Sunday, September 28, 2025
This was our one later flight day, and we had planned to go to the International Antarctic Centre near the Christchurch Airport; however, it was going to be too much walking while dealing with suitcases. We checked out of the hotel at 10:00 and took a taxi to the airport.
Our one hour flight left at 14:45 for Queenstown, NZ. From there we used a taxi to get to Mi-Pad Queenstown, a so-called smart hotel because you could control everything from an app.
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| The smart TV welcomed us |
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| Mi-Pad room |
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Mi-Pad "bathroom" with the left door leading
to the toilet and the right to the shower |
We even had color-changing "mood lighting."
Monday, September 29, 2025
We had a taxi take us to the Steamer Wharf for our excursion on Lake Wakatipu, including a barbie/barbecue at Walter Peak Farm.
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Statue (by Robin Coleman) of
the extinct New Zealand Moa (KSS) |
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| Tamiko with a statue of a Kiwi (KSS) |
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| View of Skyline Queenstown, a gondola up Bob's Peak (KSS) |
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Snow-covered mountains surrounded Queenstown;
skiers were happy that there was more snow now
than in July (which is their winter) (KSS) |
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| View of the peninsula, location of the Queenstown Gardens (KSS) |
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| View of the city from the wharf (KSS) |
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We were supposed to embark on the historic
TSS Earnslaw (1911-1912, TSS means twin-screw
steamer), which remains the only coal-fired steamship
in New Zealand; however, it was not quite ready
after its annual maintenance (KSS) |
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| Instead we had the catamaran, Spirit of Queenstown (KSS) |
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It is snowing up there; Lake Wakatipu is the third
largest lake in New Zealand and it is said its water
is cleaner than bottled water; it is cold at
11.5 degrees Celsius/52.7 degrees Fahrenheit (KSS) |
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Low clouds over the lake; the Māori legend is that the evil
giant Matau kidnapped a girl, so her beau set fire to him
while he slept on his side, the giant's fat helped burn a
deep hole in the ground that became the lake, the deepest
in New Zealand at 420 m/1,380' with the bottom being
below sea level at -111 m/-364' (KSS) |
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Lake Wakatipu is fed by five glacial rivers, plus
waterfalls of snow melt (KSS) |
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Walter Peak High Country Farm, a working farm with
a garden-to-table Homestead Restaurant (KSS) |
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| The buffet with salads and seafood (KSS) |
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| Smoked Warehou (fish) with mustard & fennel cream (KSS) |
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| Pāua Paté, paua being New Zealand abalone (KSS) |
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| Squid (KSS) |
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| Cheese and charcuterie, olives (KSS) |
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| Barbecued meats (KSS) |
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| Breads (KSS) |
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| Veggies (KSS) |
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| Desserts (KSS) |
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| Our shared appetizer plate (KSS) |
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| A closeup to show the Green-lipped Mussels (KSS) |
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| Meat and veggie plate (KSS) |
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| Shared dessert plate (KSS) |
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| View of the lake from the restaurant |
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| Homestead Restaurant (KSS) |
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| The Colonel's Homestead (1902, rebuilt 1977 after a fire) (KSS) |
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| Or is this the Colonel's Homestead? (KSS) |
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| There were extensive flower gardens (KSS) |
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| Rhododendrons (KSS) |
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| Spring bulb plants (KSS) |
I was taken to the restaurant in a wheelchair over a gravel path, so pushing was difficult. I decided to use the crutches to go back to the boat, but then we were invited to the "farm show." I almost did not make it, and it started to rain!
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| Farm show with a bin of sheep's wool (KSS) |
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| Shearing a sheep was demonstrated (KSS) |
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Echo is a short-hair border collie,
who waited patiently until it was her turn
to demonstrate herding the sheep (KSS) |
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| A small herd of sheep were far up a hillside |
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Apparently Echo just has to intimidate the sheep by
staring, and they go in the opposite direction;
Echo was given commands to send the sheep in
one direction, then another... |
Sheep herding:
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| ...and finally into the pen |
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| The resident pig (KSS) |
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Heading back to Queenstown:
can you spot three waterfalls? (KSS) |
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| I think it is still snowing on the mountains (KSS) |
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| Aha! TSS Earnslaw is steaming (KSS) |
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Wakatipu Vessel (2015, by Virginia King) is a stylized
Māori canoe with paddles etched in the outer posts;
yet it is better known as a receptacle for traffic cones
thrown in by pranksters, seeming to indicate there
are just too many traffic cones in Queenstown (KSS) |
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| Mi-Pad Smart Hotel (KSS) |
We skipped the walking tour of Queenstown.
Next: Te Anau, NZ and Milford Sound.
