7am breakfast onboard the Milford Mariner, then a cruise out to the neck of the Fjord to the Tasman Sea. Now we see the other side of the coin - it's chucking it down. En route we saw another penguin and a load of seals. The swell as we got towards the sea was quite high and a lot of fun. By 9.00 am we were back and by 9.30 on the bus for the return trip to Queenstown. Still the rain came down - hard. The coach was warm and comfy and we were all settled in when w...

Not sure what I was expecting on the trip to Milford Sound, but we were told it took 5 hours. The bus arrived at our hotel and it was very nice with glass panels in the roof and big windows. All the seats had been slightly angled towards the windows and they were banked so you could see in front too. The company was very in to ecology and preservation of the land and its animals. The driver was very knowledgeable about everything and stopped frequently for photos...

Communal Breakfast and everyone was eager to leave for the final leg. It was a very short journey and even stopping at every viewpoint we arrived early. Not only had it rained very hard in the night, it was forecast to rain again later in the morning. Like all good weather forecasts, they were wrong, and it stayed dry and got warm. So we completed the trail in total dry sunny weather. As it happened the shuttle bus was early too so we got back to the start in go...

Well after the highlights of Ranfurly where a car passes through once every half hour. We started towards Hyde where we had been warned there was nothing.After another good days/mornings cycle. Look at the scenery, that's Pete and I on the bridge. We arrived at Hyde, and yes it was true there was nothing there. Found our accommodation which was good and clean but the most basic we have had on the trail. No wifi, no TV, no radio, no newspapers. The upside was that...

So after a good dinner last night we all slept well in our luxury lodge and had a good breakfast to start the day. It was very cool this morning so all layers were on again. The scenery had changed from rocky outcrops to very wide shallow valleys and the vistas were huge. Today was always the shortest of the trip and we were looking forward to our coffee stop at Wedderburn. Unfortunately whoever had opened the centre that morning had not turned on the coffee mach...