The boat goes all the way out to the Tasman Sea, then turns around and comes back. The cruise takes around 90 minutes and cost $45 NZ bucks.

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Milford Sound is famous for its natural beauty .. so I’ll let the photos do the talking.

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The captain pulled the boat right up to the waterfall. I was down in the front so I got a free wash ...

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Our wildlife bonanza continues!!

While we were cruising, a bunch of dolphins came along for the ride!

Luckily I was out the front of the boat - right place, right time!

I saw them coming towards us, and then they turned around and swam along with us, under the catamaran.

Pretty cool.

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An added bonus - my dolphin video!

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The wildlife bonanza just continues!

The captain pulls the ship up to some rocks, and a whole bunch of seals are sunning themselves.

There were about 8 of them that I could see ...

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And that’s about it from the Milford Sound.

One of the best days of touring I’ve ever had .. and I didn’t even have to leave the country.

We were very lucky with the weather - it was a beautiful (but cold) winters day.

Milford Sound is NZs wettest place - it gets between 6 and 8 metres (!!!) of water a year. That’s like 25 foot of rain a year!

So we were really lucky.

Milford Sound has been named one of the best tourist spots in the world ... come visit it one day!

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Yep, seen lots of pictures of that area ... a lot of similarities to NZ.

The people are similar too ehhhh! Pretty laid back, like kiwis. Lots of Canadians living over here.

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It’s amazing.

No “3 layers” or “space age fabric” or any of the stuff new jackets have. Just 100% NZ wool and it works amazingly. Warm - but not hot. I hate being hot.

And it has a flap on the back (around the neck) that when the wind is coming from behind, blows up and acts as a deflector. Genius or coincidence? I dunno - but it’s cool.

In NZ, the standard uniform for farmers is the Swandri - a NZ made 100% woolen jacket. I’ve never had one, but now I know why they wear them.

At a NZ fashion show ....

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Looks like you’re getting your moneys worth out of that one, Justin!

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Nothing has changed, old buddy!

Except the bigger farms now have tunnels under the road, for the cows to cruise though and not bother the traffic.

Moooooooooo!

It’s been a great night in Arrowtown. Here’s a beer picture, just for @iceman44!

McLeods hand brewed Paradise Pale Ale, from Waipu Cove. x5.

http://www.mcleodsbrewery.co.nz

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So, as per the previous post, today was a drive from Te Anau to Arrowtown.

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On the way, we passed Lake Wakatipu ... pretty picturesque!

Click for panoramic ...

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When we got to Arrowtown ... WTF!!

Stalkers!!

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Arrowtown is an historic mining settlement.

Gold was struck here in 1862 ... and soon miners from around the world showed up to get their share of it.

Amongst them were miners all the way from China. They experienced totally foreign conditions and were shunned by the English and European miners. They set up camp down by the Arrowtown creek ... and today some of their camp still remains.

Arrowtown sits in the shadow of a mountain, so half of it never sees the sun. These pics were taken at 2pm, the frost was still on the ground.

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The Arrowtown Main Street dates back to the 1870s.

Any new buildings need to be constructed to match.

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Yep! It’s nationwide!

Waipu Cove represent!

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It could well do ...

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Sounds a bit exciting for us.

We do like fossicking around down at the beach and finding rocks, shells etc. Danni has quite the collection.

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Frosty morning in Arrowtown!

-4C ... 24f.

The $25 coat comes in handy once again!

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Travelled the short drive into Queenstown.

The Queenstown Winter Festival is on - lots of events on in the town centre like free concerts etc.

First up today was a jet boat race around an obstacle course on the lake. These are the tourist jet boats that take you up the rocky rivers and do spins etc.

Jet boats were invented in New Zealand by William Hamilton (hence - Hamilton Jet) in 1954 to travel on our shallow rivers. These river boats aren’t ideal for lake racing ... but they gave it a good go! 600hp V8s roaring in the lake.

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Next up - the famous UNDY500!

Sponsored by JUCY no less!

Contestants, resplendent in JUCY branded underpants, race around an obstacle course in chilly 2-4 degeee winter weather, including a section crashing through the lake. They’re keen!

Here’s the course...

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And here are the first batch of competitors...

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Lie down for the start ...

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Here’s a winner ...

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Sport was the winner on the day.

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Then an AJ Hackett bungy guy bungyed out of a helicopter at about 500ft ...
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Then there was a bird man contest off the Wharf.

To be honest, it was a bit lame ... in the classic 70s and 80s birdman contests, people made wings and gliders and other crap and tried to fly the furthest.

This one, they came out and sort of danced a bit and then jumped off. Wow.

Anyway, good on em.

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A paua shell, close up. These are for sale in the tourist shops for $10-$16 bucks.

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And the night finished off with some A1 Asian/fusion grub at Madam Woo, followed with a kiwi tradition, watching the All Blacks demolish France in a pub, fire blazing, beer in hand.

Good times.

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Remember I was warning about you overseas guys coming here and getting lost in the dense bush ... well, this is what will get you in the end. Giant kiwis. Ravenous pricks they are. Actual size*.

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* may not be actual size

I haven’t posted a lot of QT pics or stories ...

Because, when we come here we just muck around, and drink booze and eat at the nice restaurants.

When we are at home, we rarely eat out, and I’m not a huge drinker ... so down here, it’s a novelty.

And Danni is cool enough to tag along and let us do our thing. In NZ, kids can go into bars etc no problem. They can even drink with adult supervision. You can’t purchase booze if you are under 18 though.

Luckily for my wallet, Danni isn’t interested in drinking at all. I doubt she will ever have an alcoholic drink in her life. Shes just not interested in it.

In other exciting news - there are so many JUCYs here in QT that we have had to suspend the JUCY game. Both Fiona and Danni have bruises all up their legs from all the JUCYs! hahaha

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Why not? Set a goal, save a few bucks, make it happen!

You can tour around here for reasonably cheap if you’re not too fussy. And if you bring a few buddies, you can split the costs.

Thanks for the kind words too. I enjoy doing the threads, keeps my mind limber.

Also - keeps a record of what we do. When I went back and looked at the old “odyssey” threads, I’d forgotten we had done half the shit we had done. Ha!

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Yep, we have a whole network of budget campsites and backpackers.

My guesstimate would be 40-50% of the tourists are backpackers. But I did just pull that number out of my ass ...

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Botswana Butchery ... bluffies and ribeye

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They were the local radio guys. Both in their 50s I’d say. Doing their small town radio shtick ...

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You’re my best friend!

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Today we drove out to Glenorchy.

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This is a small settlement at the top end of the lake.

This region was used as a location in LOTR, Vertical Limit and other Hollywood movies.

In the old days, the Steam ships used to bring supplies in up the lake, as the road was so treacherous. The boats also collected the wool from the sheep stations.

When the present road was built in the 1970s, the Steam ship service stopped, and everything went via the road.

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The Glenorchy wharf is still there - repaired and restored for the tourists to stand on and take selfies.

The wharf shed is still there, as well as the Glenorchy railway wagon which ran on NZs shortest railway. It ran the length of the wharf .. about 100 yards.

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Then we visited the Glenorchy Animal Experience Park.

The girls love furry things - so furry things we saw!

Great place to go to experience some NZ farm animals close up.

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Then some playground funnies on the way home ...

Not a bad view in the background...

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Last day in the South Island today.

Not flying out till 6pm, so we had some time to fill in.

We headed out to Alexandra for a drive.

Alexandra is in Central Otago ... the area was founded in 1860 in the big Otago goldrush.

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First stop - the Kawerau suspension bridge.

This was quite the feat of engineering in 1880 when it was built. It was the main bridge until the late 60s. Amazingly, when it was restored in the 90s, the original steel cables from England were still deemed to be in great condition so they’re still used today!

If you’re into cycling, there are cycle trails all over NZ, particularly around Otago, including this bridge. Check out the Otago Rail Trail if you want to see a cool one. People come from all over the planet to ride it.

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These days, the bridge is most famous for people jumping off it ....

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