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I don't think I've already writen about Milford Sound. As luck would have it, it's a good thing we didn't get there any earlier as the road had been closed for a week! Trapping innocent civilians in that beautiful area with all some gorgeous weather and a bunch of kayaks. And nobody else could get in, until Saturday, when the road opened and Liz and I joined a small bus trip up there to go kayaking. The great weather continued, and the sea was like a millpond. Got trussed up in some rather fetching purple gear and jumped in the kayaks and off we went after a quick safety chat. In case the NZ tourist board hasn't got the message across quite thoroughly enough yet...it's a FIORD not a sound. We had lunch and hot drinks out on the water, found a couple of fur seals to disrupt from their sunbathing and experienced the effects of dwarfing. Something weird that happens when absolutely huge, stunning, impressive mountains, suddenly seem less impressive because they are surrounded by equally huge mountains...so everything seems smaller, nearer and all-round normal. The waterfall we were looking at was 163m high, over 3 times the height of Niagra, and looked only 10m high. Me and my aching body then went back to the hostel and did nothing for the entire evening, except befriend a French boy. For conversational purposes you understand. Sunday was a day of driving, and I am now in Wanaka. Today (after fully defrosting my car) I have been shooting a 22 smallbore rifle and I am a pretty good shot. (Trumpet blowing is allowed occasionally....no-one's here to do it for me) Then took a quick scoot over the road for some beer tasting at the Wanaka Beerworks (Brewski, Cardrona Gold and Tall Black)....day going good so far, shooting and beer. Tonight's cheap activity continuing with the theme of complete indulgence is the cinema in Wanaka that has comfy sofas not flip-top chairs.

posted by Katie @ 7/12/2004 05:19:00 am