Top of the Lake

Saturday March 2 was a beautiful day. Blue sky, sunny and a high of 22C. Summer days have returned, though it does cool down after sunset (which is still around 8:30 p.m.). We have to say that Queenstown is one of the most beautiful places we have visited in the world. The mountains and Lake Wakatipu are spectacular. Lake Wakatipu is New Zealand's longest lake at 80 kilometres (50 miles) and at 291 sq km (112 sq mi) it is its third largest. The Remarkables mountain range lies along its southeastern edge. Season One of Top of the Lake with Elisabeth Moss included scenes filmed on Lake Wakatipu, nearby Glenorchy and some scenes shot in Queenstown.

We are glad we are staying a bit out of the centre of the city, which is full of tourists.

View out of the kitchen window

We decided to walk downtown on one of the main roads, rather than taking the trail. We had wonderful views of the mountains and Lake as we headed downhill. We will definitely be taking the bus back as there is quite an incline.

Heading downtown

Spectacular views

Alain heading downtown

We booked a cruise at 2:00 p.m. on the TSS Earnslaw to Walter Peak High Country Farm at one end of the Lake, for a farm tour. We took a picture of the boat leaving on an earlier cruise. The Earnslaw was constructed in 1912 (the same year as The Titanic). It worked primarily as a cargo ship with space for 1500 sheep and 30 cattle on her decks. It ensured that the local country stations were kept in stock. Her use declined in the 1960s and there were plans to scrap her. In 1969, Real Journeys (a tourism company) provided a new lease of life with a pioneering tourism venture. The Earnslaw is now the last remaining commercial passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship in the Southern Hemisphere. It consumes one tonne of coal per hour!! It still works 14 hour days during summer, and for 11 months each year.

The Earnslaw

We noticed some skydivers over the town. Queenstown really is "the adventure capital of the world".

Skydiving

We wandered through a Saturday morning craft fair on the waterfront.

Lots of stalls for the craft fair

Beautiful woodwork

Ceramics

Lots of pendants

We wandered down a street we hadn't been to yet and found a lovely art gallery and some other nice shops.

Outside of art gallery

Beautiful pottery in gallery

We stopped at Joe's Garage for a coffee.

Coffee Rescue

Enjoying the sun

Alain waiting for his coffee to arrive

We also passed the New Zealand Wine Experience, where one can taste over 80 wines. They have a van outside that also dispenses wines. We took a look around. We are going to be doing a walking wine trail of four wineries on Sunday in Cromwell, about an hour from Queenstown.

New Zealand Wine Experience

Wine Van

We had a sandwich in the park and then were ready to board The Earnslaw.

Unloading first

Marks from glaciers millions of years ago

Definitely Top of the Lake territory

Alain

The water and mountains are amazing

Getting close to Walter Peak Farm -- it was a lovely day to be out on the water which was very calm

Almost there

Walter Peak has existed as a farm since the 1850s. In the late 1880s, the Mackenzie family took over Walter Peak and Hugh Mackenzie made many improvements to the buildings and the land as well as introducing many innovative farming methods. They farmed the area for 80 years. In its prime, Walter Peak Station covered more than 170,000 acres, ran 40,000 sheep and employed 50 staff. The original homestead block of Walter Peak Station is now known as Walter Peak High Country Farm. There are around 20,000 sheep on the now 64,000 acre property.

Over time, various permanent homes were established and these included the Colonel's Homestead with its beautiful lakeside gardens. Originally built in 1908 as a wedding present for Hugh Mackenzie's son, Colonel Peter Mackenzie, it was carefully reconstructed in 1977 following an accidental fire.

The farm tour included sheep-shearing, a working sheep dog demo, visiting other animals on the farm and afternoon tea. Peter, one of the staff, and his two dogs gave us an intro to the farm and sheep-shearing.

Peter and his two sheep dogs whom he trained

The lucky sheep who needed a shear

Holding her in position

Shearing

Shorn--- she will get another haircut in 6 months

Peter then gave a demo of one of his dogs herding sheep. Lots of fun to watch. The sheep ended up in a pen for a short while. The dog follows Peter's instructions and the sheep move in a group.

Herding sheep

Moving the sheep down the hill

After the demo, we went and had a delightful high tea -- they even had some vegan orange-almond cake and sorbet for me. Then we went to see some of the other farm animals.

Lovely Merino sheep-- top quality wool

Another type of sheep

Highland Cattle- Dad in the foreground and mom and baby to his left

Very tame cattle-- just don't touch their horns

Billy the Goat

View from the farm

Alpacas

We headed back to town at around 4:45 p.m. There was a small room inside the boat that had photos from the past, including the maiden voyage in 1912.

Maiden Voyage

View through a portal

More scenery-- Top of the Lake for sure

Homes near where we are staying

Heading into Queenstown on the boat

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After we landed at about 5:30 p.m., we wandered into the Queenstown Gardens, at one end of the town. There was a unique memorial to those who served in WWI. One side of the Memorial had the names of those from Queenstown who died in the war and the other had the names of all those who served in the war. The memorial was opened in 1922.