Glenorchy Lake House

... back and then kayaked back to Milford a different way. A really nice experience. We got back at around 7.30pm.

The next day (today in fact), the cloud was down but we booked a boat trip anyway as it was only $40 because we stayed at Milford Lodge. It was worth doing. It was one of the small boats - Milford Cruise. The boat went right up to a huge waterfall and we got quite wet but it was brilliant.

... of lovely pictures. We saw seals and little crested penguins basking on the rocks, there are lots of pictures so you may need to flick through quite quickly!!!
Soon it was time to choose a water activity, Em being the braver of us two wanted to go kayaking and I decided to go in the little boat. It was a bit rough but we managed to see some more little penguins. We also saw an area where the trees had fallen back on itself. There are a lot of tree avalanches in ...

... followed the wales for about 40 minutes and every person (including the crew) were on the one side of the boat, in almost silence, just watching and taking photos. Every now and then the whales would jump. The boat was leaning a lot to this one side a lot and i was scared it was going to tip!!!

After the cruise it was the bus trip back to Queenstown again where i was feeling quite travel sick by this stage. But made it back ok!

... sympathetically we pointed and slowed down for a good look! By the time we arrived at Milford Sound itself the rain was in full swing but as we were encased in our waterproof layers nothing was stopping us jumping on a boat for our cruise out into the sound. In fact by the time we were up on the top deck making the most of the complimentary (I love that word) tea and coffee the rain had settled to more gentle spitting and the mountains around the sound all ...

Thanks for all you sympathy comments-much appreciatedLast night Ian felt really bad but it seems the tablets are beginning to work as he's a little chirpier today. We stayed in a real quirky site last night-run by a German couple . The son collected Morris Minors and old Bedford vans which were scattered around the grounds. Playground site for kids was fantastic -no health and safety issues!! Now we are about 40 mins away from ...

... a) blokes/walkers who haven't washed and shaved for days and b) bus loads of geeks who come in search of their "inner golum"...or whatever it is supposed to be (the geeks reading this will know!)

To put it bluntly, it was cold enough on the first night to freeze the balls of the proverbial brass monkey. Down to minus 8 degrees celcius - there was little chance of Louise prancing around in the new bikini she'd purchased in Australia ...

The 40km drive out to Genorchy was reminiscent of the drive along Skaggs Rd. back home.  The city itself was mostly shut down for the winter (though it made for a much needed pit stop).  The highlight was stopping to take in the view from the roadside along the west arm of Lake Wakatipu.

Yvette: horse ride in Glenorchy - I didn't like my horse called noddy who was very jumpy and kept - yes you guessed it nodding! lovely scenery though. The guide didn't go on about LOTR too much either which was a bonus. All their horses were free and destined for dogfood - possibly as they all had features like mine did! In the afternoon we went to Paradise - which can be found just beyond Glenorchy and is a real placename! This really is beautiful - a few ...

Here on the shores of Lake Wakatipu ('hollow of the sleeping giant') we are surrounded by snowcapped mountains and the lake splashes gently in the background. It has been a bright sunny day and we have a log fire, a comfy sofa, a big stack of videos, games etc and a warm room. What else could we need?

Our talent for turning the weather to custard (as they say here) has not failed us recently, as the NZ summer has struggled a bit to get ...

... which gives the effect of reverse steering to that of a dinghy. Our efforts were rewarded with the appearance of seals rolling about in the water, lunch on a beach and an escape from the voracious sandflies that plague the area; even the repellent only stops most of them biting, it doesn't keep them away.

We spent the afternoon in the Milford Pub enjoying the novelty of the Australian GP not being in the middle of the night. It ...