Kingsgate Te Anau

... between islands. Chris said there wasn't much leeway between the hidden rocks below so I'm glad he knew his way around! We saw an island full of brown fur seals and some crested penguins. When we reached the sea, it got choppy and unfortunately I wasn't feeling too well (I was 'crook'). We fished all the way along at various places and caught blue cod, pink wrass, baracuda and sea ...

... second, at that, I'm stuck, leaning forward with my hand burning on this stove, this giver of warmth, source of life, but at the moment, it's nothing short of a torture device, in the sort of irony that life seems so full of. Whether I was able to somehow pull myself back, or one of my Spanish friends helped me, I can't remember, but I survived the experience with only minor burns to my hand. I re-create the scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, when the guy runs outside and plunges ...

... for the entire cruise. Our boat was called ´Lady of the Sounds´. As soon as we got on, a bbq lunch was served up. Lunch was briefly interrupted as the skipper drew our attention to the dolphins swimming alongside the boat. Me and the girls spent the entire trip on deck at the front of the boat. The fjords and Sounds were spectacular. Mini waterfalls ran down the mountains and into the ocean, mixing ...

... the fish we caught for dinner, plus some venison (deer meat). He shot the deer two weeks ago right here in the sound. Deer are considered feral animals and they are trying to get them out of the park so anyone can shoot them. My Pop would love this place - he loves hunting and fishing. This is not what I expected, but it is really fun so far. Tomorrow we are going out on a smaller boat to explore some of the small channels off the sound. Maybe we will see a shark or dolphins!

... 1984.This part of the track is easy walking -but it's also the longest stretch and we are low on energy after yesterday's hard climb and rough weather. Still the day is beautiful as we near Lake Manapouri and the last hut on the track - Moturau. We stop for snacks and a pictur with two young Californian lassies who have been coaching and playing rugby in NZ for 9 months and whom we met in prvious huts. Then it;s on to the last 6kms ...

... ago and is still that way. So what we saw from the ridge was about 20 feet of tussock and then solid white clouds. But we had plenty of food this time! We spent 2 nights at the first hut, Luxmore Hut after a steep climb up through beech forest (I half expected to see elves; straight out of Lord of the Rings). There were 47 other people with us there the first night. I really wouldn't call the place a "hut" but rather a mountain chattel with flushing ...

Over the next couple/ well 10 days I will be travelling to the deep south of the South Island of New Zealand. Today was the drive from Queenstown to Te Anau.<br><br>It probably would have been spectacular if the weather had been better. It was raining the whole bloody way!!! grr - not at all funny!<br><br>Due to the weather we didn't really do a whole lot here - except go to the post office and some other shops - we bought what looks to be a really ...