Kiwis and Fairy Bread

30 December 2023

We had a full day in Queenstown and planned to make the most of it. So we skipped our usual morning meal of Weet-bix and Vogel’s Cafe-Style Vanilla Almond Muesli and went to a bustling waterfront cafe called Vudu. I indulged in soufflé pancakes with mixed berries and crumbled pink meringue. A perfect pairing to my Flat White coffee. Delish!

Little stalls were being set up for the day: street food, art, music. A mother set up a table with cherries she had just picked that morning. Her barefoot children were there to help before going off down the pier with their dad. By the way: Kiwi children are often barefoot. In grocery stores, in play grounds, on hiking trails, on sidewalks, in shops, even, we are told, in school! (I would have liked being a New Zealand kid). I must say New Zealanders have feet of steel!

After breakfast we went shopping. Pounamo, a.k.a greenstone, or jade, is found in abundance in the South Island and is very much valued. The Māori place special significance to it and became master carvers. Shops here feature pounamo in many ways from tiny charms to large bowls and statues. And also something they call Blue Pearls, which are cut from the colorful inner shells of a mollusk, But that was only the tip of the “glacial” iceberg in what this downtown had to offer. We passed an Asian noodle shop where in moments a master noodle maker stretched and pulled a lump of dough into dozens of strands. And the post cards! Oh, the postcards in this country! When the rest of the world seems to have forgotten about them entirely New Zealand offers them in every shop. You can find your favorite destination in an excellent photograph or art deco print. And then one needs to stop and have another flat white or some Hokey Pokey ice cream. I say again: this is our kind of place.

In that gloriously sunny afternoon we went up on The Gondola: a Queenstown feature since the early 1960’s. This steep trip takes you up, up, up to Bob’s Peak and gives you incredible views of the city, Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables mountain range all along the way. You arrive at a little city in itself: a complex with a 360 degree viewing platform, dining, shopping, hiking, a hugely popular luge-on-wheels track, picnic tables, and a BMX trail that leads all the way down the mountain (teens in our holiday park had day passes and went up and down over and over again during the weekend).

As always we went and took the hike. A short trail that went above the luge and into a deep, cold, forest that looked just like Narnia. There we got a quick view of the high peak of Ben Lomond and then took some time to watch the lugers. Most turned the corners with huge smiles on their faces. Families and friends raced each other. I watched one mother following a clearly terrified little girl, saying “you’re doing great honey. You’re almost there” (they’d barely started. But appreciate what a great mom she was. My mom would have done the same for me)

Back down the mountain into the gondola for the return trip we met Alan, a guy who witnessed the invention of bungee jumping. Mike and I keep having these brushes with people who witnessed greatness. It’s a small country.

But we weren’t done yet, because the best was yet to come. We’d booked tickets for tonight’s 9pm sunset cruise on The TSS Earnslaw: an actual steamship built not far from here in 1912. That’s the same year as the Titanic! But this ship faired much better. Originally used to carry sheep and people around this largest of lakes, it turned touristy a few decades ago. And it is magnificent.

The ship sailed up to the dock with a classic booming horn and billows of black smoke. The smell took me back to rides on the old Pine Creek railroad of my childhood in Allaire State Park. Staffers were at the railings, smiling, dancing and singing along to a guitar. This was going to be a good sail. We embarked and explored the ship.

Downstairs we stood at the railing as the city started to disappear. Doors lead to scaffolding right over the engine room! Immediately Mike and I said that both our dad’s would LOVE this. Huge gears and pistons pumped up and down. Heat rose, a steady rythmn pounded that you could feel in your bones. Round doors glowed bright orange with fire. A young man opened the furnace, shoveled in coal, closed the door, swept the coat dust off the floor and repeated it all over and over again.

The top deck had cushioned seats, a bar with ice cream and coffee, and a grand piano. The small outdoor top deck was lit with colored Christmas lights. Benches to sit on and a classic bow! Looking up you could see the bridge with the captain at the helm and the huge stove pipe behind.

Down along the deck we stepped into “The Salon”. In this empty room we found a round white bar surrounded by cushioned booths and art deco prints. The hum and rhythm of the ship was less in here. This was clearly originally made for the “First. Class” passengers. It all felt so very Phyrne Fisher! (My favorite female detective of the Jazz age, who, in Death by Water goes on a cruise around New Zealand to solve a jewelry heist)

The sun had set over tall mountains of dark rock and greens of every color. The water shimmered. The boat slowed. And we pulled up to a fairy land. That is what it looked like. On the shores of these beautiful tall hills there suddenly appeared delicate houses of red, white and deep blue. “Gingerbread” cuts decorated the porches where ivy and flowers climbed. Golden light shined through windows. Groomed gardens of flowers of every color were set into the greenest of lawns. The biggest weeping willow I had ever seen brushed its hair upon the water. Sheep grazed in a field next to a charming little barn. The sky was turning periwinkle. The place was the most romanticly magical place I have ever seen. Destination wedding, anyone? Emi and David, you two, I know you, would feel the magic that is there.

Turns out this remote little complex had just one road, and is a restaurant and farm run by the same family as sails the ship. It’s all part of the same package. But we’d had no idea! We thought we were just going around the lake on an hour long tour. But we were, in fact, picking up the last batch of patrons and staff for the night. We got out for an all-too brief walk around. I found my perfect little house (sorry Cabin 5!). And then the ship’s horn sounded, calling us to return,

As we pulled out two sheep dogs and a young man waved good night to us. I waved back. It was all exquisitely perfect.

Back on board we got a scoop of Hokey Pokey Ice Cream (my favorite NZ flavor) and ate it in “The Phyrne Fisher Room” (seriously, you have to read this book!) Out to the front deck again as Queenstown approached. The lights of the city were all different colors, making it look like a jeweled broach on a giant sleeping goddess (am I gushing too much?). But the wind and air were chilly so Mike and I headed inside and sat near Tony, the ship’s entertainer who beckoned guests to sing along with him. He’d asked Mike and I earlier if we had any requests. We responded: some classic jazz? Maybe an Ella Fitzgerald number? That surprised him. How about some Beatles? And so when he spotted us, he announced a Gershwin number just for me: Summertime. It felt out of place with his usual crowd pleasers of La Bamba and Sweet Caroline. But I sang along and hope did Ella a bit of justice. Yesterday came next. He really wanted to please us. Tony, you are great guy. Happy New Year to you.

The ship was entering port. The lights of the city shining bigger and brighter. It really was like entering a jewelry box,

With many thanks to all the crew and a final whiff of coal steam, Mike and I walked off the ship and back into 2023.

At midnight the docks were still busy. Songs and chatter poured out of bars. People walked hand in hand. It was the very end of December. The very first minutes of the very last day of 2023. It was summer time. I may just spread my wings and take to the sky.