Galopping around the world

hello from windy Te Anau... What a day it has been I think I have never experienced so much change in weather in one day. I was picked up in Queenstown today ( I get to that town later) to go on a cruise of Doubtful Sound which is in the Fjordland. It is pretty hard to get to which is why not many people do it and hence it is a lot more attractive. we took the bus to Manapouri then crossed lake Manapouri then another bus and finally the cruise. We had a tiny bit of sunshine. then it rained, then we had snow and eventually it started to hail... Very interesting day trip that was indeed. What was funny was that on the trip I met a girl from Thames Ditton and then we met a family from Teddington. Quite cool the guy works in the movie production here in Wellington and has worked on films such as District 9... that cheaky b... got headhunted in London and flown over here to see wether he liked it and is of course now loving it... no no no envy at all. ;) So anyways to get back to the cruise. Doubtful sound is really beautiful ( even in the rain, hail etc) everything is green and you get some beautiful mountain formations. Tomorrow i am going on a day trip to Milford Sound which is very similar but way more touristy and the peaks are very pointy whist Doubtful Sound has a lot more round mountains. Tonight I am spending the night in Te Anau.. Tiny place with not too much going on but just had a wonder along the lakeside with the beautiful evening light. I am truly falling for this country big time.. I am completly loosing track of time and what day of the week it is ... pretty freaky bearing in mind my rather planning nature... Yesterday I spend the day in Queenstown not my cup of tea really. Extremly touristy and you get the feeling : give me all your money. Most people just get trashed every night .. and the hostel is pretty much a party one... not the best of sleeps there.. I took my free day to get myself back into the hiking mood and climbed up a mountain oevrrseeing all queenstown ( rather than taking the gondola) although I did take it down the hill.. treated myself to one round of Luge for all the "hard climbing" ;) When you do Luge you sit in this little box sort of thing which has rolls underneath and you drive done the mountain on this track. Quite a bit of fun! As I said tomorrow I am off to Milford Sound arriving back in Queenstown for the night. The next day I am on a hald a day tour to Glenorchy thats where a lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed. EXCITING!!!!! Hope you are all well! Stef