He only went out for some milk A blurb of monstrous proportions - it was only supposed to be a couple of lines and the odd photo.

Tony is sat opposite me hogging an atlas I've just borrowed as we enjoy the last couple of hours of an overnight Doubtful sound cruise. Ben our nature guide is telling us to join the 'real' world by putting down our cameras, switching off our mobile phones and imagining ourselves in the time of the neanderthal man. I am having a hard time hearing the pillock due to the noise of the DS lite for the kids next to me. At least he's not trying to sell us a bunch of postcards or photos for once.

We have been very lucky, the weather has been amazing and it's only the 2nd time the ship has been able to sail into the Tasman sea (excuse pun) - a notoriously rough one that kayaks seem to love. It's called a sound but like Milford it's actually a fjord - it's created by glaciers not rivers. Very deep water (450m), and huge steep sided cliffs are a good indication. Although it's only briefly, we do see crested penguins (rare), sea lions (rare), and a type of bottle nosed dolphins (rare too). There's plenty of evidence of tree landslides with huge scars on the cliff sides. Everywhere is lush and green from the vast amounts of annual rainfall (5 - 7m) and the water is stained a tannin tea brown. The rain that has just started is forming a very clear separate layer on the top of the saltwater - it would be great to dive here if it wasn't so cold. The boat is lovely and fairly new - to get on it we took a small boat across Lake Manapouri and then a scenic bus ride on a road that was just built for the hydro electric power station. The crew are determined to make it difficult for us to leave by filling us with a constant supply of food. There are seemingly no other boats around and having the chance to kayak in the middle of nowhere was great. Alas we were accompanied by those evil little sand flies. Last night we moored up in a safe area and enjoyed one of the best sunsets I've ever seen. The day was great, the scenery was great, the food was great...waking up to a low clouds and rain hasn't spoilt it - it's all great! The fjord looks glorious.

A couple of days before we took a day cruise on the Milford Sound. The drive down to it was incredible and yet again we were lucky with fantastic weather. Considering the number of visitors, the site is very understated. Mid morning the hordes of tourist buses arrived but we were already on a boat. The commentary was actually OK for once, telling us about the sheer cliff faces of nearly 1000m heights with waterfalls over 150m high, sea lions, crested penguins, hilarious Japanese tourists all waving there arms strangely around to feel the mist from the waterfalls and then all putting themselves in weird positions to have their photos taken. A nice little cruise and simply awesome scenery.

But which is better?...

...bugger if i know.