26 After the palaver of the night before, I got up around 9am or so. Kayla, Becka and I commented about the odd appearance of our strange room-mate who had woken everyone up, and then I went to work out how to deal with my laundry and bag requirements.
I discovered that the laundry beside Absoloot was going to be closed for Absoloot to do their commercial washing. I went next door to the YHA to find out about booking in and discovered that the laundry there was $3 with drying $2, which was the best prices I had seen in all of New Zealand so far - quite a surprise given this is the most expensive location in New Zealand for everything else!
I transferred my luggage to the YHA where I was booked to stay the next two nights, and started the wash. By the time that was done it was around 1pm, and I had resigned myself to not going mountain biking.
I had heard about a dry luge thing though which was about the same amount of money, so went to book on to that, which was a good choice!
The gondola to the start of the Luge lift went up enough distance for my ears to pop, and I had the pleasure of sharing my car with an Italian person who was going for a job interview in the shops at the top. We talked about accents and phrases as he had a few Scottish friends already.
The first time down the Luge had to be on the beginners track, which is probably a good thing, as it took me a while to get used to the brakes method and how well it could corner.
The next run I had included drops to increase speed, and the finishing area was narrower, but great fun, and I was raring to go for the 3rd ride.
By the time I had done that, I felt like I could go a few more times, but decided to hang on to my money for that, so that I could buy some photos that had been taken of my luging - which I duly did - they will be uploaded in the next few days and attached to this entry.
I met Cathy from Holland who was behind me on the track and also at the photo queue, so since she appeared in one of the photos I bought we exchanged names and I gave my blog URL.
I made my way back down the gondola, and made it to the pier for the steam ship BBQ tour just in time to exchange my ticket and get processed through the line.
The TSS Earnslaw is the last remaining coal powered steam ship in the southern hemisphere, and was built in Dunedin and launched in 1912.
On the way over to the farm for the BBQ, I was joined at the table by two groups of people on a package tour with the same company, though each group was going in different directions around new Zealand. One couple were from Yorkshire, another couple were from Australia. There was also an Aunt and Neice from Edinburgh and Aberdeen respectively, so we chatted about our adventures so far and the prices of tickets for flights
We made it to the farm house where the BBQ buffet was being held, and the package tour people were assigned to inside the main building while the independants were in the conservatory area. It looked like there would have been some seating outside, but it was raining in a fairly determined manner, so that wasn't happening tonight!
A guy came over and asked if I was sitting on my own and if so could he join me, which I agreed with so we introduced ourselves. He introduced himself as Phil from Wellington, and was on this particular tour in order to check out the place for entertaining sports fans for when british Rugby teams come over to play New Zealand. Not a bad job that - being paid to go to establishments and try out their entertainment qualities!
The wine on the boat and in this restaurant was very expensive, unless bought by the bottle. Both of us agreed that we wouldn't individually manage a bottle, but we probably could manage to split one, so we agreed to go dutch on a bottle - which worked out pretty well for us both!
There was a cornocopia of delicious food for the taking, on a buffet arrangement - eat as much as you can. Both Phil and I managed at least 3 plates each - possibly four, though we did forgo dessert. I tried pork, lamb, beef, muscles, squid, cheeses, salamis, breads, asparagus, and more!
We were then all treated to a sheepdog show, demonstrating the New Zealand Sheep dog - also known as the Australian Sheep Dog. Seeing a team of two dogs working to field sheep towards the shearing area was pretty impressive - much better than watching it on telly!
The farmer then shore a merino sheep for us, showing how to keep the sheep from trying to escape by placing it on its back.
He also gave us some impressive statistics. The current world record fr electric shearing sheep is 729 sheep in 9 hours.
The current record for using the scissors type shears is 427 sheep in 7h40m, which works out at about 427, though nobody really knows how many could have been shorn, because they ran out of sheep during that epic performance!
We went back on the steam boat to Queenstown across Lake Wakatipu. By this time, it had become a lot colder, and the snow line had dropped about 200 metres, so the hills/mountains looked somewhat more spectacular.
The pianist on the boat gave everyone a sing along, and Phil commented that the Australians had started singing, as the song we could hear was 'Waltzing Matilda'. The waiting staff on the boat admitted that that song was played every night and they could probably get by without ever hearing it again!
We got back to Queenstown at around half past 10, so I went straight to the hostel and sleep.