TSS Earnslaw Cruise & Walter Peak farm visit

Queenstown

Overview

Pre-booking required

Highlights:

Cruise Lake Wakatipu aboard the historic TSS Earnslaw
Meet farm animals and explore Walter Peak with a rural host
Watch the sheepdogs and shearing demonstration before enjoying a barbecue lunch

Cruise across Lake Wakatipu aboard the historic TSS Earnslaw to Walter Peak High Country Farm, set on the lake’s southwestern shores. Meet a rural host on arrival and explore the farmyard on foot, with the opportunity to help feed sheep and deer and see Scottish Highland cattle up close.

Continue through the lakeside gardens to the Colonel’s Homestead for a barbecue lunch. Afterwards, visit the shearing shed to watch the farm dogs gather sheep from the hill paddocks and see a sheep being shorn before returning to Queenstown aboard the TSS Earnslaw.

About the TSS Earnslaw

The TSS Earnslaw is an integral part of Queenstown’s pioneering history and to this day a Queenstown icon. She was commissioned by New Zealand Railways to service the communities around Lake Wakatipu. Launched in the same year as the Titanic, the TSS Earnslaw’s maiden voyage was on 18 October 1912. Today the TSS Earnslaw takes is host to guests enjoying a Walter Peak cruise in New Zealand.

TSS Earnslaw Vintage Steamship, 1912

TSS Earnslaw provided an essential link between the isolated farming communities along the lake and the outside world. At 48 metres long, she was the biggest boat on the Lake and carried passengers, sheep, cattle, mail and supplies.

Nearly scrapped in 1968, she was rescued and purchased by Real Journeys and put to work once again carrying passengers around the Lake. Since then the TSS Earnslaw has been painstakingly restored to its original condition – everything you see is pretty much like it was a 100 years ago.

Today, the TSS Earnslaw is the only coal fired steamship in operation in the southern hemisphere, making her one of the most unique experiences in the world.

The TSS Earnslaw has featured in several movies including a cameo in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as an Amazon River Boat. Parts of the trawler SS Venture in Peter Jackson’s King Kong were inspired by the TSS Earnslaw. Famous composer Ron Goodwin composed a piece of music inspired by the rhythm of the TSS Earnslaw’s engines.

What's included

BBQ Lunch
TSS Earnslaw Cruise
Farm Tour

Please note: All Freedom Day descriptions represent a typical itinerary and may not operate exactly as described. Local operators may vary from time to time.