With such varied landscapes within a short distance from Queenstown, our tours work best when we explore a single direction..
This page is designed to inspire you with some of the sights you may see when we choose to travel west to Glenorchy and beyond. Half day tours will take us to Glenorchy, exploring sites along the way. Full days allow us to take more time heading beyond Glenorchy, following the Dart or Rees Rivers, to Paradise, Kinloch or the workings of the old Invincible Gold Mine.
How far we travel also depends on whether we stop frequently to take lots of shots or whether we pick fewer locations and explore creative options at each site. Our tour takes you to the places we know best and love most. We love sharing these special locations with you because they are different every tome we go. This page should give you an idea of what there is to see in this direction.
With so many options in this direction, tell us what interests you most. We'll discuss at the start of the tour, taking your photography experience and interestes, your equipment, light and weather conditions into account to design a great day's photography.
Our half day tour gives you 4-5 hours to journey into the most iconic landscapes of Queenstown Lakes area. Less than an hour west of Queenstown, historic Glenorchy nestles at the head of Lake Wakatipu. Nearby the braided beds of the mighty Dart and Rees Rivers bring their icy waters down to fill the lake.
There is plenty to see around Glenorchy - the old wharf, a boardwalk through through rushes and willows and plenty more. Iconic Moke Lake is on the way as well as some hidden favourites.
Please note: By booking a tour, you are not booking a specific destination.
This page gives you a sense of what you might see if we decide to head in this direction from Queenstown. We keep our itinerary flexible until the day of the tour. Our route on the day will be determined by you or your groups' preferences, weather, and light conditions on the day.
With a full day we have 8-9 hours to explore further afield into a world of beech forests and snow clad mountains with magical views around every corner. Two great Rivers, the Dart and the Rees flow in to Lake Wakatipu at Glenorchy. Their valleys offer opportunities aplenty for great images.
Follow the Rees and we soon pass from farmland into lush beech forest surrounded by mountains. Look deeper into the green-ness to relics of the area's gold mining past. Across the Dart River lies Paradise, featured in films Lord of the Rings and Wolverine, and beautiful Diamond Lake.
Follow the Dart upstream and the road takes us to Kinloch and the start of some of the great multi day walks - The Routebourne Track and The Greenstone/Caples. Venturing just a short way up these these trails yields a myriad of image possibilities.
And then there’s Lake Sylvan. Stroll through this enchanted forest for 45 minutes. As you go deeper among tall the red beech trees and moss covered floor, your imagination will run wild - it seems the perfect place for Orks, Hobbits and Centaurs to be running about!
