12th Feb Dunedin
Today we leave the mountains to return to the coast via Waitaki valley. Before reaching Dunedin we will stop and see the unique round boulders at Moeraki. this afternoon upon arrival in Dunedin you might like to take a tour of the speights brewery, the beer of the southern man.
Them there rocks were pretty cool, if only for some mildly amusing photo opportunities. And we definitely did want to take a tour of the Speights brewery, especially the free beer tasting part at the end. It was very difficult to get rid of 43 trainees that had full reign over 5 different beer taps, but they managed to coax us out with a free steak dinner. Best steak I have ever had ...yet.
My eyesight by the end of the brewery visit!
13th Feb Dunedin
While in Dunedin, a University city, you will have an opportunity to visit the royal albatross colony or blue eyed penguin conservation shelter on the Otago peninsula. This evening you may also want to visit some of the many student night clubs and bars that Dunedin is well known for..
I went for the unlisted nature cruise, which not only gave me the chance to see the incredible albatross (3 meter wingspan) but also some seals, exceptionally rough waves and other varieties of bird life.
We did indeed visit some of the aforementioned student bars and found ourselves in a traditional Irish pub complete with excellent live music, Guinness and one or two Irish jigs.
14th Feb - Te Anau
We will leave Dunedin today for Te Anau on the shores of lake Te Anau - the 2nd largest lake in New Zealand. Our drive will take us via Bluff, the most southern town in New Zealand and on Through Invercargill.
Before leaving Dunedin we trotted up the steepest street in the world. The Familiarly named Baldwin street. And the stop off at Bluff provided a very good photo opportunity. It really made me realise how far away I was from home!
15th Feb - Milford Sound
A day of incredible scenic grandeur is ahead of us today as we drive through the Fiordland National Park, a world heritage park of over a million hectares. This afternoon we will board the Milford Wanderer, a 30 meter Sailing Ketch for our overnight cruise over the length of Milford sound. The vessel explores the waterfalls, rainforest, mountains and wildlife of the fiord out to the Tasman sea with experienced nature guides on board. The vessel returns under sail (weather permitting) and anchors overnight in Harrison Cove. This evening there will be time to go kayaking or exploring on shore in the vessels inflatable before dinner.
"Wake up hobbits's, wake up, come see what precious has found!!!"
Gollum was in my cabin!!! what the the hell was going on?!? Then followed the song 'Wake up Little Susie' by Buddy Holly. The Milford Wanderer certainly had a unique way of waking up its passengers.
The day before had been spent enjoying the amazing scenery of Milford sound, Some areas had been used in the Lord of the Rings films, and it was nice to mix things up a bit with a boat cruise. There was some amazing wildlife on offer, including dolphins, fish and seals. There was a particularly magical encounter with a late night (early morning) seal, hunting fish that were jumping out of the water. And the whole scene was illuminated by the moon.
Earlier I had jumped in a kayak but found that most of the group had gone without me. It didn't matter though as most of the real fun was being had jumping off of the boat. Jumping 5 meters off of a platform into water is actually tougher than it looks. As I watched the other trainees hit the water, from the safety of my Kayak, I thought that jumping off looked like fun. Simple, easy, happy, fun. When I climbed to the top off the boat and looked down though, it was a whole different story, it looked so much farther down from the top. I bit the bullet and jumped, it was an exhilarating but not very pleasant feeling. The big challenge however was diving in head first, it took me 3 more standard jumps before I could muster up the courage.
The reason why I had to dive in head first from such a height? There was something looming on the horizon, sitting in the back of my mind and waiting to be conquered in Queenstown that would require the exact same procedure... this was training!!!
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