Milford Sound would have quite easily caused our mouths to gape open if they hadn't been for the last hour of the journey. A lot of the scenery from the road conjured visions of a T-Rex or King Kong crashing through the tree line or jumping from one of the endless tree covered mountains. Apparently, parts of Jurassic Park were actually filmed here. We took a cruise along the fjord when we finally got there and again, the views were unrivalled: waterfalls, tree avalanches, resting seals on rocks and mile high mountains either side plunging straight into the water. The only thing the cruise needed was some idiot to jump through one of the doors and smack his head open on the lowered frames - I duly obliged. :-)

After the fjords, we made our way back to Queenstown. Only a short 5 hour drive with speed limits of 100kmh. Clearly with so much to do, this was far too slow and so it proved after I was pulled over by a policeman for doing 115kmh, fining me $80 for the privelege. Lauren was VERY happy. :-) She proved it was possible to drive below 100kmh - at one point, she made the infamous remark "this guy is right up my Jap's Eye!" - I really, really hope not Loz. Turns out she thought the JE was her arse after I'd managed to finally stop laughing long enough to listen to her explanation.

When we finally got to Queenstown, we booked ourselves on as many activities as we could fit in a day and a half. That happened to be white-water rafting, horse riding and bungee jumping, in that order.

White-water rafting proved to be nail-biting before we even reached the top of the river. A rickety old cart, masquerading as a coach, driven by a guy who appeared to be a cross between a local Maori and a Red Indian warrior (aptly named "Chief"), transported us from the booking office in town to the start of the rafting. This involved climbing a mountain using the regular road system but coming down the other side using what can only be described as a dirt track no wider than the coach itself. If we had come off the track, we were plummeting hundreds and hundreds of metres to our death! At one point, the front wheel on the right-hand side did actually leave the track as we turned a sharp bend round to our left! After the journey there, the rafting appeared tame in comparison but still good fun. Our guide appeared to be off his head on weed and insisted we shouted "brown chicken, brown cow, white sheep, ping piiiiiiiiiiig!" whenever we traversed a slightly challenging rapid!

Horse riding was actually quite good although a little slow by the end. Lauren was desperate to head-off on a canter, and after a while, I was too. Scenery and surrounding landscapes once again were amazing.

I finally managed to tick another one off the "To Do" list after I jumped 43m off the Kawarau bridge on a bungy rope! Lauren managed to film it so it should be a good laugh for those who get to see it when we're home. Unfortunately, I think it's too big (in size) to put on this blog.

Queenstown seems to be the home to some very famous Lord Of The Rings landmarks too. We passed Mordor, Isenguard and a place South of Rivendell.

Today, we walked on a temperate glacier - The Franz Josef Glacier. One of only 3 temperate glaciers in the world. One of the others is just down the road, Fox Glacier and the third is near Patagonia in South America. It was pretty amazing and a good workout for the legs. Unfortunately, we were held back by an American who insisted on wearing jeans and a shirt and a fat little ginger lady with a bad knee.

We currently reside in Arthur's Pass, a quaint little hostel in the mountains on our way back to Christchurch. The temperatures are slightly chilly at this altitude. There is actually a sign outside our hostel that reads "Beware Of Avalanches" - good times.

Blog you later folks. xxx