Mystic beauty in the fiordlands and adrenaline kicks in Queenstown

Back in Invercargill,, we ventured back on the Southern Scenic route to enter the Fiordlands. Our aim was to go to the Milford Sound from Te Anau. The following days the weather stayed terrible. Winds, rains and sometimes hail showers kept torturing the place, in this amount that even in the information centre of Te Anau, the lovely woman suggested we take a book and look for a cosy cafe and 'sit next to the fireplace'. Hmmm, NOT why we came to New Zealand, but what are you going to do when all the roads and tracks are closed, and no cruise or flight or anything is going?
Luckily the next day, though the weather wasn't all that better, we got news that one cruise would go to the Milford Sound. Well, if we couldn't do the track, we might as well do the cruise, right. Anything to get into the Sounds.
This cruise appeared to be actually a nice day out, even with the bad weather. The Milford Sound is a very serene place and the rain and mist kind of added to that atmosphere. Due to the bad weather, there were almost no other boats going out which only added to this mysterious place. And again, we got to see some fur seals ... This time younger males. Check!
When we got back in town, we decided we hadn't had enough yet and might as well book another tour, to the glowworm caves on Lake Te Anau ('Te Ana-au' actually means 'cave with a current of swirling water' in Maori). This was a nice and quiet smaall tour which led us into an underwater cave, pitch black, full of little glowing lights. Cute!
After that, it was time to pack up Tony and head for better weather in Queenstown. This appeared to be a lucky shot because when we arrived, the sun was out and the city was kind of warm. Hallelujah!
Now, Queenstown seems to be the Walhalla for adrenaline rushes. Of course we had to participate in this economy. The second day we went to book a trip to go rafting. Now, the whole point of the thing is: in Summertime, a bus would drive you to the starting point of the rafting. But this isn't summertime and the road was closed. So, what does one have to do to sustain ones economy? ... Bring your customers over in a helicopter, of course! :-)
Needless to say, yours truly stood jumping about this fact.
The bus ride to the place where we changed into wet suits in itself was fun: we started talking with a few guys and immediately it became clear that we would form a perfect heli-raft team. Then, the heli landed and not only me, but about everybody started bouncing around the place. Yaaaay, I got to be in front! The ride was short, but amazing. OUr dear pilot made a game out of it to give us a little tour and made us enjoy the ride thoroughly. I konw what my next job is: obtain a heli-pilot license and do this every day :-). For the rafting itself, we appeared to be a very good team indeed, only Inge and Matt fell out of the boat. So no harm done, haha!
After the rafting we went for a well-deserved drink in World Bar, where we were joined by a few other people, amongst whom was Alex who we'd met the day before.
On our last full day in Queenstown, Inge and Alex convinced me to go snowboarding after all, in the Remarkables, since this was quite the area, the snow was good and the sun would be out. Although convinced I'd break a bone or 2 (or 6), I agreed and am very happy to have done so; the boarding went -quasi- excellent, the sun was perfect and the day was very well spent.
Goodbye with Alex wouldn't be for too long since I seem to have found my travel partner for the north Island, which is in about 2 weeks. So Inge and me packed up Tony, said goodbye to lovely Queenstown and arrived in Wanaka, where we did an impressive walk - the Rob Roy Valley Track, and where we had an afternoon of fun in the Puzzling World: strange sensations in the illusions room, running around in the great maze.
Time to move on; West Coast, here we come!

Photos are to be found on this link (for those of you who hadn't seen them yet):
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1228897007#!/album.php?aid=2098693&id=1228897007