Milford Sound and beyond

First off, it's cold!!! The long term weather report said 60 but my golf shirts and capri pants have not been worn once. It's been long underwear and fleece every day. Here are our questions from the car today:

Why is lamb eaten so young? What do the sheep do that makes them tough as they age?
How do they decide what sheep is meat and which one is wool? Do only males get eaten? And why do the farmers shave the tops of their tall trees straight instead of leaving them wild and high?


We spent the night at the lake resort town of Teanau and got up early to make the two and a half hour drive to Milford Sound. They said chains might be required but we did it without. As you drive up, up, up, you come to the Homer Tunnel. It is cut right from the rock and has a 10% grade down.

We made the first ship out on the sound at 9:45. Only 16 of us on a huge boat with a naturalist on board. It was so beautiful. Mountains jutting right out of the sea with waterfalls just spilling down. It wasn't sunny but the clouds and rain made it very mystical and created 100's of waterfalls. We saw blue eyed penguins, seals, and gorgeous vistas.

Here are Larry's practical suggestions for Milford Sound.

the night before, fill up with gas if you are getting an early start. it's 220 kilometers round trip with no petrol and the gas stations don't open till 8.

check out of your hotel if you want an early start.

Go rain or shine as the sun is pretty but the rain and clouds make their own beauty.

Go early so you beat the tour buses both on the road and on the Sound.


On the drive back we stopped for a hike and encountered the Kia. The are alpine parrots that are described as inquisitive, curious and destructive. People have started feeding them so they hang around tour bus stops. The are about the size of a chicken with a huge, sharp beak. They break off windshield wipers, antenaes, and shred the tents and sleeping bags of trekkers. The call them "Mountain clowns". We called them ass Clowns because they pestered us during every picnic and they hop sideways really fast.

Here are some things I love in the NZ hotels and B & B's:

They all have a hot pot with a selection of teas, coffees and sometimes cocoa.

When you check in they give you milk for your tea.

The ALL have a hot pot, mini fridge, heated mattress pads and heated towel bars in the bathroom.

Most of them supply the room with plates, silverware, wine glasses, corkscrew and bottle opener.

Some of them have toasters and a microwave.

So eating in the room is fairly easy.

Today, we drove to Queenstown and did a walk around town, and are now spending two nights in Wanaka. Queenstown is a lot like Park City if it had a lake. Two ski resorts, town full of young people, ski clothing shops and bars. And the prices!! It's shoulder season, haven't they heard of two for one coupons?? We went into what looked like the equivalent of an REI. They were having a huge Winter Clearance Sale as the ski resorts close this weekend. A thin, microfiber zip neck T was on sale for $84!! it would have been $24.99 at REI. The funny thing was, it was called the Utah Mountain Shirt.

We decided after our picnic lunch in the Queenstown Park, (which was freezing) to do a hike. so we chose one called the Queenstown Hill Walk. It was 2300 feet up. And it was almost straight up. It was STEEP. We actually started from town, went up steep stairs thru the town, to the start of the walk. The path kept getting steeper and steeper. As a matter of fact, you can talk a gondola from the bottom of town up the mountain across the valley from us. We walked higher than that! At the top, the wind was howling but the view was terrific. We only saw six other people on the hike and coming down was equally tough. They call this a hill????

More grocery news:

The stuff that's expensive back home is on the affordable end here. Hydroponic lettuce was just $2.99 a head and the regular was $7.99. Same for tomatoes. And dark chocolate covered nuts were more affordable than regular nuts. Beer and wine is really expensive but it doesn't seem to stop anyone from buying it.

The best difference is how they label food. Nothing has calories it has "Energy!" So you eat something and see how much energy it's giving you, not how many calories. I think that's a good way of looking at it.

My three favorite names so far:

Mount Aspiring

The Remarkables (a mountain range)

And the town of Athole./ If you are from there, are you an Atholian? Or just a regular athole.

They dont' have kennels they have pet lodges. And cattery's. What do we call it in the US when you leave your cat somewhere?

In Wanaka we found a place to stay that has a sauna and seven hot tubs. It felt great after the hike. AND, we found a local diner, several blocks off the main drag, that had Roast Lamb!! So tonight we had roast lamb, mashed potatoes with mustard seed, roasted pumpkin and broccoli for just $16.00 a person. Seemed like a deal.

We are spending the day in Wanaka and may do the drive up to Mt. Aspiring National Park to do another stroll. (10 hours) or a jaunt (7 hours) They call their treks "tramping" which sounds like it should be slow and methodical.

Hope the kea's don't destroy our car.