Our last full day in Queenstown was spent wandering around the city one last time. We went down to the beach and saw a lot of eye candy, which we both appreciated. Hey, just ’cause we’ve been married 30 years doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy looking! And then I saw something that made my eyes hurt. Let’s just say, the dude should not have been wearing a Speedo.
Our first full day in Queenstown, we hopped on board a vintage coal-fired steamship, the T.S.S. Earnslaw, and crossed Lake Wakatipu to visit Walter Peak High Country Farm. It was a beautiful ride to another beautiful place. The Farm is a working sheep farm. We saw a very businesslike border collie herd sheep. Our tour guide then gave a sheep-shearing demonstration. The tour guide was a real character who delighted in pulling the wool over the tourists’ eyes, shall we say. We got a real kick out of him. The farm also had a herd of Scottish Highland Cattle, which we visited, and a small herd of fairly friendly deer. The stag had a very impressive rack, which he allowed me to touch carefully through the fence. The tour guide had told us that deer antler is much prized throughout Asia, being thought of as an aphrodisiac. However, I am not about to start sprinkling antler powder on my breakfast cereal for any reason!
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Our last day in Australia was, as the others had been, hot. Every day we slathered on the sunblock before leaving the hotel. I also put on bug repellant, which unfortunately didn’t discourage the hungry bugs nearly as much as I’d hoped. Australia has some mighty tenacious bugs, damn their miserable, rotten exoskeletons.
Leo met with a group of his readers that morning while I did my share to stimulate the Australian economy at some of the local gift shops. Then we walked over to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which offer a really nice view of the harbor and Opera House as well as interesting flora. We really liked the various fig trees in the Gardens. Their roots and branches looked perfect for climbing and just lent the trees more personality. I especially liked the plumeria trees with their fragrant blossoms. The formal gardens of the Government House were rather disappointing in that there weren’t many things blooming, and of what was blooming, most things I was already familiar with. I was hoping to see something really tropical and exotic.
