mom and i are now on our way back up north and are currently in mt. cook village about to take a hike through the snow to see some beautiful views. milford sound is gorgeous and our flight over the southern alps was really magnificent! snow everywhere. milford sound is actually a fiord, which is an area that has been carved out by a glacier then filled in by the sea. we got to take a two hour boat cruise through the fiord, whose tall mountains that shot straight up out of the water reminded me of the gorges in china a bit...only with lots snow and really really cold.=) on the way back we stopped in the underwater observatory, where we got to see black coral and other sponges, fish, coral, octopus, etc who normally live in very deep dark water, but can live in such a shallow environment in the sound because of the tanin-filled rainwater that just pours off the mountains almost all year and creates a dark layer over the salt water. really cool. then we saw glacier lakes and waterfalls on the way back. so much of the land is untouched because the only way to access it is by flight or foot. after our flight we headed down to queenstown and stopped at a winery for some wine tasting along the way. then right before we got to queenstown, we came upon AJ Hacket's Kawarau bridge bungy jump, the first ever commercial bungy jump, so we decided to stop and check it out. i decided i wanted to do a different bungy, but mom...decided to go ahead and try it!! (i think i might be having a bad influence on her=)...so mom did her first bungy (43meters) and just loved it! even more than the skydiving i think! well at least she was more excited afterwards. we then headed into queenstown and i signed up for the Ledge Urban bungy. basically you ride a gondola up to the top of a mountain overlooking queenstown, about 400meters up, where they built a ledge that extends out away from the mountain. here, instead of just jumping off, you have to run and hurl yourself off!! and i decided to do it at night! which was even more scary. so when i was getting ready it was all dark looking out and the guys like..."see that small little light out there? just run straight towards it" =) craziness...but super exciting! i loved it! now all i have to do is get the guts to do flips off of it. (i can just see baba holding his heart right now...but what else are daughters for than to freak out their fathers? love you baba) anyways, the next morning we rode the shotover jet boats through the shotover canyons, doing 360's and racing by the canyon walls (just barely missing them!). these boats are really impressive, they've got 520 horsepower (two engines) and only need 2inches of water to drive on. well that pretty much catches you up! love you all and see you soon (just little over a week!)