Yesterday, Kim had found a special offer for a cruise onboard TSS Earnslaw (an old steamship) to Walter Peak on the far side of Lake Wakatipu for afternoon tea and a farm tour. The special price was NZD55 per person, which was about half the normal rate.
We walked down to the steamship for the 1200 departure. Considering that we had no foreign visitors in the country, the vessel was packed with many people who were wearing and carrying brands not sold in New Zealand.
It was a 45 min cruise to Walter Peak station where we were given a very enjoyable tour of the farm. I’d describe it as a “petting farm”. They have some Scottish Highland cows (which aren’t the best-tasting beef cattle apparently, deers, sheep, alpacas etc. A generous afternoon tea was served afterwards.
Some people on the cruise had opted for a pricier BBQ lunch package in stead of the farm tour and afternoon tea. Regardless of that, everyone finished with a sheep dog demonstration where the farmer used commands to get the canine to round up a small herd of sheep into a pen.
We cruised back to Queenstown, getting back about 1600. I was curious as to whether we could have driven to Walter Peak station. The answer was “Yes” but it does take 5h as the road goes nearly the whole way around the lake.
In the evening, we had dinner with Beatrice and JP. It was Kim’s birthday today and apart from making us dinner, JP had made his famous fruit cake for us to take away!
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- View from Queenstown’s park across to the town.
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- Cruising on Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak.
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- Arriving at Walter Peak Station.
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- Scottish Highland bull.
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- Scottish Highland calves.
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- Walter Peak Station.
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- Feeding a goat.
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- Walter Peak Station.
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- Alpaca.
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- View from Walter Peak Station.
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- TSS Earnslaw coming to pick us up.
