Australia

We left for Cairns on a Monday. The plane we were on had to stop at a small airport on the way and pick up an engineer because one of the planes had broken down. Why they didn't have an engineer up at that airport, we will never know. So a 2 hour flight turned into a 3 hour flight.
We finally got there, took a taxi to our hostel and checked in. The hostel was a nice one, it had a beautiful pool, a bar downstairs and pretty much anything else you could ask for in a hostel. WE got up to our room and wow it smelled so bad. The airconditioner was leaking or something so it smelled like mildew. There was no way to get rid of the smell, if you turned the air off you would melt. Cairns is very hot and humid. So we had to suck it up and get used to the smell. We put our bags outside so our clothes wouldn't smell. We met a Canadian guy in our room and he told us of a good place to eat.
It was rainy outside so we had to walk fast down the streets so we wouldn't get soaked. We found our way to the woolshed. The woolshed is a bar/restaurant. It was great. The dinners were only $10 and you get a free drink. The food was fantastic and you got so much food! We ended up eating there 4 times. It was cold and rainy so we decided we would go see a movie. We saw The Last King of Scotland. It was a good movie. We decided to turn in and wake up early to go find out what there is to do in Cairns.
The next morning we woke up and went downstairs. There was a booking center at the bottom of the hostel, so we made all our arrangements there. We booked a gondola ride up to Kuranda and a scuba dive trip for Friday. We decided to go ahead and do the Kuranda trip that same day. We had about 20 minutes before it was time to leave. We went back upstairs got dressed and headed out.
A bus came and picked us up and brought us to the place where the gondola starts.
Kuranda is a small village town in the middle of the rainforest at the top of the country just outside of Cairns. There are a few ways to get there. you can go through the roads by car, up the gondola, or by train. While we were there, the train was out of service because they had a few mud slides that wiped out the train tracks.
The gondola was a 7 kilometer ride up above the rainforest. We hopped on and it takes you straight up above the trees. It was beautiful scenery and the higher it goes, you can see the coast and the beach. It was a little overcast so some parts were hard to see.
There were a few stops along the way that you can stop at and see the rainforest. So we decided to get out and see what it was all about. Well to our big suprise it was a bunch of trees. There was a little pathway and you walk along to see all the different trees. Some of the trees were absolutely massive! Bigger than many redwoods up in northern california. Of course the rainforest had to hold up to it's name, as soon as we got off the gondola it started to pour down rain. I guess the giant box of umbrellas for people to use wasn't obvious enough for us, that it rains a lot up there. So we hurried back into the gondola.
On the way to the second stop we saw a huge waterfall, so we decided to go ahead and get off on the second stop. It wasn't raining too bad at that point, so we walked down to get beautiful views of the giant waterfall cascading down the mountainside. The water fall was pretty much all there was to see so we decided to get on our way to the city.
We finally arrived in Kuranda about 45 minutes later.
Kuranda is a very small village with one street, and all there is to do there is shop. They also have a small wildlife park, and a butterfly sanctuary, but the village is pretty much just known for shopping. So we did.
I bought a few souveniers, and tasted some mango wine. It was great. I bought some to take home but with customs at the airport, i'm a little nervous they wont make it back with me. There is a man there that is famous for homemade ice cream. He sells it out of a truck and has all sorts of different flavors. I tried the macadamia nut flavor. It was great! Glad we decided to try it. It was time to meet the bus driver to take us back into Cairns. We spent about 2 hours in the two and then headed back to Cairns in a coach. The drive was scenic and didn't take too long.
During the day I had decided I was going to go ahead and skydive. So as soon as we got back I walked back down to the booking center and booked a trip to sky dive. We also decided we would go to an aborignal show and dinner, and rent a car for the day to drive up to Point Douglas.
The aboriginal show was that night so we ran upstairs to clean up and came back down to meet another bus to come take us to the show. When you're in such a touristy place, they arrange everything to come to you. It's great. you pay for it, but it's so nice.
So the bus came and picked us up, and we were the first ones, so we had about 10 other stops before we got there. There were people from all over the world on the bus with us. There was a cruise from New Zealand that was stopped, so a few of the guests came to the show.
We got to the show and they gave us a sticker for our table number, and two wood sticks, that were later used to bang together.
We waited around for a few minutes then went into a room were everyone circled up. A creature came out in the dark, that was supposed to be a spirit or something and talked about the culture of the aboriginal people. A blow up dancing spirit came out next to counter the other spirit. Finally, some of the men came out and began to dance and bang the sticks. They took us through a few rituals, including the fire making ritual that they do. In the end they created fire and everyone blew on it to make it big. Then they took the fire outside and we followed. The guy made a fire spear and through it across a field to light up a torch on the other side. It was great fun.
We then continued our walk into the dining area were they had a full buffet waiting for us. It was an all you can eat basically everyday food buffet. They had chicken, lasagna, and a bunch of meats that I'm not sure about because I didn't go over there. There were potatoes, veggies, and just about every side dish you could imagine.
For dessert we had chocolate mousse, some cookie creation, carrot cake, cheese cake, and a few others. I went for the chocolate mousse. It was wonderful.
As we concluded dinner they went on stage and did a few more aboriginal dances for us. When the night concluded we got a picture with one of the dancers, and learned how to play the Digireedoo...Well we tried real hard to learn the didgireedoo. It is hard work.You are supposed to breath out of your nose and breath in your mouth while making a motor boat sound with your mouth. Ya it was as complicated as it sounds. The guy had a good laugh at us trying to play it. They're culture doesn't allow women to play the didgireedoo, but since it's a tourist attraction, and a lot of the aboriginal culture and beliefs have been thrown out the window, we got to try and play.
The night came to an end and we loaded back on to the coach and headed back to the hostel. I decided to head to bed because tomorrow was going to be a big day for me.
I woke up in the morning and got dressed and ready to jump out of a plane. How do you get ready for that?? I did my best. I headed downstairs for my ride to pick me up. There were already two other people in the van and we were headed south of cairns about an hour to do our sky dive. Cairns looked pretty cloudy and overcast, so it was good we were getting out of it.
There were three of us doing the jump that day. The other two were a couple form Holland, and they were here in Australia for three weeks. They were great fun, which was great because it was an hour drive. We talked the jump mostly. One of the instructors sat back with us and we pretty much all talked the whole way there. The other two were doing a 10,000 ft jump into the park. I was supposed to do a 14,000 ft jump on the beach. However, I didn't get to do the beach because it was too cloudy and it was too risky to miss the beach and land into the water. I appreciated him being safe, so I too jumped in the park.
The instructor that was riding with us was named Adam, he has done over 12,000 jumps. He has lived and skydived all over the world. It was exciting to hear some of his stories.
We finally arrived at the place we were going to load up at. They work out of a house in the middle of nowhere. The plane is literally parked right outside of the house. It was a nice comfortable little set up. The couple went first because they were jumping from the park and they were going from 10,000 ft. So they took off and I waited a while for the plane to come back. I suited up in some hot little pants and hung out around the house for about 20 minutes. One of the guys in the house had recently just lived in Lodi. He just moved back. He enjoyed living in Lodi even though there is not much there.
It was finally my time to go and I was jumping with the instructor that rode down with us. I was excited because he seemed like a lot of fun and I was pretty confident he knew what he was doing. He was pretty much running the whole show.
We jumped in the van and drove to the take off site. As we were there waiting for the plane to come back down, I could see the people before me coming down. I thought wow that's going to be me next.
We were ready to go and we hopped in the plane. This plane looked like it was ready to crash at any minute. It looked like it had a weight capacity of about 5 lbs. As we were on our way up, all I could think was I would rather jump than stay in this thing!
Other than the death defying ride up through the clouds the view was amazing. There were big white billowy clouds all around us. It was such an amazing to feeling to think that I would be outside with them in just a short time. It's always been my dream to just fall through the clouds, and this was the moment it was going to happen.
While watching out the window at all sites, I narrowed in on one thing in particular. Tall buildings, beautiful rolling mountains, big white clouds, no... Inside the airplane with me was this little orange worm looking thing. It was about the size of a fingernail clipping but nonetheless I couldn't keep my eyes off of it. What if it starts coming towards me, what I would I do? I can't go anywhere, I can't move. Here I am about to jump 14,000 feet which could potentially lead to death, and all I can think about is, gee I hope this worm doesn't get any closer to me. Ya I had my prorities straight!!
So we get to the right heighth and the instructor starts to get prepared. Phew, I escaped the plane before the deadly worm caught me!
He latches himself to me and tightens up so tight we were pretty much one person. I'm on my knees in front of the door and he opens it. Well it's not just a nice casual honey I'm home, open. It's a holy crap is the door still attached kind of open.
At this moment the whole thing just got real. So I proceed to sit on the edge of the plane as he says. This was the most exhilirating part of the whole experience I think. I had the anticipation of jumping, the scariness of being outside of the plane, and because of the way I was sitting I could not feel him behind me.
He pushed out of the plane and we began to fall. It was a different feeling of falling than I have ever experienced. I expected to leave my stomach up in the plane, but suprisingly it was right there with me the whole time. There really are no words to describe the feeling you have when you leave the plane. There is no fear, only excitement and awe. We began to fall through a cloud and it was just amazing. All I could see around me was white, and the mist hit my face so it was cool and refreshing. It was pretty cold up there. At the height I jumped from, there was a bout a 60 second drop. Well those 60 seconds lasted about 5 minutes, because I had plenty of time to take it all in.
This is the only point I got a little scared because all you see is whilte, and all I could think about is what the heck is going to be underneath this cloud. how close to the ground are we going to be?
We came out of the cloud and it was beautiful. There were mountains on one side, the beach on the other. I could see along the coast for miles. The little town that sat amongst thousands of acres of green land. It was picture perfect!
Then the parachute came out and we hung in the air for about 5 minutes before finally coming down for a smooth landing. He said pick your feet up and then he landed and that was that. We drove back into town. I met up with Meribeth, we had lunch, and made beaded necklaces like nothing happened.

Continued into the next post, my scuba diving experience...

I know I haven't talked much about softball. It was because we werent very good. But the people we met were amazing. We had an end of the year dinner with the whole club. It was great to spend a night with everyone, especiallly since our departure date is getting closer. We had a nice dinner and gave out awards. We then sang karaoke afterwards and that was good fun. Meribeth and I sang I got friends in low places. Lets just say it wasn't enjoyed by very many. haha. Meribeth has a shocking singing voice. lol. We had great fun though.
The weekend after was the grand final. That is what we would call a Championship game. We had 4 teams playing, 14a, 16a, 16b, and A3. The 16a, 16b, and A3 teams all won the games. It was a great day for Springwood. WE helped coach the A3 team all year so we had a good time being involved. It was a nice day and a great way to end the year with everyone.
Afterwards we had a party to celebrate. Just the A3 team. It was at a house that was absoutely amazing. The house was 3 stories, they had a pool table, air hockey, pin ball machines, 4 t.v.s hooked up to games like playstation. Then they had a like a theater room with 4 recliner chairs and a playstation 2 hooked up in there. Their kids are all over 30 and they have no grandkids. Then downstairs they had a pool and another deck. It was absolutely beautful. So we had a great time playing with all the toys. It was a good time.

The week after Whitsundays, Meribeth and I were pretty warn out needed to take some time off. So we just hung around the house for the week.
One day we decided to go south about 20 minutes to Surfers Paradise. At Surfers Paradise they have a place called the adrenalin park. The Adrenalin park is about 5 scary rides that you can do. They have bungy jumping, the vomitron, the sling shot, and the swing of terror or something like that. Meribeth and I decided to start on the swing. They put you in a harness and attach you to some hooks. Then they slowly lift you up off the ground about 10 stories high. The guy running it was a real comedian, and he kept telling us how unsafe it was. When we left to go up he said good luck and if you die I'll give you your money back. haha...funny. So we made our way up to the top of the apparatus. About half way up Mr. comedian dropped us down a little bit to scare us. I thought he actually did drop us so it scared me a little bit. Well we finally got all the way to the top and there is this little draw string you have to pull when you're up there that disconnects you. We decided I would be the one to pull it when we got up there. So the guy counted to 1 and I pulled the string and we went well swinging. We plummeted towards the earth super fast and then started swinging right back up. It was an amazing feeling. You fell like you're flying. It was great. Not as good as bungy jumping but good.
Next we were on our way to the sling shot. This one you sit in it and he lowers you into the ground and then lets you go and you go flying through the air, again about 10 stories high. So we jump in. The worker goes into the same routine as the last guy. He said he was suprised anyone is coming today after the big accident they had yesterday. just trying to scare us. He said do you want me to count to 5 or 3. We were in the process of answering when he let go and we went flying up. It was really cool, you shoot up really fast and then bounce and twirl in the air for a while. The views are beautiful. We got a DVD of the ride because our faces were classic when he let us go. We were shocked and you could see it in our faces. haha.
There was one more ride there that we well I wanted to go on. I wish my sister was there because it took me some persuading to get someone to go with me and i know Julie would have jumped right on with me. Brewster finally decided to go with me. This one you jump in the seats and there is 2 pairs of seats on each end. It basically just spins you around backwards and forwards. The views at the top were spectacular. you could see the coast on one side and a river on the other. It was beautiful. The ride was fun but not as good as the others. Meribeth didn't want to go on it because she said it wouldn't make her feel good.
We got 3 free shirts along with the rides. It was really fun.
After that we decided to get some lunch and we went to a cowboy type place. It was great. We had a fun little day, just Meribeth, me, Louie, and Brewster.

We left for the airport Sunday morning. We were meeting Meribeth's sister Jamie lee at the airport so we could jump on the plane and head right to Airlie beach. The plain ride was about an hour and a half.
Once we got there we just jumped right out of the plane. There was no walkway to the airport. Really there was no airport...We walked out of the plane and the runway was so windy it almost knocked me off my feet! We walked into the airport (and I use the term loosely). There were two little check in stands, a tiny little cafe stand and a waiting room for people to wait for their planes in. We walked through the airport and wandered around aimlessly trying to figure out where the heck we pick up our luggage. I overhead someone say the luggage outside so we ventured out to the side of the building. Over on the side of the builiding a guy pulled up with a trailer and swarms of people invaded the trailer trying to find their luggage.
After we picked up our luggage we loaded a bus and headed into the town of Airlie beach which was about 20 minutes from the airport.
We checked into our room and walked around to check out the rest of the place. Airlie beach was a cute little beach town fillied with little stores and bars. There were people walking around all over the streets in board shorts and tank tops. The town is considered a party town so even at 5 in the afternoon the bars were pretty full. We walked out by the beach, there was a lagoon for swimming next to the beach because you can't swim in the water around there. There are too many jelly fish in the water and some types are lethal so people stay out.
We headed over to one of the bars and grabbed some dinner. After dinner we headed back to the hostel and read, watched t.v. and pretty much went right to bed.
The next morning we woke up got dressed and headed out on the street. Went to the grocery store and bought some breakfast. Then we walked out to the beach to eat our breakfast and enjoy the views. The area was absolutely beautiful. We had to go pretty quick because we had to go pick up our tickets for the boat. So we went to the guy we booked our tickets through and then we made our way over to the check in place. We picked up our snorkelling gear and information for the boat. We had a meeting at 1:15 to prepare us for the boat. It was only about 11 so we walked around a bit to kill some time.
At 1:15 we headed over to the bar that the meeting was being held. We were some of the first people there so we sat around and watched all the others make their way up. About the first 50 people were girls, so this was not looking like a very exciting trip. A large group of about 12 people showed up and they were all very loud! We were trying to decide if they were American or Canadian, and to our suprise they were all Canadian. We didn't know Canadians had it in them to be such big partiers. Later more guys showed up but the majority of the group was girls.
After the meeting we headed down to the wharf. We had to pick up our stinger suits to wear in the water. Out in Whitsundays there are deadly jelly fish that can kill you instantly. There are others that can sting you and they are so painful that you need morphine or the highest medications that can be administered to make you comfortable. So I said great let me jump right in!
While we were waiting for the boat we also had to get some alcohol for the trip. Apparently, we were on the party boat where everyone drinks all day and parties all night. So in order to fit in we bought some beer. I didn't want to be left out mom, so I had to do it...
We checked in and headed to the boat. There were 67 people total on our boat. So wow was this boat going to be big! ya, not so much. It felt like we were trying to fit a sleeping bag into one of those little bags they come with. You know that they're supposed to fit but it just isn't happening when you try and put it in. Well there were so many people loading onto this boat and it did not look big enough to carry that many.
Everybody loaded on the boat, and it took a few minutes because the three tons of alcohol that everyone brought had to be loaded into the eskies. I think we brought enough alcohol that if we sunk you could drink the ocean and get drunk. So we were ready for a good time. Somehow we all managed to fit and so we got on our way.
There was a crew of 4 people on the boat to sail it, feed us, and keep us in control. I picked a spot up on the top of the boat so I would have plenty of room to lay out and relax.
After a very explicit speech about what can go down the toilets on the boat, we set sail. Well sort of. the boat was a catamaran and didn't really need the sail at the time. It was about a 2 hour boat ride until we got to the island we were staying on.
It was a beautiful ride and the weather was pretty nice. There are 74 islands in the Whitsundays and it's on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
We arrived on the island about 5:00 which was the start of Happy Hour. So we had a short speech on the island and then we headed off to Happy Hour. We didn't even set our bags off into the rooms. Meribeth, Jamie Lee, and I ordered a pitcher and we sat for a while. We started to realize people were dissappearing. A lot of people went to their rooms to put their stuff up and change their clothes. We decided to stay and so did a few other groups. There were about 15 people left so I got out my cards and asked a group of guys if they wanted to play drinking games with us.
So we headed over to their table and the night began. We played drinking games, broke for dinner, and played more drinking games. The boat crew got everyone together and we played drinking games as a whole group. My team won! There were 5 guys that we were hanging out with and 3 girls. We continued to drink all night and had a great time. I'm not sure what time I rolled into bed but it wasn't to much before it was time to wake up...
So we had to get up about 7 am and make our way down to the bar area for breakfast. It was a pretty good breakfast, cereal, toast, ham, eggs, and an assortment of juices. We got our breakfast and made our way to the table. There were very colorful birds hanging out around the tables. If something was left on the table they would come through like an army and take over the table.I wasn't drinking my juice so one of the birds thought that was an invitation for him to have it. He started drinking out of my juice and a thousand of birds swarmed me and my table, knocking over the drinks and eating the leftover food. I decided breakfast was over.
We all loaded the boat and we headed out for a 3 hour ride to Whitehaven beach. It was a very rocky boat ride because they are expecting some rough weather out there, and we were getting the very beginning of it. 67 hangover and rough water made for a very interesting ride. A few people lost their breakfast over the edge of the boat. We made it safely to the beach but because it took so long we didn't have too long at the beach. Which was okay because there was not a whole lot to do anyways. We were already laying out on the boat. It was a very entertaining few minutes for everyone when people started putting on their stinger suits. They are not made for fashion let me tell you. Especially for some of the chunkier girls. I didn't put mine on right away because I was more scared of jelly fish than the suit so I took a boat over to the beach.
We hung out on the beach for a little while. The conditions were too rough for snorkelling so we just hung out for a while and then headed back to the boat. I decided to swim back to the boat which ended up being pretty cool. We saw giant sea turtles, and some pretty cool looking fish on the way back to the boat.
After that we headed back to the island for another 3 hour ride back. It kind of seemed silly to me to go all that way for a small little beach. I guess I did sign up for a sailing trip though...
So we headed back to the island and I needed a shower very badly from sitting out all day and being in the water. So we all took showers and then headed back to the bar for happy hour. The boys were already there waiting for us to start some drinking games. so we did it all over again. We danced a little and shut down the bar.
The next morning we woke up and headed down to breakfast. We loaded the boat and headed to an island for some snorkelling. It was pretty fun to snorkel, we saw some really colorful fish. The coral at the bottom was beautiful when the sun shone down on it. We had noodles to lay down on when we didn't want to swim. It was fun. We got back on the boat and headed towards inland.
We turned in all our equipment and headed back to check in the hostel. There were two guys in the hostel when we got there. Meribeth's bed was dirty so she asked for some new sheets. A woman came in all angry and upset. She cleaned the bed but she was not happy about it and she let Meribeth know that. We took showers and Meribeth and her sister went out while I took a nap. We tried to go out but it just didn't happen. So we ended up going to bed pretty early.
The next morning we woke up got some food and headed to a bead shop to make some bracelets. We had 10 minutes before our bus got there so we had to run over to the stop to get on it. we made it just in time. We took the 20 minute ride back to the airport. Our plane was delayed almost an hour so I picked up a magazine and we waited...and waited. Finally the plane came and we walked out to load up. The plane ride was easy.
We hopped off grabbed our luggage and Meribeth rented a car for her and her sister.
We had a good time. it was not what I expected it to be but it was fun. We definitely were on the party boat.

We woke up Monday morning and headed straight away to Milford sound. The drive is about 4 hours but there are some beautiful sights along the way.
Our first stop was to the mirror lakes. The lakes are just small little ponds really that run parallel with the road. You walk down on a wooden walkway along the water. It doesn't really look like any big deal and then you look down. When you look down at the water you have to give it a second glance because you are not quite sure if it's really water or another set of mountains on the ground. The lakes are a a spitting image of the mountains, clouds, and trees that lay behind it. We took a lot of pictures, and the only reason you can tell it is water and not just an upside down pictures is because of the slight movement of the water. The pictures is crystal clear. it's beautiful. The water is also clear straight down to the bottom. you can see fish, rocks, and everything else that was in that water. It is also home to eels, but because they are nocturnal, we didn't get a chance t see any.
While we are at the mirror lakes a bus load of people arrived as well. Well the roads are very windy and slow so we did not want to get stuck behind a bus. So we took off for the car and headed on our way.
There were a few more sights along the way but we were running late so we decided to skip a few. The whole drive up is breathtaking. We drive through a whole string of mountains. Many of them still had snow on the tops of them.
As you drive up you have to go through a tunnel that is ridiculously long. It is a one way tunnel and it is called the Homer tunnel. The tunnel is 1270 meters long! So at both ends there is a stop light. When the light is green you can go. When it is red the people from the other side are going. The light takes about 5 minutes to change. Just outside the tunnel there are tons of small waterfalls flowing off the mountains and a few medium size ones. The mountains are towering, so the waterfalls are very long. There is ice at the top of the mountains and it falls to the ground. There was a very large cave of ice below the mountain that had recently broken off. Just underneath the cave was a river. We didn't go down to it because again we were short on time and really ice was noting exciting anymore after 6 hours of tramping around on a glacier.
It was finally our turn to go through the tunnel. There are no lights in the tunnel and it sure is creepy! Water drips down into it and it is just straight through a mountain. We were literally driving through the mountain. The tunnel was built on a slope because otherwise you would drive straight into another mountain or something like that.
The tunnel was built in 1935 to give work to the locals during the depression. It was stopped a few time for harsh weather conditions and the world war 2 and finally finished in 1954. The scary thing is the lights only run in the summer because it is too dangerous to stop and wait for the light outside of the tunnel due to avalanches. I haven't quite figured out how you know a car is coming from the other side?? Pretty scary if you ask me.
So we made our way through the seemingly neverending tunnel (I wonder how many people try and hold their breath through that tunnel) and another 15 minutes to Milford sound. I think we probably got behind three of the worst drivers I've ever seen in my life on the way to Milford. the drivers rode their brakes the whole way! It's a wonder any of them have brake pads left.
We arrived and parked in the car park, then walked about 400 meters to the wharf. We got our tickets to the boat and waited for it to board.
Just a little information about Milford sound. It is not actually a sound at all but a Fiord. A fiord is a valley caused by glaciers. When the glaciers recede these valleys are formed. Sounds are formed by flooding. It was created 6 million years ago. Milford sound is 16 Kilometers long and leads straight into the ocean. 16 kilometers is about 10 miles long. The average depth is 330 meters deep which is about 1082 feet. It rains 182 days out of the year and has an annual rainfall of 7 meters which is about 22 feet. It is the wettest place in New Zealand and one of the wettest places in the world. When it rains, the moutains are so straight up and down that the whole mountain just gets covered with water and it looks like one massive waterfall! They get some pretty crazy weather.
Our guide told us that they have about 5 earthquakes a day, but they don't have big ones very often and you can't feel the small ones. We also heard that the glacier is waiting for a large earthquake because it is right on the fault line and it's way over do. New Zealand soundsl ike its one big earthquake disaster waiting to happen.
The mountains along side of the water can be up to 1 mile high straight up. Trees can't grow in the moutains because they are solid rock, so they find cracks to bury their roots in. They get too heavy and fall off taking every tree below them with it. It's like a domino effect all the way down the mountain. Don't ask me how trees find cracks, not like they can walk around and say hey this is a good spot I'll plant here. He never quite explained that to me...
Okay so back to the trip. We loaded the boat and Meribeth and I sat in the very front so we could see everything. The guide came up to us and warned us that the anchor was on that side of the boat so it might cause a little spray and get us wet. We were like oh okay a little spray, no problem, we can handle it. Well as the boat took off we got a little spray in the face and it was so windy you could barely keep your eyes open, so we moved behind the inside cabiin so it would block the wind from us. Just as we got up this tsunami of a wave hit our seats and soaked the whole side of the boat we were sititng on. Talk about timing! The guide said aren't you glad you weren't sitting there now. I said well you said a little spray would hit us, you didn't say the whole ocean would try and jump in the boat. He apoligized and said he is used to living in water all year round so a little spray to him might be a little more water to other people. Ya, just a little... haha
So we made our way to some new seats that we were sure to stay dry because it was freezing. The view was just spectacular. I can honestly say the most beautiful and amazing thing I have ever seen. The pictures I have taken do it no justice. The water is a teal blue, huge waterfalls cascade down the sides of the mountains, and the moutnains are so talll you practically have to lay down on your back to see the tops. The shocking thing is your eyes can't even take it all in, the moutnains are higher than they even appear to your eyes. There was a water fall coming off the moutain that is three times the size of niagra falls and it wasn't even covering the whole mountain.
Clouds sat on the water and drifted in and out. At one point you couldn't see a thing because the clouds took over the sound. Once we came out of the cloud the water was once again visible and the giant mountains took over! The only place there was not a mountain was where the water led out into the ocean.
Sitting on some rocks was a group of seals sunbathing. There must have been about 15 of them laying on a rock so peacefully. Their coats must really keep them warm! As we were leaving the rock with all the seals on them, our captain called out that we had dolphins riding the bow line of our boat. Everyone in the boat (which there was about 15-20 of us) sprinted to the front of the boat to catch of a view of the bottlenose dolphin.
They were directly underneath the front of the boat. There were probably about 5 of them. they swim in the bow line of the boats because they don't have to do as much work. The water being pushed from the boat helps them swim. They never stop swimming from the day they are born to the day they die. They just shut off half their brain at a time or something like that. The dolphins weaved through the water so gracefully, every couple of seconds they made a jump out of the water. I blindly took pictures of the water hoping I would catch one jump out at just the right time. I did get a few. Over to the left of the boat the dolphins were swimming in sync with each other. There were about 2 of them, one was a baby, and they jumped in and out of the water staying in line with the boat. It was beautiful. the little baby not quite making it out as far as the mom. It just made my day! The guide said about 1 in every 4 groups gets to see dolphins. so it was our lucky day!!
The dolphins left us and it was very cold so I decided to go sit inside and watch the views from the window. There was a large building over on the side of the sound and I thought what the heck is out here?? I wonder what they use that for. As we got closer I realized, we had turned around, and that was the wharf we started out at. These boats are sneaky with their turns. I had no idea!
So we were back, we took a few more pictures and then headed off to the car. It was about a 2 hour drive back to the nearest town. we decided to check out the restaraunt to see if we wanted to eat there. It was pretty pricey so we decided on waiting until we got to town.
We got to Te Anau, which is known for the starting point for long hikes. The Milford track is one of the most famous. I'm not sure how long it is or where it goes, but I imagine it makes it's way to the Milford sound and it takes like a week or something like that.
Once we got there we checked into a hostel and found somewhere to eat. We chose and Italian place. Meribeth got some pasta and i got some apricot chicken thing. I thought I was getting pasta but it was a pizza. haha well at least I'm trying new things. It was wonderful too. It was chicken and some vegetables and it had an apricot type sauce on it. Mmmm it was good.
We were pretty tired so we went back to the hostel and checked out internet. Meribeth went down to the lake to write in her journal. I went to look for her and couldn't find her, so I went and looked for her in her room but no sign. I was walking out when I saw a newspaper. I decided to sit and read it for a little while.
At that time a couple of guys walked in, a few minutes later they started talking to me. They were a little bit older and they were getting ready for a 4 day long fishing trip up in the moutains. There plan was to have a helicopter drop them in to a certain part of the river and then they would fish for 4 days and come back out. The funny part to me was they don't even keep the fish. They fish and then throw them back. They were going to fish for trout which I guess gets huge here.
Meribeth came back and sat down with us. We ended up talking for about 4 hours. It was 1:30 when I finally went back to my room. Meribeth and I had to have seperate rooms because she didn't have any available together. There were 3 guys in my room, but they were all gone by the time I woke up in the morning. My guess is they were there for the hikes.
The next morning we woke up, took showers, and got ready to head to the next town. I was walking out to the car when I saw the guys from lsat night. It was about 10 in the morning so I figured that something was wrong if they haven't left yet. I know fishers like to get started early. Apparently, the helicopter service isn't allowed to take fisherman up the moutains. For some reason it's okay to take hunters, but not fisherman. So that was kind of weird. They found a guy that would take them in a boat, but they weren't sure how long it took or any of the details so they had to work it all out. They were determined to make it work. It would have cost them about $1300 to take a helicopter, so maybe the boat was better for them anyways.
We decided to leave Te Anau and head straight to Dunedin. There was nt much to do in Te Anau except for the long hikes, and we were still sad from leaving Queenstown so we weren't in the mood to go search for something to do.