NZ's own maritime centenarian

The Earnslaw steams daily between Queenstown and Walter Peak in one arm of the lake. (Hugh McCall)

Undoubtedly there have been hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of photos taken of the Earnslaw over the 100 years that she has sailed the waters of Lake Wakatipu amid NZ's Southern Lakes scenic splendour.

The Earnlsaw was a railways ship, transported to Kingstown by rail - via the South Island Main Trunk, the Waimea Plains railway and then the Kingston Branch - from Dunedin in sections in the middle of 1911 and reassembled at Kingston. The Earnslaw, named after Mount Earnslaw, a 2889 metre peak at the head of Lake Wakatipu, was launched on 24 February 1912.  She was 165 ft (50.2 metres) long, with a beam of 24 ft (7.3 metre) the biggest vessel on the lake, and has been known as "The Lady of The Lake" ever since.

Propulsion is still original: two sets of coal fired triple expansion 500 horsepower jet condensing steam engines, twin screws producing a maximum of 13 knots.  Her crew is 11 and passenger capacity 389.