Up at 6 am to catch bus for Milford Sound. Another "brilliant day" in NZ-cold, but clear, cloudless, blue skies again! Our bus driver was Russell, a kiwi, whose daughter lives in Fort Nelson, Canada and is married to a mountie, a small world indeed! On the drive from Queenstown to Te Anau we learned about the sheep industry in NZ. Low country sheep are romney and their wool is mainy used for carpets. High country sheep are merino and the fleece is used for clot...

Started day by taking hike to find a geocache, this time successfully! Lovely hike through rainforest with huge trees. On our way to Queenstown- another driving day. Booked a bus and boat tour of Milford Sound for tomorrow. Stopped at Curly Tree, a family fish operation down a small dirt road off the highway. Tried a local west coast delicacy called whitebait fish patties to see if we wanted to buy some for supper-which we will NOT be doing. Basically it was li...

Woke to an amazing sunrise and crisp, cold day with brilliant, clear blue sky. Will be heading to Fox Glacier as the Franz Josef glacier is too unstable right now due to yesterday's rain. Stopped at Lake Matheson, famous for its reflections of Aoraki Mt Cook and did small hike into the lake. Went to a small gift shop and bought some beautiful NZ souvenirs. Checked into Fox Glacier Holiday Park-beautiful park with great views of Mt Tasmen and Mt Cook. Walked i...

Slept in till 7 am LOL Early start as today is a driving day. Very windy, rainy night, cool this am but sunny for now. Narrow, hilly drive through start of Southern Alps with lots of tricky corners- Pete's driving-Steve got him again!! Patty did a lot of knitting on this section of the drive with eyes down! Snow on the mountain tops and beautiful fall colors on the trees. Stopped in Murchison, small village in the valley before heading into Buller's gorge. A ve...

Up at 6 am, again, to catch shuttle to Abel Tasmen Park. Arrived at Kaiteriteri to catch our catamaran to Onetahuti beach (Tonga Bay). Spectacular turquoise waters on the way up the coastline. We sailed past the famous Split Apple Rock and stopped at Pinnacle Island to see New Zealand fur seals. The colony was females with pups about 4 months old. They very curious and would swim right up to the boat. The catamaran dropped us off at the beach and we hiked 5.4 k...