The last official tour of the trip.
Lake Wakatipu is a finger lake in South Island, New Zealand. It is about 80 km long (making it New Zealand's longest lake and covers an area of about 112 sqmi. That makes it the third largest lake in the country. It is very deep (420m) and its floor is actually over 100m below sea level. Queenstown is on the northern shore of the lake close to the eastern end of its middle section.
New Zealand currently has about 5 sheep per resident (about 5.5 M people, between 25 and 30 M sheep). While it is a lot, at one time the ratio was actually about 22:1. Unless the sheep are special (like Merino sheep) the wool has very little value. According to the guide during the show, it costs more to have a standard sheep shorn than they can get if they sell the wool. Nowadays, the main purpose of raising sheep is for the meat (and some tourism). Walter Peak Farm has under 1,000 sheep, but about 20,000 head of merino sheep. There are now a lot more cattle operations than there used to be in the country, with the introduction and growth of this industry having its own impacts.
Our tour included a trip on the TSS Earnslaw, a vintage steamboat, that took us to Walter Peak Farm. In the morning we took our transportation to the Earnslaw and boarded. The trip up definitely showcased the beautiful scenery, and I have included pictures as well as few videos.
At the farm we had a walking tour of the farmyard. We had a barbecue lunch (served either on the lakeside terrace or in the Colonel's Homestead restaurant - most of us did the latter because it was quite windy and cold outside). We had heard that the food there was excellent, and it definitely was a wonderful (buffet) meal.
After lunch, we headed over to an area where we saw a show that consisted of both a sheep-shearing and a demonstration of one of the sheepdogs in action.
FIrst we saw a sheepdog herd sheep from a hilled area down to the bottom into a pen. And then put them back in the field. He seemed a lot happier with the first task than the second.
Then we got to see a sheep-shearing. This is first time I had ever seen it done in person, which was fun. The video is just under 5 minutes long and it has a couple of tech issues ... but still, you may enjoy it!
and here is the final pelt as well as a picture of the dogs at the farm
After the show, we reboarded the Earnslaw and made our way back to Queenstown and to The Rees.
And that's it. Tomorrow we fly back up to Auckland and then on the 6th we start our journey back to the US. 6th in New Zealand that is, the 5th in the US.
When I left home in mid-September, I had said "I'm going to see as much as I can, because I don't think I ever want to do that plane trip again!" But I was wrong. I can't wait to return here (especially New Zealand) one day, and travel the way I like to the best ... just wandering without much, if any, of a set itinerary. I will definitely be coming back.
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