Good morning from partly sunny Queenstown...we are driving to Milford Sound today, about 6 hour drive from Queenstown. When I called to re-confirm our cruise yesterday, I asked the gal how long of a drive should we expect? "Well, it is about a 4 1/2 hour drive, but plan on 6 1/2 hours with all the photo stops you will want to make." We are doing an overnight cruise tonight through the Milford Sound. We are also going to go to an underwater observatory to see the marine life that only exists in the Sound. The Sound itself is saltwater with a about a 20 foot layer of freshwater above it due to the enormous amount of rainfall they receive. This is what makes the marine life/coral very unique to this area.

We had a wonderful day yesterday. The kids and I did a a bit of trampijng while Scott was on his morning bike ride. The afternoon consisted of an incredible jet boat ride through the Shotever Canyon. Our boat driver gave us a short talk before we left, but it was difficult at times to understand him...after he was finished I said to Luke, "If you didn't understand a word he said, the take-home message is to keep your arms inside the boat unless you want to leave an appendage as a memento to the Kiwis." The boat runs by shooting water out through the bottom of the boat and out the back, therefore it can run in as little as 5-10 cm of depth. Our driver said "it's one heeck of a wodder pistol." :)

We also did about mile and a half hike up to the Gondola. Some places were so steep you didn't dare stand up for fear of falling backwards. It was here that some of the scenes from Lord of the Rings was filmed. Absolutely breathtaking...the kids did awesome on the tramp with no complaints. Even Erin refused piggyback rides....

Well, we off to Milford Sound. Won't be able to blog for two days, but will update as soon as we get to Dunedin(possibly our next destination after Milford Sound...but that's not written in stone." Have a great day, mates!