New Zealand Adventures: Voyage to Walter Peak

Thursday, January 26, 2012

We returned to Queenstown today and after checking in at the Pounamu Apartments for the evening, we drove downtown in time to catch a ride across Lake Wakatipu on the TSS Earnslaw.

There is a whole bunch of history wrapped up in that first sentence. Allow me to unpack a few things before describing the trip.

First, Queenstown, is the #1 travel destination in New Zealand. The name originated as the town prepared for a visit from Queen Victoria many years ago. They wanted the city to be "fit for a queen" so in her honor that gave it the name Queenstown.

Pounamu is the Maori word for greenstone, a type of jade that was found in this region and brought much commerce to the area. An appropriate word for these apartments. Smartly furnished right out of an Ikea catalog.

Lake Wakatipu is a large, beautiful lake, next to which Queenstown sits. It is 98% pure, according to one local, who said you could drink from its waters with no fear. At one time, it was major means of transportation and that leads to the steamer, the TSS Earnslaw, which now makes frequent daily trips from one end of the lake to the other.

Years ago, there were farmers homesteading land on the shores of the lake. They needed supplies and a means of transporting goods to market. To meet the demand, a steamship line was created and a steamship built and outfitted for the lake. The "twin screw steamer" was built in Dunedin and then taken apart for transport by train to Kingston, a small town on Lake Wakatipu. There it was reassembled and commissioned the TSS Earnslaw. Its maiden voyage was in October, 1912 and almost 100 years later, it is still making trips daily.

These days the ship is run by Real Journeys, a tourism outfit. Today the boat hauls people to want to visit the Walter Peak Farm. Back then, the ship would haul everything from sheep to construction equipment.

Today the boat departed in a rainstorm that didn't let up the whole time. We were issued umbrellas at the farm, where we did a Homestead tour. A couple ladies told us the history of the place, showed us photos of the McKenzie family who brought it into existence, and then we sampled wine and indulged in small talk with fellow tourists. I wondered just who this Walter Peak person was. There was no answer forthcoming from the guides.

Our visit was over in about an hour and we returned to Queenstown on the Earnslaw as the rain continued. What made the return trip enjoyable was sitting around a grand piano on the lower deck and singing some old time sing-alongs with a bunch of folks from the UK. They were loud and rousing when it came to songs like "You take the high road and I'll take the low road," but we also sang "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and they did well with that one also.

So who was Walter Peak, I wondered. Further thought and research led me to the answer. One of the original settlers decided to name the mountain which is the back drop for the farm. He chose the name Walter to honor his son and the mountain was named Walter Peak. Hmm. Isn't there a similar place in Colorado?