(I have added to my Queenstown journal just in case you are wandering what the mystery activity was..)
Today (Thurs) we drove to Milford Sound via some amazing scenery (getting used to this now...) and a Kea bird that seemed keen to play football. Milford Sound is actually a fiord (fiords are carved by glaciers, sounds by rivers) so that's confusing but oh well. It is named after Milford Haven by the Welsh guy that discovered it. I'm sure it looks nothing like Milford Haven! We boarded our boat, the 'Milford Wanderer' and sailed out into the Sound. Very steep sides either side, with huge waterfalls. Quite spectacular. We anchored in a bay and went out on a tender craft to look at a penguin (that swam off very gracefully) and a 'trevalanche' (an avalanche of trees) and some rock formations. Then we went back to the boat and had dinner. After dinner, played some poker (badly) - started off quite well however. Then went to sleep in my tiny bunk.
The next morning I woke up just before the ship's engines turned on at 6:30 am. Note the word 'before'. Once again, sleeping in til 8 is now a lie-in. We sailed out through the sound to open sea. It was very choppy, as it was howling a gale. The sound was a wind-tunnel. Some people were looking green (tour leaders included!) but I was OK thankfully. Out at sea we turned round and could see how well-hidden the sound was, and that was why Captain Cook missed it apparently. i went on deck (in the rain) to watch as we sailed back in and did some Titanic poses!
Back on the bus, we drove to lake Ohau whilst playing silly games on the bus. Lake Ohau is a brilliant blue colour, due to glacial dust reflecting the light. It looks unreal. Later on we went in the spa pool outside under the stars, with a view of the lake and mountains. Excellent, just my kind of thing!
|  | 
|
