Day 4 - Bungy, Cruise and Farm

This morning Simone took the plunge off the Kawarau Bridge!

Even though she cheated and had her eyes closed for some of it...she was the first one of the day and the Japanese tourists standing next to me were audibly astounded by it :)

After driving back into town we had time for a little breakfast at Ferg Bakery, we had the Pork Belly and the Ferg Pie with cheese, as well as a Boston Cream Donut, which Simone proclaimed to be the best in the world.

The menu. Dongara Caltex, you are on notice.

At noon we boarded the TSS Earnslaw, a steam engine boat built in 1912 and still steaming around the lake. The truck with the coal was waiting for it when it arrived in the harbour and we saw it being filled and the coal shoveled down into the engine room.

You can see into the engine room from inside and check out all the workings and the people keeping her running.

After a while on the lake we were dropped off at the Walter Peak Farm, where we could check out the deer, sheep and cows.

After having some tea and biscuits we saw a herding and a sheep shearing demo. Two types of dogs were shown - the huntaway and the hedding dog. The latter brings the sheep towards the shepherd silently, the other is the loud barker.

Overall a very pleasant and eventful day and we also had time to stop in nearby Frankton to pick up some portable speakers, as our car doesn't even have a CD player let alone aux port or bluetooth. So after some research and availability checking I bought some Moshi Bassburger Double speakers. They are tiny but sound pretty good and have a magnetic base so you can stick them on the dash of the car.

All folded up for transport.

Separated.

Opened, ready for action.

We will be using them tomorrow when we drive to Te Anau and Milford.

Day 2 - We're leaving on a ...... jet boat!

After a very satisfying 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep we got up around 7.30am. Checked out of the motel, filled up the car ($2.20 per L) and had a quick brekkie at the local bakery. By just after 8am we were on the road to Queenstown, our destination for the day and home for the next three. It's one of the stops where there is so much to do and see we are staying for more than one night.

Simone was driving for some of the time, until she could feel herself becoming too tired so she handed over to me.

Once again we stopped several times to admire the scenery and take photos, or to check out some places. One of those places was the Wrinkly Rams, where we came just in time to see someone training their one year old Border Collie in herding sheep. Commands were mostly different whistles and for a young dog I think she did quite well :)

I took some video as well.

After Simone bought a few things from the shop we continued on our way. Another ad-hoc stop was the Gibbston Valley Cheesery. Part retail outlet, part cafe, here they tell you how cheese is made and you can buy a variety of their very delicious cheeses (they are a bit pricey though) as well as lots of artisan foods and food related items. On their menu I saw a cheese & chorizo baguette, which I had to taste and thought would be perfect for lunch!

It had two different cheeses, chorizo, baby gerkins and a sweet chutney in it. Yummo! Simone had a few bites too and the local dog also got some bits that fell out. She was very gentle.

Some photos of the drive. Something I didn't take photos of was the salmon farm. They sold fresh salmon for $18.90/kg. I almost turned the car around :)

About 20 minutes away from Queenstown we stopped at the Kawarau Bridge, the home of the Bungy Jump. It was here almost twenty years ago that I made the jump 43m down. We watched a few people go and Simone was in two minds about going but said that there were too many people watching and she wasn't wearing the right clothes blabla, excuses excuses.

Arriving in Queenstown we located our hotel and then drove into town to check things out. On a whim we decided to do a jet boat tour, neither of us had done it before. It was very cool, zipping along the river, swerving in and out and doing 360 degree spins. Thankfully those were announced so you were never taken by surprise.

Simone with wet hair afterwards. It was her choice to sit closest to the water...

We had dinner at the hotel. This time Simone had the lamb shanks and I had the special, which was salmon. Funny thing, we looked at the menu and Simone said "with all this salmon in the river there should be salmon on the menu". Two seconds later the waiter brings the special :)

Food was nice, Simone reckoned the shank I had yesterday was a bit better.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a crappy day weather wise, with thunderstorms a possibility. The activity we booked: half day walk. Great. But I tried contacting them today to confirm and also arrange transport and I still haven't heard anything, so we'll see what happens.