le tour de burt

Fiordland (nz spelling) is apparently more prone to the occasional downpour than even the UK.  On average they reckon 8m falls each year, making it (one of) the wettest place on earth.

Fascinating fact out of the way.. on with the blog.

With us being in the area for the best part of a week, it would have been rude not to pay a visit to the other major fiord in the region, Milford Sound.  Its not really a sound, but instead was named so by the European explorers that discovered it.  (f.f no.2 !)

Much more rugged and visually impressive than Doubtful Sound, it was worth the 100km bus journey from Te Anau.  Surprisingly it rained all day.  However we caught a glimpse of some sleeping dolphins and got to taste some fresh water from the ‘Lucy Falls’.  Indeed we even got to take a fully clothed shower underneath one of them too.

After spending the night out at Milford, we caught a coach to Queenstown.

The weather wasnt really in our favour and the ‘Remarkables’ failed to appear from behind a mass of dirty clouds.  Aiming to make the most of our two days, we ventured up Bobs Peak ( nearly died of exhaustion ) and had a couple of runs at the luge ( not on ice, but little cars that you race down a windy track ).  Needless to say, Laura cheated and stuck a motor in her car and beat me by a country mile.

We took the decision that with rain forecast for the remainder of our stay, we would be better hiring some gear and heading up to Cardrona Ski Resort for some boarding.  Luckily the rain fell as snow and we got a few good hours practicing for Japan.

We are currently in Wanaka, just 90 minutes up the road from Queenstown, where we have been since Friday.

Its a slightly more relaxed pace here, so we took a leisurely walk to Rippon Vineyard to do some free wine tasting ) and then made a failed attempt to ascend Roys Peak (1600m! – still has snow on).  Unfortunately we are still too unfit and fat (please note Laura wishes to state the ‘fat’ part only relates to Neil) to get more than half way up – but the views were still rather good).

We are heading back to Queenstown later this afternoon to pick up a little car for a few days.  The plan is to head up to Mount Cook and then around some nice Hobbit territory to get some nice photies and maybe join some geeky Lord of the Rings tour )