NZ Update Sent 3rd Dec

The hostel in Arrowtown was excellent, the most comfortable bed yet, and masses of roses outside the window.

The owner, Aiden, was a slightly chippy Kiwi. When I said to Paul that the funny bun we had bought in the village was the wrong shape for a football (it was called a Football) he informed me that this rugby-ball shaped object was in fact a FOOTBALL and that round balls were called SOCCER balls, that I was in New Zealand now, and that my accent was the funny foreign one!

Hum.

Incidentally, they have whimsical names for mountains here. One peak is called Mount Aspiring, which results in the dentist in Waneka calling himself the Aspiring Dentist, etc etc. Then there are the Remarkables, a truly amazing not to say remarkable range near Queenstown - so in Arrowtown there is the Remarkable Sweet Shop. (was it? did ya get me any???)

This morning ((Weds 3rd Dec.) we left before Aiden appeared and drove to Te Anua. It started off fine but soon deteriorated into heavy rain. Te Anua is by a lake of the same name and its claim to fame is that it is the gateway to Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound, where every tourist has to go.

We booked into a hostel recently built by the pleasant owner, Bob, about our age - we had to settle for a dorm, but at the moment there is nobody else staying there altho other rooms are taken.

There is a very pleasant Irish couple from Belfast with their little boy, about 1 yr. old. Huge log fire in the middle of the big kitchen/dining/sitting area. We needed it, it is much colder here - nearer the south Pole and quite high too.

Eventually the rain stopped, and after a discussion with Bob we went and booked a trip to Doubtful Sound tomorrow. Apparently it is less touristy, has more wild-life and is bigger and better in every way (quote from the Lonely Planet). We managed to pay for it on our credit card so it didn't hurt.

We drove some of the way along the Milford Sound road, very spectacular mountains and another vast valley filled with multi-coloured lupins - so glad Paul got that fancy new camera!

Hoping for a good night's kip with no other bods in dorm? Love to all, mumbo.