Mon Camarade

Существует лишь одно добро — знание. Существует лишь одно зло — невежество.

Сократ


-=-


TSS Earnslaw Vintage Steamship Cruises
            
A cruise on Lake Wakatipu aboard the iconic steamship the TSS Earnslaw is undoubtedly one of the best ways to experience Queenstown’s famed scenic beauty.

The leisurely 90 minute cruise across the lake showcases some of Queenstown’s spectacular alpine scenery while offering you plenty of time to explore a piece of Queenstown’s living history – the 100 year old TSS Earnslaw.

You can visit the engine room and see its giant steam engines at work, view the collection of historical photos in our mini-museum, check out the bridge or even join a sing-along with the pianist. Or if you’d much rather, kick back and enjoy a wine or beer or some cafe-style food at our on-board Promenade Cafe and Bar.

Cruises depart regularly throughout the day. You can choose to do a cruise, or a cruise, combined with a visit to Walter Peak High Country Farm for a guided farm tour, horse trek, barbecue lunch or evening dining.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, President Bill Clinton, and the Japanese Emperor and Empress among other famous people have enjoyed their TSS Earnslaw experience. We’re sure you will too!

https://www.realjourneys.co.nz/en/experiences/ cruises/tss-earnslaw-vintage-steamship-cruises/







.......и небольшая =история= по-настоящему понятная только моим близким друзьям )))))))

...статья  про  кочегаров  и  "Титаник"  ...рейс  Квинстаун - Окленд  12.12.2014

http://www.jetstarmag.com/story/ queenstown-completely-stoked/2243/1/

=======  http://www.stihi.ru/2003/10/27-1211  =======






December 2014 Queenstown: Completely stoked

An indoor type takes on the challenge of keeping the coal engines burning on Lake Wakatipu’s TSS Earnslaw. He finds pleasure in the pain


My arms ache, my bad shoulder feels like there’s a builder’s brick resting on it, my back makes me feel 20 years older than I am, sweat pours through my mess of hair, stinging my eyes with a mix of coal dust and engine oil. Before I have time to feel too sorry for myself, Tom Whittingham, chief engineer, nods his head and Dan Mahon, my fellow stoker, flips open the furnace door and the heat hits me like a train. Not wasting a moment, I drive my shovel into the coal, launching the black gold into the cauldron. Stoking for all I’m worth, clarity hits my brain and I wonder: What am I doing here?

My soft writer’s hands blister on the coal shovel, my lungs fill with scorching air, but the rest of the engine room crew know that it’s just another day at work on the TSS Earnslaw. The steamship launched in 1912, the same year as the Titanic, and has been going strong on Lake Wakatipu ever since. This Queenstown icon, known as the Lady of the Lake, shows no sign of slowing down, even with my meagre coal-shovelling.

There aren’t many ships like it left in the world today – the Earnslaw (named for the iconic Mount Earnslaw, a towering peak near Queenstown) is the last commercial steamship in the Southern Hemisphere. Tom knows the ship inside out: “Everything in here is either original, of the era or made by us to keep the old girl going. We take her out on the lake all day, every day and have for the last hundred years.”

The ship was originally commissioned and built by the New Zealand Government Railways Department to carry passengers, mail, sheep, cattle and anything else that needed to go from Kingston to Queenstown and onwards to Glenorchy. In the first half of the 20th century the Earnslaw was among four steamships that worked Wakatipu. The last of the fleet, the Earnslaw acts as a tourist experience, taking passengers for a 45-minute cruise across the lake to Walter Peak Station.

By the late 1960s roads had been built, and the Earnslaw had fallen into disrepair and was almost relegated to the scrap metal heap. At the eleventh hour Real Journeys, a local tourism business, stepped in and saved the ship from the scrapyard.

Back in the belly of the ship, Dan gives me the lowdown on what it takes to be a top-notch stoker.

“It’s less about strength and more about the technique,” he says, and he should know – he’s been stoking coal on the Earnslaw for years. “Arms straight, pivot from the shoulders and flick the shovel blade, placing the coal right where you want it.” Sounds easy enough. I do my best to replicate Dan’s time-honed technique, but my coal lands in a lump in the centre of the molten inferno. “Try and spread it out a bit more,” he says, “and while you’re at it, three more shovelfuls.”

By the end of the trip we’d kept the boat going and I’d gained a whole new appreciation for the Lady of the Lake. Hands stained with coal, shirt stuck to my back with perspiration, I pass my shovel back to Dan and shake Tom’s hand with my grimy one. My apprenticeship is over but the Earnslaw sails on. She’ll do three more trips to Walter Peak and back to Queenstown today. The boys in the engine room have work to do and, like the ship, they’ll just keep going. Satisfied, and eyes opened, I climb the ladder and return to real life.

As I breathe in the fresh air and contemplate my aching limbs, I decide there’s a certain satisfaction in manual labour and physical effort that stimulates the body and mind. And, just like the Earnslaw, I’m stoked.

 

--------

Try it! 

Take a 90-minute cruise across Lake Wakatipu on the TSS Earnslaw. You can visit the engine room while on board. Tickets from $55 adults / $22 children, infants free.










Einmal mussen wir alle sterben
Darum mussen wir tapfer sein


MON  CAMARADE

Пехота…       рванула…      вперёд
Высоту    прикрывал    огнемёт
И    долго    потом   оттирали
Стволы,   ордена  и  медали

Но нашёлся один, кто тогда
Словно факел пошёл на врага
И  нашлась  у  него  та  граната
Чтобы   спали   спокойно   ребята+