N.Z. Southern Alps All Year

Round In Luxury

From Judy Tudor, in Christchurch The Hermitage at Mt. Cook is reputed to be the best hotel in New Zealand—and it probably is. It is certainly better than any snow fields hotel in Australia—main reason for this being that it is primarily a resort hotel and not a ski lodge.

Australian snow country hotels—even the best of them—are by way of being glorified ski-lodges.

BOTH the Australian and NZ systems have their advantages.

The Hermitage is only at 2,500 feet, and although through its picture windows it seems as though you could poke the surrounding snow-capped mountains with a stick, the ski-grounds are a 10/- single, 15/- return bus fare away at Ball Hut.

Australian snow hotels are usually right in the skiing areas, at much greater altitudes.

Real skiers, in these northern NZ snowfields, stay at places like Ball Hut, a lodge accommodating 66 in dormitories of bunks. Innerspring mattresses, blankets and cooking facilities are provided but skiers do for themselves. Charges are 12/6 per night.

There are two ski tows—one of 800 ft for beginners and intermediate skiers; and another of 600 ft for ex perienced skiers.

The ultimate for real enthusiasts is to be deposited (for £3) 12 to 18 idles up the Tasman Glacier by ski plane and ski back to base.

The Hermitage is a year-around ourist resort as popular in summer is in winter. Although the ski season hereabouts is regarded as lasting Tom June through September, the nain alpine attraction—the glaciers —remain year around.

The glaciers and what look to be he snow caps are in perpetual ice—

something left over from the last ice age. They spill down the valleys to quite low elevations, maintaining themselves through even summer heat by their own inbuilt deep-freeze.

It is estimated, for example, that the thickness of the Tasman Glacier, near Ball Hut, is 700 ft.

Accommodation at the Hermitage is in three grades. In the main build ings, single room with bath and all meals is £5/17/6 per day (slightly less per person in twin bedded room).

In adjoining Tasman and Sefton Lodges, single all-inclusive daily accommodation is 77/6 and 67/6 re spectively (slightly less for shared rooms).

Lodge patrons use the public facilities of the main hotel, which are first-class.

The Hermitage is operated by the NZ Tourist Hotel Corporation, a quasi-Govemment organisation, which is doing a great deal towards taking NZ hotels out of the Victorian era— something generally long overdue, Tourists can reach the Hermitage from Christchurch by road or air.

The Mt. Cook Co. coach operates

daily services (except Sunday) from Christchurch (209 road miles); and three times a week from Queenstown.

The Mt. Cook Airlines DC3 service operates from Christchurch to within a few miles of the Hermitage each Monday, Wednesday and Friday (and more frequently in the Christmas period). Flight time is an hour and fares are £3/4/- each way.

The small ski-planes of Mt. Cook Air Services Ltd., operate from Regat outside The Hermitage. They fly year round (weather permitting), and their specialty is cruising among the 10,000 to 12,000 ft peaks of the local ranges and landing at strategic points on the glaciers.

An hour’s flight takes customers up the Tasman Glacier past Ball Hut, Mt. Cook (12,349 ft) and Hochstetter Ice Fall and over the Main Divide to Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers (they flow westward), returning via Mt.

Sefton and Mueller Glacier. Landings are made at places on the glaciers.

Cost is £6. Half-hour flights up the Tasman Glacier are £3.

Charter flights to Milford Sound can be arranged—but come high in price (£4O-50). Milford is better tackled from Queenstown, where the return flight is £6.

The Mt. Cook Hermitage area is a

The "Pacific Islands Monthly" is a member of the Australian National Travel Association (ANTA) and the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA), which are pledged to promote tourist travel in their areas.

paradise for the energetic. Walks of any dimension are available for the unskilled; and rock climbing and mountaineering on the perpetually ice clad peaks test the skill of the most expert. Shooting of the pest-pro portion introduced Himalayan deer (called thar) is encouraged.

High-level huts maintained by the Mt. Cook National Park Trust are available at 12/6 a day.

For the not-so-vigorous, a combined bus and mile-long walk on the Tasman Glacier at Ball Hut is arranged from The Hermitage. This tour takes four hours and costs 30/-. Boots are necessary and can be obtained from The Hermitage. (All costs quoted are in NZ currency, which is equal to stg.).

Norfolk's New Hotel Open In December THE Kingfisher, Norfolk Island’s new 70-bed hotel—or what the proprietors call an “airtel”—will be officially opened on December 7.

The hotel is at Anson Bay on the north-west side of the island.

It has been created by renovating and altering the former cable station and the four houses of the cable station employees.

The proprietors call the hotel an “airtel” because, according to them, a hotel is a hostelry you can walk to in a day; a motel is a hotel you can motor to in a day; so a hotel that you can only fly to in a day must be an airtel.

Anyway, the Kingfisher has its own built-in duty-free shop, an ample bar, and a private beach; there will be a staff of 15 to 20; and the manager will be Mr. Max Fryer, late of Sydney’s Hampton Court Hotel, who has also had hotel experience in Europe and East Africa.

Informality will be the keynote of the hotel—and with the idea of promoting this, a smorgasbord luncheon will be provided each day so that guests can drift in when they like. The dining room can seat 130 people.

The hotel will cater particularly for clubs and conventions; it will provide hire cars for guests; and, within a year, it is expected to have its own nine-hole golf course and swimming pool. A bowling green, squash courts and tennis courts will be built later.

To make it easier for to get up and down the 300 ft cliff to the beach, the proprietors are think ing of installing a four-passenger funicular railway.

If the hotel does as well as the proprietors hope, accommodation for 90 more people will be added.

Daily tariffs, in Australian currency, are: £2/15/- per person in six-bed dormitories.

£3/3/- and £3/15/- per person for a room with bath. £4/10/- per person for suites.

In Australia, accommodation at the hotel may be booked at any travel agency or TAA office. In New Zealand, the selling agents are Inter national Hotel Reservations, Palmers ton North, and other travel agents.

A Choice of Accommodation In Fabulous Fiji WITH the airlines and travel agencies now in full cry over the delights of a visit to fabulous Fiji, the crossroads of the Pacific, it is worth pointing out to visitors that it is not necessary to stay at a luxury hotel in a luxury suite if your budget doesn’t stretch in that direction.

In Suva, for example, there is a choice of excellent accommodation at an economy price—i.e., the Hotel Metropole, £F2/5/- a day per person including meals; the Garrick Hotel, same tariff; the Melbourne Hotel, £F2 for bed and breakfast, and the Oceanic Private Hotel, £FI/5/- for bed and breakfast. The Fiji Visitors Bureau, Suva, will supply full tariff details of all hotels and accommoda tion in Fiji.