Sunday November 25
The coach had dropped us off at our hotel when we arrived, and the only information we had was on our itinerary where it said we would get picked up where we were dropped off. We didn't want to risk missing our bus to Queenstown, so we took our bags to the main bus stop in time for the 7:30 bus.

It turns out the driver did stop at our hotel and even tried to get ahold of us. Oops. Oh well, we still made our bus, and the driver was able to make up the time on the road. Our bus from Greymouth to Franz Josef had some commentary, which was nice as we learned a lot about the history of the region. The bus driver this time was also a tour guide, and literally talked non-stop for over two hours.

Luckily, we stopped at some random point in the road to meet with another coach. The drivers switched coaches and we continued on with a less talkative driver. We stopped for breakfast at a salmon hatchery on the highway. I got some lox that was pretty good, though I think I prefer Atlantic salmon.

We stopped for lunch at another random stop, and continued onward. Finally we pulled into Queenstown around 4:00. We checked into our hotel, but when we got to our room we found out we were booked into two twin beds instead of the king we had paid for. We went back down, and because they didn't have any standard rooms with a king bed left, the assistant manager was nice and upgraded us to a suite with a great lake view.

We walked around the city for a bit and got a couple of reservations for dinners the next two nights. For dinner we went to Minami Jujisei, a Japanese restaurant downtown. It might have just been the night, but the sushi rice had a bitter aftertaste which ruined the meal for us. It's possible they intentionally or unintentionally left the rice unsweetened which was something we were unaccustomed to.

Though it was 7:00, the sun was still high in the sky, so went up the gondola ride which took you to the top of a nearby mountain. The views were great and we walked around a bit, but I was too tired to do the scenic loop at the top. Afterwards, we went by and visited the nearby cemetery. That might sound a little creepy or weird, but both of us have a deep respect for cemeteries, especially old ones. A mini-golf course had been built right next to the cemetery; I wonder how the respective visitors feel about their neighbor.

It was 9:00 and still light out, so we strolled alongside the beach road towards our hotel. We were interrupted by two cats having sex on a bench almost directly in front of us. We moved aside and kept walking, and then giggled as we watched other people notice the cats.

When we got back to our hotel room, we had fun trying to figure out the European combination front-loading washer/dryer. After many minutes of trials and discussion, we managed to get a load of laundry to wash. While laundry may sound like a mundane thing, the biggest thing we discovered on this trip was that doing laundry (well specifically babysitting the washer and dryer) was one of the most annoying aspects of traveling as it ties up multiple hours of time when we would rather be doing something else. So we were thrilled to be able to put in a load of laundry and then go to sleep.

Monday November 26
Our travel agent had scheduled a trip to Milford Sound for today. Unfortunately, the tour started at 6:45 so our day started early. If you could drive in a straight line to Milford Sound, it would take less than an hour; however, the mountain range between Queenstown and Milford Sound meant we would be spending the next five hours on a coach.

The day started out cold at 6° Celsius and it didn't warm much the hours went by. The coach made a couple comfort stops, including one at Mirror Lake. At one of the other stops, Te Anau, I bought a 50% Marino Wool, 40% Possum Fur, 10% Nylon beanie cap, and Suzy bought gloves of the same blend. These turned out to be some of the best purchases we made all trip.

As we drove up the mountains, it started raining, and then eventually sleeting. This did not bode well for the lunchtime cruise we had been scheduled for. Right as we boarded the boat at 1:00 and got underway, though, the rain stopped and the sun came out. We ate a simple picnic lunch sold by the boat then went to the top deck to look at the scenery.

There were many waterfalls and views of snow-covered mountains, and some dolphins which swam 50-100 feet away from the ship. They were cool to see, but considering we had seen dolphins much closer less than a week ago, these were less impressive. We did a circle around the Milford Sound (which is really a fjord) and spied some seals basking in the sun.

After the boat ride, we spent another 5+ hours traveling back to Queenstown. We arrived right at 8:00. Of all the treks we had done on this trip, this was the first which was disappointing. The boat ride itself was fine, but the travel time required to get there was too much for what the ride offered. It's also possible if we hadn't been to Hawaii and Yosemite to see waterfalls, and on the Akaroa trip to see dolphins and seals we would have been more impressed.

For dinner, we had reservations at Boardwalk Seafood Restaurant & Bar. It didn't start off well when we were at the reception counter for a full two minutes with two employees there before anyone greeted us -- they were too busy trying to figure out how to charge a bill and ignored us. After finding out we did indeed have reservations, they said they were "setting up our table," which can mean basically anything.

Two other couples came in after us and were seated before us. On top of that the food was uninspiring at best. I ordered a scallop dish on their "Specials of the Day" which was okay but not special in any way. Suzy ordered the Boardwalk Bouillabaisse of which she liked maybe one of the bits. All in all, we would recommend not going to this restaurant if you are ever in Queenstown.

Afterwards, we were tired from a long day on the bus and headed back to our hotel. On our way, we met the cats again, though this time they were prowling down the street, so I guess the last night's activities were more than a one-night stand.

Tuesday November 27
We slept in and then started another load of laundry. Today's scheduled activity, a jet boat ride on the Dart River, wasn't until 11:30. I wrote some more of our blog and spent time on the Internet. Most of the hotels in New Zealand have this weird payment scheme where it is like NZ$10 for two hours after initial connection, and $0.10 per MB over 20 MB. While this was annoying, turning off javascript and images on the web browser significantly reduced the amount of data transferred, and we never hit the cap.

We ate an early lunch at a cafe near our hotel and then caught the transfer van from our hotel to Glenorchy. On the way there, the driver went through some of flora and history of the area. From Glenorchy we boarded a 4x4 van to get to the Dart River. It turned out our tour would total eight people, so it wasn't too many people. Once there we went to a private forest we walked through with our Maori guide, who told us about the birds and trees in the forest. At the end of the forest tour, he showed us a canoe and some cooking implements made using the same materials the Maori historically used.

Finally we boarded the jet boat and started up the Dart River. The Dart River is a very shallow river, with rocks jutting over the water in many areas. Our driver told us the boat only needed four to six inches of water to work, which we didn't know. We sped along up the river for about 15 minutes, stopping once in a while to do 360° spins or for scenic photograph opportunities.

We finally reached a point where we couldn't go past safely, so it was time to turn around and head back down. We sped downstream at speeds up to 70 km/hr, ending up at Lake Wakatipu where a shuttle was waiting to pick us up to take us back to Queenstown.

We had dinner reservations scheduled at the Bunker, a nondescript restaurant in an alley in the middle of downtown. We would have never known there was a restaurant there, but we read about it in our Fodor's guide. When we arrived, we were greeted by the same person who took our reservation two days ago.

At the time he had made small talk and we had mentioned we were going to Milford Sound the next day. To our surprise, after he seated us, he asked how our experience at Milford Sound was. The seating area was tiny; there were six or seven tables, a couple couches near a roaring fireplace, and a very small bar. Evidently there is another level open on the busier days.

We ordered the bread selection with a olive oil and two spreads since we were starving and Suzy was craving carbs. I ordered a deconstructed caeser salad and then lamb. Suzy ordered a gnocchi appetizer and the fillet of beef and we split a chocolate dessert. Everything at this restaurant was perfect, including the service. The Bunker was among the best restaurants we ate at during our trip to Australia and New Zealand.

Afterwards, we did more laundry and packed for our trip to Rotorua the next day.
 

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