Milford Sound

Lumsden to Milford Sound to Queenstown Weather: mostly clear & sunny; low 60's

We woke up early on the farm 'cause we needed to get an early start to make our 1:15 pm Milford Sound cruise. Before heading out we had a lovely breakfast of cereal, yogurt, toast, jams, peanut butter, etc. We even got a chance to try Vegemite! Peter decided to just go for it & slathered it all over his toast. I was a bit more cautious. I've heard that Vegemite is just plain disgusting, so I was not too eager to give it a try. I finally caved at all the pressure & took a bite of Peter's toast. The verdict? It was the saltiest thing I've ever tasted in my life. Not the worst tasting thing ever, but definitely the saltiest. We then took a quick tour of Ted's vegetable garden & got to see some chickens & more sheep. Then, we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts & headed out.

Fawn in Ted & Shirley's foyer (I wanted to have my picture taken with it, but I didn't want to be disrespectful)

Ted & Shirley

Chickens!

On our way to the Sound we stopped at some more scenic spots including Te Anau & the Chasm

Pretty views

On our way to the Sound

Peter & some mountains

Walk to the Chasm

The Chasm (trust me, this is SO much more impressive in person!)

Chasm

We made it to Milford Sound. It was gorgeous before we even got on our boat. So, you may be asking at this point, "What is a sound?," or "What is the difference between a sound and a fjord?" Well, my friends, let me share with you what I learned! A fjord is "a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity." A sound is the same thing, except it is created by a river as opposed to a glacier. So, Milford Sound is actually not a sound at all. It's actually a fjord. Apparently Milford Fjord didn't sound as nice.

Milford Sound before our cruise

Pretty berries

I bought him some New Zealand candy

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

SEALS! (I was so excited)

Out to the Tasman Sea

Milford Sound

More seals

Lots of waterfalls

Milford Sound

My model pose

Milford Sound

More Milford

and more...

Us on our cruise

more waterfalls.

After our cruise was done we needed to drive back to Queenstown were we'll be leaving for Fiji tomorrow. We booked it off the cruise & to our car so that we could try to beat as much traffic as possible. The drive out of Milford Sound is just a two way street with no passing lanes. Add to that the number of mini vans & campers on the road, and it's a recipe for a disaster (ie long, painful drive). Despite our speedy departure we still got stuck behind two campers. I enticed my husband to pass these campers by telling him he could have this bag of chips when his mission was completed.

The bribe

Once we made it back to Queenstown we got fish & chips at a place Shirley recommended. We ate them & drank our last bottle of wine while watching Castle and Bones. Castle & Bones are seriously on TV all the time in New Zealand. I've never seen either of these shows in the states, but perhaps I'm hooked on them now... probably not. I have Real Housewives of Miami, NY, and OC waiting for me on my DVR at home... not to mention Teen Mom and my current fave Bethenny Ever After! But for now, Castle will have to do.

Classin' it up on our last night in NZ

Queenstown to Lumsden

Queenstown to Lumsden Weather: mid to high 50's, rainy; sunshine appeared late in the day when we got to Lumsden

Today is our second day in Queenstown. Not a huge fan of the clouds & rain, but we can't complain too much 'cause we have gotten unbelievably lucky with the weather so far! We had breakfast at Cafe 111. I had the most amazing bacon, onion & cheese muffin! I'm planning on trying to replicate the recipe somehow! It was so good! We took the Skyline gondola to the top of the Queenstown hill. Despite the weather the view was awesome!

Skyline Gondola

View from above

View of Queenstown from viewing deck

Peter really wanted to do a hike in Queenstown. Since I put the kibosh on the hike yesterday due to my tired, aching body, I felt it was my duty as a super sweet wife to go on the hike today. I'd like to say that I was enthusiastic and happy about our little hike, but I'd be lying. I'm not good at hiding my feelings... especially when I'm cold. It was beautiful though!

Mushroom in the woods

On our hike

More hike

Not so happy Jaime in the rain

More hike

Some prospectors

More hike

After the hike we had some time to kill before heading to our farmstay in Lumsden. We decided to stop at Les Alpes, a French cafe before leaving Queenstown. I had a flat white & croissant and Peter had a mocha & pain chocolate. Let me just say, the experience at this restaurant did nothing to improve my feelings for French people... they're still rude!

Cafe Mocha & Flat White

After the cafe we headed out to Lumsden for our farmstay. A farmstay is kinda like a bed & breakfast... only on a farm. We thought this would be something different to do. We stayed with Ted & Shirley. They have a family owned & run farm with 5,000 sheep, 1,000 deer and 250 cows. Upon our arrival they gave us some snacks & then took us on a tour of their vast farmland.

Cow

Elk protecting his women

Sheep, of course

Sheep

They don't even blink!

Sun coming out!

View from high above

Deer

It turned out to be a gorgeous day

Bird

Duck pond

Cows

Cows

Cows

Sheep running from us

After our tour of the farm we were treated to a lovely home cooked meal of lamb chops and home grown veggies. We also shared some very good pinot noir we brought from our wine tour adventure. It was all wonderful & a nice change from all the fast food we'd been eating. For desert Shirley made sticky date pudding. I was a bit apprehensive since I'd never had dates before, but it was so freakin' good! There was this unbelievable carmel sauce to poor over the bread (aka the pudding) and ice cream. I got the recipe from Shirley & look forward to making this someday in the not so distant future. After dinner we watched the movie Kick Ass. Yes, you read that correctly. We watched Kick Ass with a 70 year old couple. I swear it was Ted's idea. We were all a little confused, yet intrigued by the ridiculousness of the movie. At it's conclusion we headed to bed.

Max the family cat

Shirley's rose garden

Shirley's birthday giraffe in her garden

SHEEP!

P.S. Happy 29th Birthday to my little brother!!