Gold.
We drove to an adorable little town about 20 minutes from Queenstown Sunday morning. Arrowtown is an old gold mining town. Gold is still found in the creek that runs through town. We had an expert at Dudley’s Cottage show us how to find gold. Did you know gold is 19 times heavier than water? It will make its way to the bottom of the pan UNLESS you touch the water. The oils in your skin makes the gold float. Ty and I both found several flakes and got to take them home in a little flask. So fun!

Chinese Miners.
In 1865 Chinese miners were invited to come look for gold. There were around 3,500 Chinese that came to mine, and they were shunned by the European miners. They built their own little village. 2 of the original homes remain in surprisingly good condition, several others have been reconstructed. Ty loved going into all of the huts!

Walking.
We by no means can say that we did any sort of extreme hiking (or mild hiking, for that matter), but there were hills EVERYwhere. Ty’s little legs got tired, and we only had one stroller. When he needed a break, he hopped in the stroller and Lily got to snuggle up with dad in the Baby Bjorne. She can tell everyone that she frontpacked through New Zealand.

TSS Earnslaw.
We caught the 2:00 boat ride to Walter Peak High County Farm. The ship was built in 1912 and was originally used to haul sheep across the ginormous lake. The ride was super smooth, glided across the water. Lily’s timing was less than ideal – she needed to eat right as the boat was departing. I try to be as private as possible when I feed her, but it wasn’t easy finding a spot away from people on the boat. The best I could do was near the back of the upper deck, which happened to be next to an old man playing the piano. I used my nursing cover, tried to relax, listened to the music, felt the cool breeze, and took in the amazing views.

The ship is powered by coal. The first night we arrived I thought a boat was on fire on the lake. Turns it was just the Earnslaw blowing smoke. Uncle Rickey would have loved it.

Ty showed me around the boat. It had a museum, a saloon, and he thought that it was fun to go to the bathroom on the boat.

Farm.
The farm was beautiful. It had adorable buildings, lush gardens, a cute old tour guide, and fun animals for the kids to feed and pet. The deer had HUGE racks. Ty thought they were Santa’s reindeer.

There were Highland cattle.

We had tea (of course). Ty and I tried our hands at skipping rocks – was wishing Court was there to teach Ty since she is the rock skipping champion of the world. The water was so clear. Beautiful.

I didn’t get any pictures if it, but the dogs were amazing. They were working dogs, super smart. They ran up the mountain to bring down half a dozen sheep. They listened to commands from our guide and picked up the cues while the guide was telling us all about the pups. So impressive! I think we will send Bandit there for training…

The sheep shearing show was pretty cool. I have seen lots of sheep being sheared in my life, but never quite like this. The guide set the sheep on his rear haunches and the sheep was so chill. She didn’t put up any fight, was like dead weight. I put some videos of the shearing on my Facebook page.

At the end the guide asked if anyone had any questions. Ty raised his hand but the guide didn’t see him. Afterwards I took Ty over to the guide. I was dying to know what question Ty had. He wanted to know if sheep take showers. Love him and his constantly cranking brain!

Red River Valley.
On the boat ride back, we sat next to the piano player again. This time there was an older couple and a bubbly Chinese lady that were singing along. The old man reminded me so much of my Papa. I kept looking at him and memories came flooding back. I was dancing with Lily when the pianist switched over to Papa’s favorite song – Red River Valley. The old man belted it out, just like Papa used to. And then I saw a rainbow between the mountains (not sure if you can see it in this picture). I got a bit misty-eyed, but loved every second of it. Nana and Papa would have loved this place.

Fergburger.
We were all starving when we got back to the mainland, and we thought we better not leave Queenstown without eating the famous Fergburger. After a 35 minute wait (short compared to every other time we walked by it), I thought it was delicious. Of course at that point I could have eaten shoe leather and thought it was gourmet.

After that we were all pretty well wiped out, so we went back to the condo to do laundry and relax. Heading back to Christchurch tomorrow, not sure if we will have Wi-Fi. Will blog when I can.