Join the week-long party in Queenstown to celebrate the centenary of the iconic TSS Earnslaw. There’s a first sailing re-enactment cruise with period costumes, woolshed party at Mt Nicholas Station, lots of entertainment for the family and a variety of special cruises to various points around Lake Wakatipu.
The "Lady of the Lake" is the largest and grandest steamship ever built in New Zealand and now one of the world's last surviving coal-fired passenger steamships in operation
Originally built to service the remote farming communities around Lake Wakatipu, the TSS Earnslaw plied the lake transporting up to 1500 sheep, 200 bales of wool or 70 cattle on her decks.
As road access around the lake improved in the 1960s, the TSS Earnslaw started running at a loss. There was even talk of sinking her. Fiordland Travel, now Real Journeys, bought the steamship from New Zealand Railways in 1969 and eventually turned her into the tourism icon that she is today, closing in the upper deck to create the Promenade cafe and exposing the engine room for viewing from above.
Down in the engine room everything remains as it was in 1912. Two triple expansion steam engines maintain her cruising speed and stokers still shovel coal into the boilers. The historical significance of this grand old steamship is recognised by a rare Heritage Protection Order.
So come join the festivities at the TSS Earnslaw Centenary Celebrations and be part of a once in a lifetime experience!
