Friday: Cruised around Milford Sound. Heaps of rain but it added to the intensity of the waterfalls.


Met two English guys on the cruise, one of whom had recently traveled to Thailand and been knocked out by a Muay Thai fighter (who’s in jail now). The fighter’s girlfriend was trying to make him jealous by hitting on the English guy. Moments after telling him that she didn’t have a boyfriend, her boyfriend walked up to the English guy and knocked him out with one punch. He was rushed into surgery and had a metal plate put into his face. Other than broken treeth and a sagging eye, he looked great. Most amazing of all was his “shit happens” attitude about the whole thing.

As we drove through Te Anau on our way to Wanaka, we dropped by the DOC site where I had a quick chat with folks about the discrepancy between information they were telling women versus men about hikes in the area.

Saturday: On our way to the bars in Wanaka to watch the All Blacks play South Africa, we stumbled across an amazing playground on the lakeshore!


All Blacks v. South Africa’s Springboks. Epic game! South Africa game them a run for their money. Post-game we were walking to the next bar when we ran into our friends from the Kepler Track! Found some live blues/folk music where a man who looked like Where’s Waldo took off his shirt and had some pretty epic dance moves. Lots of stares so I jumped in and started a conga line.

When the six of us left the bar, we stumbled across Kai Whakapai, a bar that was blasting “Funk Soul Brother” from its outside speaker. Obviously, we started a dance party in the street, catching every willing passerby.

The owner and bartender were wrapping up shop inside, but we eventfully got them to join us.

On our way home we passed through the playground and jumped onto some swings, pumping high until our feet reached the stars.

Sunday: Thrift store shopping! Eating a high protein/high fat diet has decreased my food bill, but I didn’t factor in having to buy new clothes. For $9 NZD I got two pairs of pants. The rest of today we spent driving up the coast and getting out every so often to do a hike to a waterfall or vista. Lunch today we spent on a suspension bridge over a turquoise river.