Queenstown and Doubtful Sound Jan 25 to 26

Wednesday 25 Jan we flew from Wellington to Queenstown. (by plane ha ha). Scenery coming in to land at Queenstown was spectacular. Drove to our new accommodation for the next four night - on a hill above the lake Wakatipu just outside queenstown. Our villa is part of the Heritage hotel group - very nice and stylish. Uninterrupted lake views. Thursday Nan Rick Norrie and myself went on a full day trip by bus and boat and bus and boat to Doubtful sound, on the south west coast of the south island. We were gone for 13 hours and it was very memorable (even though i cant remember it), the second bus trip through the rainforest was hair raising. Deep gorges, massive waterfalls (swelled with huge rains that day), narrow gravel roads, crazy comedian bus driver - and no toilet paper on board ha ha. Bloody hell!! At the Sound (like the fiords of Norway) we headed out to the mouth of the sound, on the Tasmanian sea - but the weather was wild and wet and we couldnt get right out. That boat trip was 3 hours and as a result of the heavy rains the waterfalls quadrupled in size. The boat went right under the waterfall at one stage where passengers could have a shower. We arrived home tired and hungry but very satisfied from our trip. Off jet boating tomorrow - more to follow