Friday, February 17, 2017

Queenstown Day-February 17, 2017

Today we had the luxury of not needing to do or be anywhere until 3:15pm and it was very much welcomed by us.  On this segment of the trip here in New Zealand we have been tightly scheduled with activities.   We were later than usual getting up and getting down for breakfast so we thought the dining room would be less crowded but we were wrong.   It was almost impossible to find someplace to sit but finally I found a table with a couple sitting at and asked if we could share the table and they agreed.
After breakfast we walked to the downtown of Queenstown.  Along the wharf there were tables set up with people selling their crafts and wares. And then we walked about the shops in the town.  For lunch we ate at a Mexican restaurant, Sombrero, which was an okay place but not the greatest.
We returned to the hotel but soon started to get ready to go out for the evening.  We were to be ready by 3:15pm to board the bus for a short drive to Queenstown wharf.  We then boarded a steam engined boat that took us across the harbor to Walter Peak Station (ranch).  We were seated on the patio and then had a barbeque- huge shrimp, mussels, smoked salmon, salad, beef, lamb, chicken,potatoes, corn on the cob, and an assortment of desserts.  Food was very good and plentiful.  After dinner, a demonstration of sheep dogs working the sheep and sheep shearing was given before boarding the boat to return to Queenstown.  It was an absolutely beautiful evening.  As we returned on the boat the on-board pianist played familiar tunes and a group of us sat around singing.  Fun times to end the day.