Queenstown is the prettiest town we have ever seen. Set on a deep lake of light blue waters and on the boundary of three mountain ranges - one of which is called the Remarkables because it is very remarkable. We had our first sight of Queenstown from the top of a mountain pass where there had only been a drove road until the mid 70s. The lake has a 100 year old steamship running trips on the loch. Until recently it was used to transport sheep from the lake shore stations to market.

We had a fabulous view of all of this at dinner. We were transported to the top of a hill on a cable car. The photographs don't to justice to the view - it is truly spectacular. We enjoyed an excellent 6 course dinner in the he restuarant with panoramic views into the distance.

Queenstown is well set up to cater for tourists and in particular to separate them from their dollars. Every form of adventure sport is available, from Bunji jumping (3 different drops on offer) jet boating, paragliding, luge (on wheels). We chose to take a cruise on the Earnslaw, the 100 year old steamer, to a sheep station to have a barbecue lunch and see some sheep shearing. Not quite an adrenaline rush but the food was fab.

The next day we had a long day's travel to Fjordland and Milford Sound. Arriving early evening we joined our ship, the Milford Wanderer, to cruise up the fjord some way before taking to the tender for a wander along the shore line looking at the geology and the wildlife. When I say wildlife I mean the sand flies which were taking more than a passing interest in us. We were fresh blood to be sucked and they attacked in their thousands and despite applying buckets of repellant nothing could satisfy their desire for fresh meat. Some of our companions came up in nasty red blotches. Although we were bitten lots of times we don't seem to have suffered a bad reaction.

We slept on board and, after a communal shower and teeth brushing, we cruised back up the fjord in thick fog. We could hardly see the sides and neither could our captain who had to repeatedly sound the foghorn. The boom echoed off the walls and added to the eery atmosphere of the early morning.

Another long day in the bus back to Queenstown where this evening we say farewell to our travelling companions. Susan was reunited with her phone today after leaving it in North Island last week. After a catalogue of errors and a few tears it is now back in action.

Tomorrow we take our car back up north. It will be nice to have the front seat and have control over the aircon.