Saturday 29th Queenstown, Artists and Sri Lankan curry

The day started slightly cooler and much fresher with some cloud and some sun. We decided to walk around the Frankton arm of Lake Wakatipu toward Frankton and having enquired at the information office in Queenstown we were assured that there was a good walk to "The Boat Shed" where we could get coffee and cakes before returning by bus. The young female assistant said that she did the walk in an hour and then added - doing power walking! Off we went firstly walking down to the lake side at Quuenstown and walking around the peninsular which houses the botanical gardens. The views across the lake were lovely although it was certainly duller and much more cloudy by now

We arrived at said Boat Shed after about an hour an a half which we thought was pretty good since we had taken in an extra 2Km compaired to her walk. The Boat Shed was really nice housed in an "antique building", right on the edge of the lake and they served some excellent food. After a short stop we decided to ignore the bus and walk back and with a couple of rest stops we arrived back at the camp site exactly 4 hours after having left and we realised that we had walked over 8 1/2 miles.

When we arrived back we decided that a swim was in order and we drove to Wilsons Bay a few kilometers out of Queenstown and enjoyed a brief and pretty chilly swim on a lovely beach. OK even I would have to admit that the water was cold! Tonight we are having dinner with Tim Wilson and his partner Vaj. Tim is Rosemary's cousin and is a well known Kiwi landscape artist with a gallery in Queenstown. Tim enquired if we would like a curry and knowing that Vaj is Sri Lankan we quickly said yes. Off there very shortly and then tomorrow we head south where we plan to stay overnight at the Mavora Lakes, weather permitting.

We were not disappointed; the Sri Lankan curry was fantastic and we had a lovely evening with Tim, Vaj and their artist friend Anita.