94. Cruise back in time on a coal-fired steamship

From whale-watching and go-karting to spending the day as a sea postie and the night in a haunted castle, there’s no shortage of family fun to be found here: here is No. 94 of our 101 Reasons To Stop Dreaming About New Zealand And Go.

Here’s a question for the family quiz champ: what does the alpine town of Queenstown have in common with the lush river city of Whanganui? Give up? Both places offer the chance to partake in a unique shipping adventure. In Queenstown, Real Journeys ferries guests across Lake Wakatipu in a century-old, coal-fired steamship, the TSS Earnslaw. Launched the same year as the Titanic, the TSS Earnslaw made its maiden voyage across the lake in 1912 and, at 51 metres in length, the ship once played a major role in the pioneering life of Queenstown, carrying passengers, sheep, cattle and mail supplies to and fro. Today you can board the historic vessel to take the 90-minute cruise across the lake to Walter Peak High Country Farm where you can choose to set off on a guided farm tour, go on a horse trek, take a mountain bike ride or dig into a gourmet barbecue lunch or dinner at Walter Peak’s Colonel’s Homestead Restaurant.

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