Just finished July 4th post, pressed publish, the wheels went around as usual, but it disappeared.  Will try this, so far.  Well it took it this time.  Planes gonna be late so here I go again.  Morning after I got to Queenstown I was across the street at tourist office waiting for the bus at 6:50 am.  Dan was the tour guide and bus... now van driver, because there were only ten of us on this tour.  Queenstown is in a mountain valley surrounded by mountains in the middle of the southern island of NZ.  We drove two hours thru mountains and in the valleys...farm land in the high valleys.  Mostly sheep, deer...they export venison to Europe mainly, and grow turnips as supplemental food for the live stock.  The sheep even pull up the roots, do the farmer doesn't have to plow in the spring to plant again.  Stark mountains, with flatter areas in grass, after the scrub bush had been burnt out, and roots removed.  Also saw lots of different cattle, some Scottish breeds too.  The trip over the last mountains was on a very steep gravel road down to the sea side.  Then we took a bigger boat for our tour of Doubtful Bay, and even out on to the Pacific to see neighboring cliffs and valleys of great scenic beauty.  The we reversed the process, bus trip up the narrow gravel road, the hour long boat trip across the lake, and on to another buss for the two hour ride back thru the mountains and highland farms to Queenstown.