Tui Extreme, Day 7: stripes and sounds... and sugar.

Saturday morning we carbed up (again... oh dear lord, all the carbing up) and headed a few minutes away to Rosco's Milford Kayaks. After a brief overview and quick costume change, we set out on clear but slightly choppy waters to see what we could see.

hot! (photo courtesy Rob)

clear water means you can see a lot

It was overcast the whole time and even rained a bit. This made almost everyone else a bit cranky, but I was thrilled - not only was this how one must experience Milford Sound, it was also very reminiscent of Portland. The gray skies were a welcome change from that bright yellow ball in the sky that we'd been dealing with of late.

Milford Sound sunshine

Milford Sound fur seals:
far less annoying than South Georgia fur seals

Along the way our kayak guide shared several Maori folk legends including this one, and made sure we got the full history of Milford Sound. See, technically it's a fiord like many other fiords in that area, but fixing all the signs for the already-named "sounds" to accurately name them as "fiords" would have cost too much money. So the government left the signs as is and declared the whole area Fiordland - problem solved! Ahhh, government.

The kayaking was over far too soon for my taste, and after another costume change and quick but delicious hot lunch, we headed toward Manapouri for our last evening with the tour. Lake Manapouri Inn featured beach access and pet alpacas in the backyard...

Jill and I opted for the beach access before dinner

Dinner was a true barbecue feast followed by magical pavlova.

hostess with the mostest Pieke (photo courtesy Rob)

Kate's sugar-filled, sugar-topped sugar, anyone? (photo courtesy Rob)

Some folks opted to hang out with the locals at the pub, but I wandered off and sat in silence for a while, listening to the cicadas and birds. I was sad that this leg of the trip was ending but excited for the week to come - especially since Pieke had offered to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing with me! So nice of her, so unnecessary... but so appreciated. I had an offer from a local once, but I couldn't imagine a guide in the States committing to spending an entire day with an almost-stranger, hiking a pretty intense trail.

These kiwis are good people.