Queenstown sits at the head of the lake in Wakatipu basin. This basin was carved out by glaciers leaving behind the rounded hills and the lake at the bottom. It is an absolutely stunning area. The town itself is very touristy but once we got out into the surrounding area we really loved the place.
Queenstown is the extreme sports capital of NZ. You can sign up for anyting from bungi jumping to jumping out of airplanes or off cliffs. There's lots to do on the water, too. We opted out of jet ski aerobatics and went on a cruise across Wakatipu Lake.
The small waterfront area is lined with boats of all description. We went on the TTSS Earnslaw, an old steam engine boat that has been working up and down this lake since the 1800s. It was originally set up to service the isolated sheep stations at the far end of the lake hauling supplies and stock. Now it entertains the tourists.
Two happy tourists. What a gorgeous day.
Heading into dock at the station. Once on shore we were treated to a delicious Bar-B-Que on the patio at the front of the house overlooking the lake.
We are herded over to the sheep shearing shed for a demonstration.
Gordon gets it done in no time all the while explaining what he is doing. Amazingly once Gordon had the sheep off its feet, it just sat there and got clipped with no complaints.
He gets the wool off in one blanket. We were invited to touch the wool. It was soft but also quite oily.
The sheep dog demonstration was awesome. These dogs are so well trained and seem to love what they do. Some of the dogs are trained to snarl and bark and bring the sheep in and they do it all with verbal commands and signals from the shepherd.
This dog stayed at Gordon's side until he was given the command to do his job, which is to send the sheep away. The shepherd uses both of these types of dogs to herd sheep. When the dogs are finished, the shepherd gives the command, "That'll do."
This station had other animals too including cattle and llamas. We were most surprised that in NZ they also farm deer and they had a herd of them in the paddock. Most are does, but we were quite taken with this big buck.
We couldn't be in Quenstown and not do something to get the adrenaline flowing so in the afternoon we booked in for a jet boat excursion on the Shotover River. The river ride was the least of our worries. We loaded onto the bus for the hour long drive into Skippers Canyon on an old dirt track similar to the logging roads we have in BC. The road was carved out of the side of the canyon and only wide enough for one vehicle, which proved interesting a couple of times, with steep walls up one side and drops offs on the other. At times it looked as though he had a clearance of one foot on the drop off side. That'll pucker the buttock muscles.
We arrive at the river safely even though it was the bus drivers first day on the job. Haha! Not funny, Mr. bus driver. Ben shows up with the jet boat.
Geared up for the adventure.
The boat flirts with the canyon walls, squeaks through rock outcroppings and spins 360's. Basically scares the crap out of you while you hang on for dear life. No time to think that no one has died since the last time this trip went out.
It all looks so tame from this view.
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