I don't know what day it is anymore.

Monday? Jan 7

Nothing staves off jetlag like waking up at 6:30 AM to go on a day tour! Hooray! We spent 4 hours driving via motor coach to Milford Sound, where we boarded the Milford Mariner for a 2-hour tour of the fjord, because Milford Sound is a fjord, not a sound. After returning to land, we boarded our coach and made the long trek back to our hotel, arriving just after 8:00 PM. It’s not very exciting to talk about if I’m being honest, so I’ll let the breathtaking photos describe the day.

Hanging valleys are in no short supply in NZ

 

Yay for selfies!

Tuuuuuueeeesssdaaaaay? Jan 8

Finally, I get to return to my usual self and wake up after 7:00 AM! Except Marshall wanted breakfast at 6:30 so he woke me up then. Maybe this trip will turn me into a morning person...

We took another coach (for only about an hour) to Glenorchy. The ride was…a little dicey. The driver, Klaus, warned us that the gears were tricky on this particular coach, which we found out first hand while going up the steepest hill in the area. Klaus came through for us, though, and we only ended up rolling backwards a few meters.

In Glenorchy we changed into the gear provided, which included a wetsuit without sleeves, the hottest and most uncomfortable plastic bag of a jacket, and a life vest that was far too big to stay on my body if I fell into the water. It all turned out okay once we boarded the jet boat, though. What a blast! Tight turns, high speeds, spinning in circles as we flew on the top of the waters of the Dart River made for some crazy hair and even crazier laughs and cheers. 

Our canoe was the best.

After what felt like 5 minutes, but was more likely an hour, we arrived at the site of our next adventure: funyaks. What are funyaks you ask? Well, reader, funyaks are inflatable canoes that take teams of 2-3 people downriver gently, without much paddling (unless you were my boat or any of the boats in our group without a guide). But Catherine, why are they called funyaks instead of fanoes? I have no idea, reader. I’m not sure the Kiwis know the difference between a kayak and a canoe, because they definitely kept calling our canoes kayaks. Oh, well.

Most everybody else. Not pictured: Mark

A very cool cavern we paddled through

We returned to the hotel around 5ish. Despite wearing sunscreen (ALL DAY EVERYDAY), quite a few of us were a little pink, and a couple even more so. That NZ sun does not quit. It did not help that we kept falling out of our boat every time we needed to find shore.

Mmmmm.....ramen.

We ate dinner at Hikari, a Japanese restaurant, which was pretty good, and then for dessert we visited Cookie Time, a magical place that serves raw (RAW!) cookie dough like ice cream in a cup, and makes milkshakes and also serves baked cookies. It was super yummy, but also don’t get two scoops of anything because it’s just TOO. MUCH. I went to bed happy and fed, ready for whatever tomorrow had in store for me.

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