CHRISTCHURCH

MONDAY JULY 23
Depart Christchurch International Airport for flight from New Zealand to your home destination.
 

• Luxury coach transportation throughout tour w/ experienced coach driver
• Tour guides – Elizabeth Lee & Kate Veeder. Their spouses, Joe and John will be joining us and will assist with logistics/luggage, etc.
• Overnight accommodation – quality hotels/motels – 2 x persons to a room. If you request a SINGLE room there will be an accommodation supplement.
• Breakfast….for sure continental breakfast but some places we stay may offer a cooked breakfast
• Admission fees to scheduled group activities. NOTE: Fly fishing/golf/jet boat ride will be OPTIONAL and not included in the price of the tour
• Passenger ticket for inter-island ferry
• Welcome Receptions and get-togethers with New Zealand Sweet Adelines
• Detailed tour handbook (distributed prior to your departure from the United Kingdom
• Bottled water & sodas throughout tour (will be available on the coach)
• Courtesy shuttle to the Christchurch International Airport on Monday July 23. Please note the coach will terminate upon our arrival in Christchurch.

• All lunches and dinners (apart from dinner provided @ The Tamaki Bros show
• Cost of registration for “THE BUZZ” workshop Weekend. It is anticipated that the registration cost for weekend will be approximately NZ $250…lunch is included in the cost of the registration and ticket to “The Buzz” public show performance on the Saturday evening.
• New Zealand departure tax (collected at the airport) – NZ $25 per person
• Your “happy hour” tonics……although there will be some complimentary wine tasting when visiting vineyards.
• The cost of your international air-fare to New Zealand (we will be working with Alyson Allan to see if it is possible to have a “group booking” so you may travel together to New Zealand if that is your wish. For those who want to “come early” and/or “depart later”…. we will work to accommodate you by securing hotel accommodation for you).

MAXIMUM # OF TOUR PARTICIPANTS: 40 We need a total of 40 participants to make this trip viable. And YES you can bring your spouse/partner, family and friends. Those who are not Sweet Adeline members will have FREE TIME in Christchurch.

COST OF TOUR: This is a cost-shared tour (by all participants) and the cost is NZ $3766 per person. At today’s rate of exchange this works out to approximately 1300 British Pounds per person. The value of the New Zealand dollar continues to fluctuate but for budgeting purposes please figure on approximately 1300 British Pounds.

DEPOSIT REQUIRED: NZ $500 per person. Deposit is Non refundable, but transferable.

DEADLINE DATE TO SIGN UP FOR TOUR: Oct 15,2006 Payment of deposit will secure a place on the tour – first come, first serve.

FULL PAYMENT FOR TOUR DUE: March 31, 2007

HOW IS DEPOSIT PAID? electronic bank transfer – its easy!

DETAILED ITINERARY: we have given you just a general outline – a detailed itinerary will be provided later in the year.

QUESTIONS??????? Do not hesitate to e-mail Kate Veeder

• We currently have 681 members; 17 choruses and one prospective chorus.
• Choruses can be found from Whangarei to Invercargill.
• We have four MASTER DIRECTORS in our Region; a very active YOUNG WOMEN IN HARMONY PROGRAMME
• Our very own YOUNG WOMEN IN HARMONY NATIONAL CHORUS
• A talented New Zealand music faculty
• A hard working RMT and we are all excited at having “THE BUZZ” come to New Zealand and want to share this opportunity with members of Region 31.
• We also see this as a GREAT opportunity for us to share our beautiful country and a chance for the two Regions to meet up and share this time getting to know one another.