We found our way downtown (not nearly as busy this morning as last night), parked the car and headed to the ticket office to check in. We had a bit of time before boarding the boat, so picked up a couple of hot drinks and a pastry and sat enjoying the view.
Once on the boat, we had a chance to get some beautiful views of Lake Wakatipu.
After 45 min we arrived at the Walter Peak High Country Sheep Farm where we had an awesome barbeque lunch buffet – more lamb – yum!
After our delicious lunch, where we met the other 3 couples joining our tour, we headed for an educational session on the sheep. We heard about the two types they raise which give two different qualities of wool, the finest being merino. We then had a demo of sheep sheering.
This was followed by an explanation of the sheep herding by dogs (short haired border collies) and a demo. The dogs don’t chase the sheep but rather get them to go based on staring at them. They would go and lay down and stare at the sheep until the moved away from them. The shepherd used either voice or whistle to control the dog.
After that was finished, we met our driver and van for our next 3 days. Andres has lived in New Zealand for 15 years but was raised in Chile. He was fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Check out the next post for our 90 km trip down the gravel road and into Te Anau.
Following Joyce & Paul's Travels in Retirement 