Day 13 - Queenstown - South Island

(late edition) Just to give you an idea of why we flew and not just drive down - I know most of you think NZ is a small country about the size of Netherlands or that sixze - Well it ain't that small and it would have taken ages to get to Queenstown. If you must know 1556 Km or 966 miles.
Sat 10 Dec - Samantha starts her leave and we fly down to Queenstown - South Island - 2 photos taken from the plane - flying into Queenstown - the NZ alps and one of the many lakes - almost looks like a glacier feeding into the one end ??

Arrived and picked up our car - guy who ons the business was South African - car came with a packet of Biltong (beef jerky). Thought Queenstown was breathtakingly beautiful - just its natural setting - the mountains - the lake - the sun - the sky - LOL. The photo of Hud Sam & I, taken by some guy from Switzerland. The mountains in the background are the Remarkables - lots of skiing in winter.

The steam boat - Earnshaw which has been sailing this lake for many years. Sat is craft market day in Queenstown - there is even a small beach for the lake - which is in town really - well I suppose not surprising as the town is built around the lake.

Next lunch -

Sam studying NZ tour book -

Hud decisions decisions
We then took a drive to Arrowtown - which is close by - which claim to fame was discovery of Gold about 150 years ago.

This was a really warm / hot sticky day - drove back to the hotel and I couldn't wait for a swim . . . trouble was I forgot to take my wallet out of my pocket - thats the problem wearing shorts with lots of pockets

Sundowners at the hotel - wonderful breathtaking views across the lake - even caught the Earnshaw returning from one of its many cruises

Then it was out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner . . .