Feb 27th - All aboard the Kingston Flyer

The day dawned rather gloomy - both because the weather was cloudy and because some minor North London team had beaten the mighty Spurs 5-2 which did not please our host. However, the weather began to improve quite quickly as the sun pixies swiftly hoovered the lingering clouds from the mountains. We headed back to Queenstown for a coffee on the quay - where the 100 year old steamer TSS Earnslaw had just docked.

Over our coffee we were musing as to how a 168 ft, 330 ton ship was transported to the lake in 1912. We concluded that it must have been constructed at a shipyard on the lake as in 1912 there wasn't even a road to Queenstown let alone vehicles that could move a load that large.


As the weather had now turned distinctly perfect we decided that the cable car up the mountain was a 'must do'. Not a bad view from the top!

We had decided to head for Te Anau that night so we departed Queenstown at about 2pm. On the way out of town we spotted a sign to Kingston and we thought we should call in and get a photo for Phil and Jane. So here we are at Kingston station....

They did a good lunch at the station so we tucked in - and at 3 O'Clock the train arrived! This was pulled by one of the engines that ran on the original line from Dunedin and Invercargill - now run by volunteers for the tourists. It was a truly impressive sight.

And thus we solved our mystery about the Earnslaw. She was built in Dunedin in 1911 and shipped in parts to Kingston on the train. She was assembled on the lake shore and launched on Feb 24th 1912. From there she was moved to Queenstown to be fitted out. We were inspired by this story - and felt another album coming on.