Have you ever wondered if anyone actually wins those competitions on boxes at the supermarket? Well they do, and I did, winning the Dilmah Tea ‘Luxury Holiday in Sri Lanka’. A wonderful prize and an incredible holiday.
Courtesy of Singapore Airlines, my husband and I flew from Christchurch to Colombo via Singapore. Arriving there late, we were met by our Dilmah chauffeur and dropped to the Hilton Colombo for the night. The room was incredibly spacious and luxurious, wish we could have stayed longer, but after an early breakfast we were picked up by our chauffeur and driven south to the Dilmah-owned Resplendent Ceylon ‘Wild Coast Tented Lodge’ on the edge of Yala National Park. Next level luxury! Everything included - first class accommodation, food, beverages and two guided safaris into the National Park. We struck it lucky and saw a leopard so close I almost could’ve reached out and touched it. We also saw elephants, monkeys, water buffalo, deer, mongoose, jackals, crocodiles and many different birds including raptors and owls.
With blood pressure so low it was almost dangerous after just 2 nights at Wild Coast our driver picked us up again and we headed back towards Colombo to the coastal city of Galle. This bit of the holiday wasn’t part of the Dilmah prize but we had heard such a lot about Galle’s UNESCO-listed fort (built by the Portuguese in the 16th century) and the beaches nearby. We wandered Galle’s carless streets two days in a row and visited Unawatuna Beach with its golden sand and crystal clear water - very inviting with temperatures in the mid 30’s!
From Galle back to Colombo and onto our second luxury resort - ‘Tea Trails’ in the Sri Lankan Highlands, once again courtesy of Dilmah. Another all-inclusive experience, we stayed at the Michelin starred Dunkeld Bungalow set amongst the lush tea plantation above Castlereagh reservoir. Dunkeld is a colonial English style bungalow complete with personal butler and chef. So decadent! Our room was gorgeous, the staff were incredibly attentive and the views to die for. The monsoon rains came while we were there but that didn’t stop us swimming in the infinity pool and touring the estate’s tea factory. Learned so much about Dilmah and the tea making process. Unbeknownst to me, all tea is made from just one variety of camellia with our favourite, Earl Grey, having essential oil from the rind of the Bergamot orange added to the dried tea leaves to give it its distinct flavour.
Yet again sad to leave, after 2 nights we were collected by our chauffeur and dropped to the airport for the return flight back to Christchurch with Singapore Airlines.
Thanks to Dilmah for the most amazing prize. It’s hard to believe there could ever be a more indulgent holiday! Special thanks to the wonderful people at Dilmah who helped organise our trip - Chani from Dilmah NZ and Shenika from Dilmah Sri Lanka. Thanks too to prize partner Singapore Airlines for the flights and to Indika GM Wild Coast and Sajith GM Tea Trails for making us so welcome.
Sue Gregory & Ross Nicholson
NZ
