Oh Let the Sun Shine In!

  After a couple cloudy, drizzly days, today was much better!  Blue skies, sun shining, and just the slightest breeze.  And I think the temp was about 75 degrees.  So....pretty much the same weather as it sounds like everyone is having back home!  Ha! 

  The Mrs. and I got up this morning and got ready for our Mildford Sound tour.  We were supposed to go yesterday, but it was rescheduled do to the weather.  This actually worked out in our favor as today was perfect.  The tour consisted of a 40 minute flight through the mountains out to Milford Sound, where we then hopped on board a ship and took a one hour forty minute cruise out to the Tasman Sea and back.  Then another 40 minute flight home. 

Now, it wasn't just any flight.  This was on a teeny weeny 9 seat dual-propelled little plane!  Neither of us have ever been on anything close to this small of a plane, but luckily the ride was fairly smooth.  The views during the two flights were AMAZING!  Green forests, winding rivers, crystal clear lakes, and snow capped mountains.  It was awesome.  We took tons of pictures so hopefully some of them turned out all right.  The cruise was nice too, but it was quite crowded with anxious tourists.  We did get to see a lot of beautiful waterfalls that were coming down the mountain side right into the fjord.  Also, the boat pulled up right next to a little seal colony.  They were laying out on the rocks soaking up the sun!  All in all, this was a very worthwhile tour and it's so cool we got to do this. 

  After we got back to Queenstown, we putzed around town a bit then decided to go for a hike.  We decided to head a direction we hadn't been yet and that took us to Queenstown Hill.  The hill is more like a small mountain and it was considered to be sacred by the original tribes in this area.  There's a nice walking path that takes about 1.5 hours round trip.  Again, absolutley gorgeous views of the city and surrounding area.  There was also a huge pine tree with such massive, evenly spaced out pine cones that the branches looked like big octupus arms!  Oh, and Mom (Cathy), we got a picture just for you....as we walked around a corner going up the hill, there was a few "Rock Stacks".  On the way back down I decided to make my own little stack.  Our own piece of art will forever be in Queenstown....or until some punk kid knocks it over! 

  In the early evening we went and sat down by the lake, as did a lot of people.  I walked around in the water for a bit, but man was it cold.  No way were we going to go swimming in there!  It's too bad too because I don't think there's a cleaner lake around.  The jet boat driver yesterday told us that they say the water is 97% pure and 3% fish.  Found some pretty cool rocks in the water too.  They seem to have specks of gold in them.....and since this town was started by a big gold rush, who knows right?  I'm thinking we should pack as many as we can to bring home and see if we strike it rich.

  Well, now we are just chillin' in the hotel room and winding down.  It stays light here till about 10 o'clock.