We awaken today to brilliant blue skies, fresh snow on the mountains surrounding the city….and 37 degrees!  No matter, we brought our  “puffies”.  The hotel breakfast buffet lacks so we enjoyed another walk into town to visit our newly discovered breakfast cafe, Vudu, to try other tempting dishes they offer, like the New Zealand favorite: avacado smash toast. Their version has goat cheese, tomato, micro greens and avacado on thick multigrain toast.

Then it was off to ride the Skyline Gondola to the top of the nearby mountain to see the spectacular scenery of the area and to take the luge ride offered there. We could not have asked for a more fabulous morning. I think the gods were making up for the rainy weather we had yesterday.  We were there when the gondola opened at 10 AM.  Although there was a significant line when we arrived it moved quickly and we were topside in fairly short order. There was a bit of urgency as we needed to be back by 11:30 to board the 1912 coal fired steamship that transports riders on Lake Wakatipu. More on that later.

We were some of the first people to arrive at the luge ride and after some quick instructions were barreling (well, maybe it would be more accurate to say we were slowly winding) our way down the track, maneuvering hair pin curves (well, maybe they were more sloping) to reach the bottom of the ride. It was a lot of fun and had we more time would have done it again.

We took time to marvel at the surrounding scenery and take panoramic pictures before returning by gondola to the city center. The scenery certainly rivals what we have seen in Switzerland.

Today was listed as a free day on our tour and we had signed up to take the historic boat ride to the Walter Peak High Country Farm for a BBQ luncheon and demonstration of sheep shearing and how highly trained dogs are used to herd and control sheep.

The boat is the TSS Earnslaw which is the oldest (built in 1912) working coal fired steamship operating in the Southern Hemisphere. Originally is was used to service the remote sheep stations in the area but once roads were built it became one of the major tourist venues on the lake. The trip to the Walter Peak High Country Farm took about 45 minutes with commentary from the captain about the area along the way. Once at the farm we were escorted to a covered area where one of the local “farm hands” explained how sheep were sheared and gave us a demonstration.  The 6 month old lamb was not too happy about losing her fluffy coat of wool.  We learned that the current farm covers 65,000 (yes, thousand) acres with 25,000 sheep, of which 20,000 were merino sheep because of the quality of their wool.  When wool prices are down the other sheep are sold as meat.

The other demonstration was how the sheep herder used two different (each has unique skills) breeds of highly trained dogs to fetch, control and corral herds of sheep. It was fascinating to watch.

I am not terribly excited about large group BBQ buffets as the food usually is average, at best. This BBQ was an exception. We sat with two other couples who had also chosen this excursion and we all agreed this was one of the best BBQ buffets any of us had experienced. Beside top notch salads and vegetables (including really sweet corn on the cob) there was barbecued chicken, beef, pork, lamb, sausage and even sweetbreads. All were superb. Even the desserts were top notch.

The setting of the farm on the shores of the lake is stunning, made more so by the extensive flower gardens that surround the home and buildings. There were rose bushes that had to be decades old (by the look of their shank) and had the wonderful scent of roses of long ago, not like the hybridized specimens you see now. There were dahlias everywhere and flowers I do not know the names of. It was a lovely pastoral scene.

On the return cruise home a pianist conducted a sing-a-long with folk songs from China, Germany, Australia, England and America.  It was enjoyable to hear the mixture of many nationalities singing together.  Of course, Yvonne cried at the beautiful music and hoped this would bring world peace.

We returned to downtown Queenstown late in the afternoon and retreated to our hotel room as we had walked 11,578 steps today.

As I said earlier, it was a phenomenal day and we are hopeful tomorrow will be the same as our tour group will be leaving Queenstown and heading to our next stop, Wanaka.