May 31st - June 1st

Saturday saw us up and at ‘em just after 7. We took our time getting ready as we didn’t have to be to Milford Sound until 3 pm. A five hour drive from the Holiday Park we stayed. The drive was long and windy as most of our journey has been. I am having an exceptionally good time driving on these roads and may try out for the NASCAR or Indy car circuit when I get home, if I get bored with my current job of course. It is pretty amazing how rural it is on the South Island. The night before we drove 160 miles before we saw another town. We have no idea how people get groceries, fuel, medical assistance out in the rural areas. We’re assuming that they simply don’t and live of the land just like in the good ole’ days.

We stopped in Queenstown at the bakery for breakfast. Britt had an apple cinnamon roll and I had half a boysenberry stick (only half because Britt must eat half of all my food). Filled up for gas at a whopping $81, which is a lot for the size of car we are driving. A guy next to me was filling up his SUV and he was well over $100. Gas is currently $2.03/liter. The mountains in Queenstown are covered in snow and town is getting ready for the snow season. Queenstown reminds us of Dillon, Colorado with the hundreds of condos and resorts and the ski shops all over.

After grabbing breakfast, we continued our trek to Milford Sound. The drive was quite beautiful as we made our way into New Zealand’s Fjordland. We made a stop at a picnic area and a large Kea (looks like a large green parrot) swooped down on top of a motor home. The women sitting in the vehicle came running out wondering what the heck had just hit their vehicle. Kea’s must be very smart as he attempted several times with his beak to open the top hatch on the motorhome. Luckily, the owners had locked up the inside or they may have had a pet Kea with a razor sharp beak and claws.

We continued to make our way through Fjordland park and came up to Homer Tunnel. Homer Tunnel was made back in 1931 and took 4 years to make. The areas is susceptible to avalanches and three men perished while making the tunnel due to this (I guess is was due to the 200 km/hr winds that the avalanched produces that killed them, not the avalanche itself). We pushed on through the small tunnel and into Milford Sound. We were welcomed by thousands on tiny sandflys. We quickly unpacked our belongings and headed indoors for the checkout counter. At 3:30, we headed for the boat and placed out things in our cabin. The cabin was actually very spacious with a queen sized bed and a decent sized bathroom. We headed to the deck to take some snapshots of the area. The skipper even took us up close and personal with Sterling Falls by taking the vessel only about 10 feet from it. At 7:00, dinner was served with a buffet style meal. We were expecting a much fancier meal from the reviews we had read online, but unfortunately it was like any typical buffet. At dinner, we sat with a young woman from England. Just like the other English and Irish people we have met, she was on a 6 month holiday to travel around the world. I think this is something that should be accepted in the American culture. Britt and I would definitely be on board. After dinner, we sat down and had some hot tea and cocoa and read a book about Milford Sound.

We woke up at 6:15. Luckily, everyone else on ship was still sleeping, so the whole outside of the ship was open to view the Sound. It was still very dark, so you could see very little, but the little bit of light produced by the ship was attracting small schools of fish, which attracts some other very cool animals. Several seals were outside of the boat coming up to the surface to eat the fish, which was very cool to see. The albatross were diving down at the fish, as well. We even had some dog fish sharks coming up to the surface to feed on the fish. It was all very impressive. At 7:30, breakfast was served, which was buffet style as well. We ate as much as we could, so we wouldn’t have to eat lunch. Breakfast was much better than the dinner in our opinion.

After breakfast, the ship made a trip out of the sound and into the Tasman Sea. We got some good views of the Milford Light house and made our way back into the sound. It was simply amazing to see this place. The Glaciers did an awesome job carving out the vertical walls and creating the deep valley for the ocean to flow into. Definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

Britt here. I think Ted summed up the last two days better than I could. Milford Sound was what I had expected and more. Breathtaking views, astonishing waterfalls, which leaves me speechless. We were thrilled to take the overnight cruise and were actually pretty lucky as ours was the last one for the season.

We had some free time this afternoon as we got back into Queenstown in mid-afternoon. We checked into our lodge and went and walked the downtown streets for a bit. Came back and finally did some laundry, made a fire in the community lounge area to warm ourselves up and write our blog and upload pictures. Now, we plan to head back downtown for dinner at Fergburger’s, a restaurant the young English woman we met on our cruise recommended.

Our food at the Fergberger was AWESOME! We were pleasantly surprised at how good the food tasted and how BIG the burgers were. We both got Southern Swine burgers with all the fixin’s and an order of fries to split. We took our food to go and stopped at the local grocery store for a bottle of pop. Britt was tempted to pay $5 for a freakin’ bottle of ketchup. Thank goodness she came to her senses and resisted the temptation. Neither of us were able to eat all of burgers. Luckily, there was a friendly stray cat to help us finish up. I named him Zorro and even tried to talk Britt into letting him sleep with us. It would have been just like being at home with Buddy nestled between us, but she wouldn’t go for it. At least Zorro got some Fergburger, so I am sure he will make it through the night.

Therefore, our time in New Zealand is almost over. It’s definitely a beautiful country we’d both like to visit again. We’re excited for warmer weather in Australia, hopefully shorts and beach attire!

Random notes:

When we stayed in Rotorua, we stopped for some dessert at a place that was serving gelatin ice cream. It was awesome! We found another store here in Queenstown and had some more today. Beats Dairy Queen and Cold Stone any day of the year!

I’m also surprised by the lack of convertibles in this country. We’ve seen less than a handful and with the weather they see during their summer months, I am quite surprised. We stopped at Queenstown yesterday, and pulled up next to a purple Prowler. A pretty sweet car if you ask me.

Off to Australia. Probably won’t hear from us for a few days.

Thanks for the note Mom. We miss you too. We’ll do our best on the baby makin’ thing, but no guarantees ;). I thought Cooper was going to be good enough to hold you over for at least a year.

Theresa, you know I’ve been bumping the Celine Dion all over New Zealand. I’ve got my whole Christmas Display choreographed in my head. It is going to be sweet.

Joyce and Roni, I'm up for fly fishing any time. I'm not sure anywhere in the US can match the size of fish they catch here in New Zealand (At our B&B in Rotorua, our host Sandy catches 13 pounds rainbows on a regular basis), but I'm sure Roni can tell me some good fish stories.

For those of my co-workers who are actually reading this…I forgot to mention that Friday when we did our glacier hike-I was sporting my pink shirt casual wear. You can see the pink shirt poking out from under my jacket…proof that I’ll wear it ANY FRIDAY. ALSO NOTE THE PINK IOWA STATE HAT!!!!!

Huge Kea on Top of Motorhome
Crusin' in Milford Sound
Sterling Falls
Milford Sound in the Morning
Bad Picture of Ted (Britt forced me to put it on here)
Snowcapped Mountains outside of Milford Sound