Friday, April 18, 2025

Queenstown, New Zealand

It is a cold day and we're scheduled for a cruise on the lake. It turns out to be much nicer and warmer than predicted. CJ overdressed.

Brekkie at the Novotel is very good. The selections are very good.

We board the TSS Earnslaw for a cruise on Lake Whakatipu. We watch it arrive from an early morning cruise. The cruise is enjoyable since it is on a coal fired antique steamship. 

We watch them load coal before boarding. It reminds CJ of he and his father delivering coal from their pickup truck. He wishes it had a dump mechanism. He and dad had to shovel it off the truck.

We board early with the walking impaired. We are seated on the upper deck. There is an open view of the engine room two decks below.

CJ goes exploring. He finds a catwalk across the engine room where he watches them shoveling coal into the boilers and the workings of the pistons and propeller shafts. The engine room and coal-fired boilers of the ship are open for viewing both from the upper deck cabin and a catwalk on the lower deck.

We disembark the boat at Walter Peak for a BBQ lunch and 'farm show'. After years of searching, CJ finally finds a Pinot Noir worthy of the New Zealand hype. With all that hype and bragging it should not have taken this long to find this single glass of wine.

The flowers here are spectacular.

Following lunch, we walk to the 'farm show'. It consists of a sheep shearing demonstration and a demonstration of a dog herding sheep. It is a young dog, Echo, that needs a bit more training although it eventually gets the job done.

Now Echo doing his thing. He's excited to get to work and jumps the fence.
And now to herd the sheep.
The steamship routine is quite the business. A full ship disembarked in Queenstown before we embarked. A full ship was waiting to embark at Walter Peak when we disembarked. We had to wait for a group to disembark before we got back on for our return to Queenstown.
We take an Uber to the gondola for a scenic view of Queenstown. There is a luge ride from the top. Mountain bikers, obviously an insane mob, are descending from the top.
The Novotel is the three wing building at the top. The two restaurants we select are all within the few blocks of this picture.

We walk down the hill into town and back to our hotel. There is a descent served by a long stairway. It also has a longer ramp weaving across the stairway. It is lined with maple trees.

We dine at  xxxx, a Japanese restaurant. It was purported to be very good. The sake is better than our local Hutt St. Japanese. The food at our local place is better.


No comments:

Post a Comment