Before you start reading: Where did Wayne take me for dinner?
Answer at end of post.
Day 2 – I have found the recipe for a good night’s sleep. No dog, no swim, no work, still dark! I slept in until 7:30. For those that know me, that is unheard of.
After our slow start, Wayne and I did a bit of reconnaissance – checking out Queenstown and bus stops.
At 11am, we boarded the TSS Earnslaw Steamship for a cruise across Lake Wakatipu to the Walter Peak High Country Farm. Wayne and I settled in at a booth with a glass of champagne and beer and were joined by a New Zealand couple from Timaru and her uncle. The two guys were quite big so the wife squeezed in beside Wayne and me. We were talking so much about local highlights, we missed much of the commentary.
When we got to the homestead, we were directed straight to the most sumptuous lunch of smoked BBQ meats, vegetables, salads and breads, followed by desserts.
We then walked to the sheepdog show. I am ashamed to admit I thought this part of the tour would not interest me. We watched a girl, who had only been working there for four months, shear a sheep and then lead her sheepdog to bring back sheep that were out of eyesight and 400m up a hill.
Part of the attraction for me is that the dog, Mist, was a doppelgänger for Mindy. What Mindy could have been if she had good trainers and lived on a sheep station lol!
On the way back, Wayne began complaining about feeling sick. As soon as we docked, he found a cure.
Because it doesn’t get dark until after 7:30pm, we went for a walk around the lake. The Queenstown Gardens are beautiful and a brilliant game of Frisbee Disc Golf has been set up amongst the pine trees.
At one stage, we were in a forest of trees that sounded like the eerie setting in Lord of the Rings.
Travelling without Donna and Mark meant:
We flooded both bathrooms because we had showers at the same time and couldn’t work the rectangular nozzle of the shower hose.
Me drinking my favourite wine, the one I have at home all the time, and wondering why it tasted so awful. Donna would have made me read the label properly.
I have to remember to take photos. Donna always takes the best photos and gives me lots to choose from.
Mark always has breakfast so we would have eaten breakfast rather than having a glass of alcohol as our first meal of the day.
Answer: Erik’s Fish and Chips. I know it wasn’t hard! NB: the calamari and chips were fresh and delicious.
Queenstown in Autumn 