Queenstown; then, drive to Te Anau

I'm posting this on Monday, 3/24, at about 4:30 p.m.  I'll combine Sunday and Monday in this one post, because my day was too full of fun yesterday to write anything.  Also, we are blessed with free and good internet at our motel, so I'll be able to write a little more than I have been.

Sunday:  Queenstown--wow!  What a beautiful and fun city it is, right on the edge of the gorgeous and very, very long Lake Wakatipu.  Initially, we had signed up for an optional excursion, which would have been a lot of fun--scenic drive, jetboat ride on a great river, and a nature walk.  But that would have taken six hours--the entire day, really--so we decided to cancel that, and, instead, spent this beautiful day in the city.  That was a very good decision.  First, we walked around the downtown area.  Queenstown is known as a big extreme sport and adventure activity destination.  Any activity you can imagine having to do with the sky, the water, or the land, is available in Queenstown.  Shop after shop after shop offers bungy jumping, jetboat rides, off-road canyon drives, kayaks, water skiing, etc., etc.  Naturally, it's a mecca for the young 'uns who are more daring than I am, and there were many young adults wandering around town.  We rode a long and steep gondola up to a high overlook, where there were amazing views over the city and the lake.  Also at the top of the hill, more activities were happening--paragliding, off-road bicycling, riding a luge, bungy jumping. I was fairly mesmerized by the views, and we spent a couple of hours up there, just looking around.

This is the breathtaking view from the Skyline, above Queenstown.

See the paraglider? 

John and I, from the Skyline, overlooking Lake Wakatipu

From our gondola, on the way down, I accidentally took this picture of a man beginning his bungy jump!

When we finally tore ourselves away from the hilltop, we rode the gondola back downhill.  Someone had told us about an interesting restaurant, so we went there for lunch.  The building is on Cow Lane, which, of course, used to be just that.  At the end of the lane (or, alley, actually), is a little stone building that was a cow milking barn in 1860.  It's now called The Cow, and that's where we ate.  It was a charming pub, and we ate a delicious pizza.  Even better, they had free wi-fi, so we had some Facetime with Joe while we were there.  :-)

John, enjoying his beer and lunch at The Cow

Back at the motel (overlooking the lake) we relaxed by the pool for awhile.  In the evening, our whole group had a really fun activity.  We boarded the T.S.S. Earnslaw, a 100-year old steamship, that has been on that lake for all that time.  In fact, it was launched the same year as the Titanic.  T.S.S. stands for Twin Screw Steamship.  Onboard, we could see down into the workings of the ship, where a couple of guys continuously stoked the fire with coal.  It was hot down there; what a hard job they have!  The ship uses one ton of coal per hour when it's at full speed.  It moved 150 of us across the lake to a cool, beautiful old farm called Walter Peak Station.  A wonderful buffet dinner was set up for us, and some men were on the front porch grilling pork, beef, chicken, lamb, and two kinds of fish.  It was a great meal in a lovely place.  Afterwards, we all gathered in a barn where we watched a demonstration of a sheepdog herding sheep, and then watched a young farmer shear a sheep.  Back across the lake we went, joining in with a sing-a-long as someone played a piano on the ship.

This is the 100-year-old TSS Earnslaw, which we rode across Lake Wakatipu this evening.

This is Walter Peak Station, where we had dinner this evening.

Altogether, sunny Sunday was a great day from start to finish.

Now, today is Monday, and we've been on the road for a few hours.  Our first stop this morning was in Arrowtown, an old gold-mining town.  It's a really attractive, small town, and there's a great museum there.  We then went to a popular bungy-jumping bridge.  One after another, young 'uns were diving off that bridge, straight down toward the rocky, turquoise Shotover River.  Yikes!  On we rode, south, past the Remarkable Mountains (great name, huh?), and then west to Te Anau.  That's where we're spending the night.  This is one of the gateways to Fiordland National Park, which we'll see tomorrow.  This evening, we attended an unusual activity.  New Zealand has several areas that have glowworm caves, and Te Anau is one of those places.  We traveled to the caves by boat, across huge Lake Te Anau.  The brochure says this: "Deep inside the caves,...you will be taken by a small boat, into a silent hidden grotto inhabited by thousands of glowworms, unique to New Zealand. In the subterranean darkness, they produce a glittering display that is nothing short of extraordinary." For some reason, this is always mentioned as a must-see activity in NZ, so we joined in.  Honestly, we were not that impressed. The cave was loud with rushing water, then silent, as we drifted along further into the complete darkness.  The glowworms do glow, but I think a picture or two of it would have satisfied us just as much as being there.

We couldn't take pictures, so I got this photo online.  I think our worms weren't glowing quite this much.  This photo is from travel.aol.co.uk.  Check out images on Google, for more photos.