We had a few options to choose from in planning our Lake Wakatipu cruise. The first option was the Earnslaw Steam ship. It was built in 1912 and then disassembled, shipped to Kingston at the southern end of the lake, reassembled and launched. It is the last remaining coal fired steamship in operation in the southern hemisphere. It has been running for over 100 years carrying the likes of the Queen of England, Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, the Queen of Belgium and a Thai Prince. The ship also stood in for an Amazon River cruiser in the "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" movie. But it is slow and it only cruises a short distance. Instead, we went modern and rode the Spirit of Queenstown, a modern diesel powered catamaran. It is a good thing because the lake was rough and the catamaran rode much smoother in the waves. The reason for the choppy water was the 90km/hr (56 mph) gusts, so we were screaming down the lake. The lake is 80 km long, that is 50 miles, and the winds that come off of the surrounding mountains do nothing to slow them down. Mount Earnslaw is 9300 ft tall and it the tallest mountain surrounding the lake. It is an impressive 1250 feet deep in the deepest point and stays between 50 and 55 degrees F throughout the year. The lake is shaped like an "S" with two 90 degree turns in it. The first is before Queenstown and the second was the point where we turned around. That section has a 27 km straightaway and was where the wind was flowing unabated. The ride back had the wind at our backs so it was smoother. The turn was a bit tricky and the Captain, who was running the commentary, had to stop talking and drive the boat manually. Once that was done we headed back to Queenstown.
A great use of some blank industrial space
These walls were too large to capture the entire mural
Old school charm of the Earnslaw
New school technology and comfort
Safety First
A jet ski that keeps you dry
A thrill boat that does not
The Earnslaw left before us and is slowly chugging along
The 168 foot long ship is dwarfed by the landscape
It looks like a cold winter established a new tree line. The brown trees all seem to have died.
Picnic beach is in a sheltered cove
Light chop in this bay
A very fancy building in the center. The windows were so large they had to be helicoptered in.
Passing the Earnslaw off in the distance
The wind is blowing Leslie's scarf making it look like a turban
We had to move up closer to the front of the boat to block some of the wind
Sometimes we were in the sun.
A fancy suburb of Queenstown
Tent camping for the hardy folk
A limestone bluff
The far shore
The entrance to Bob's bay
The waves from our boat
A lone figure on the hill
Bob's bay has a few buildings and some kilns for cooking limestone
One of several pyramid shaped peaks
A particularly tricky one lane section of the road to Glenorchy
The whitecaps are starting to get more pronounced
A gale is blowing off the tops of the waves
Even the natives have to brace themselves
Arriving at the second 90 degree turn in the lake. we see the landscape changing to a much more windswept environment
These mountains were mined for gold
The lake was made by glaciers which is why the banks are so steep
Way up the lake is Glenorchy
The clouds hanging low
Super choppy and windy
One can only wonder how crazy the weather is up there
A sheep station that encompasses 100,000 acres
It is available for a "farm stay"
Folks checking in to their rooms
We are turning around
The herding around here is by horses only
Glacial scars
Looking back up the lake and it is foreboding
About to get to another sheep station
A huge spread
The sheep herder who built this huge place, gifted it to his son for a wedding present
Apparently there is a golf course up here somewhere, three tees and one hole. You get up there by helicopter and hit a few balls (which you cannot retrieve), drink some champagne and fly back
Golden hills
Soaking up the sun
Passing the Earnslaw again
Up on top of the hill overlooking Queenstown. The gondolas land here, they are barely visible just below the first set of trees on the right
We think this may be one of those spring/bungee rides
The water taxi braving the elements
Back on dry land
