Revenge on Mt. Cook

I'm kind of tired, so apologies for the short post.

Yesterday we hopped on a 12 hour bus-cruise-bus from Queenstown to Milford Sound. That meant a 5 hour bus ride there, a 2 hour cruise, and another 5 hour bus ride home. It was a long day.

We got on the bus and starting driving on the most dangerous road in New Zealand. It took 20 years to build the winding road through the fjordland. Shaun and I had considered driving the road ourselves but we soon found that the $160 bus ride saved us from driving in the rain. 5 hours, some motion sickness and claustrophobia, and a few picture stops later, we arrived at the Milford Sound.

The Sound is the most famous tourist attraction in the world. Our guide told us that recently, it is a finalist for the new "Seven Natural Wonders of the World". We couldn't have gotten any luckier with the weather. Take that Mt. Cook. The rain just stopped as we hopped on our cruise. The waterfalls on the side on the fjord usually run for about 2 hours after it rains. It rains 187 days of the year at the Sound. As we started out into the Sound, the weather cleared and we got some sunshine, some amazing waterfalls (that only lasted for 2 hours before they disappeared), snowcapped mountains, sea lions, and wind. The wind and rain saved us from the notorious sandflies. We had heard horror stories about the sandsflies and despite being armed with my 40% deet, I had been terrified. I always get eaten alive by whatever native bug is within 40 miles of me.

I'm a bit too tired to come up with more descriptive adjectives of the Milford Sound, but it was truly incredible. It makes you feel very insignificant in the midst of a natural wonder that took thousands of years to create. I'd post all 100 pictures that I took yesterday, but honestly, they would probably all look the same to you and doesn't do the place justice.

We're driving back to Timaru today. Working very hard on trying to find a place to live in Melbourne. 5 days. Yay. As much as I have love New Zealand, I am ready to find a job and friends in Aussie.

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