Almost killed a possum, almost saved a tree

Hey guys,

On Friday we drove from Queenstown to Milford Sound and as it began to get darker outside I could feel that the scenery was getting even more gorgeous. We went from being kilometers away from mountains to practically scaling them with the van. The roads spiriled up and down the mountains and seeing the snowy caps reflecting the moonlight was spectacular. Luckily Conor was driving because I couldn't stop looking up. When we weren't scaling mountains we were in forest and this is where we 'almost killed a possum.' The evening started with the sighting of heaps of rabbits and us hoping to see a possum so that we could save a tree. The night then progressed into the sighting of about 20 possumsl; some where off to the side of the road so we didn't try to off those ones, but others were perfectly lined up for a good hit. After a couple of missed chances we realized that it just isn't in us to purposefully kill a possum. So we almost killed a possum but having not seen the detrimental effects of the possums and thinking about the babies that could be waiting for them in the nest we just couldn't save a tree.

The night spent at Milford Sound was a very cold one but having booked a day outside I knew we'd wake up to a wonderful day - and we did. The commentator on the boat even mentioned that they hadn't had a day like ours in a long time. Milford Sound is known for the amount of rain it gets every year (7 metres) to sustain the ecosystem it holds. It apparently rains 3 out of 4 days in Milford Sound. For us though, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we could see Mitre Peak. There were peaks and waterfalls everywhere - we even got close enough to a waterfall to fill our glasses and drink from it - it was more than pure. We were able to get so close with the boat because the mountains here are the only ones in the world where they are pushed straight up from the ocean floor (1700m). Milford was actually misnamed a 'Sound' because of its width and depth but it is more accurately a Fiord but then named Milford 'Sound' just stuck. A Fiord is one that is a U-shaped valley due to the carving out by glaciers of which Milford has had over 20 in the past few million years. It is also the only Fiord that has a bend in the entrance from the Tasman Sea -- this is a testament to the stength of the rock in actually changing the course of a glacier! (which run straight).

It was gorgeous. We even saw all of the wildlife that they had on the brochure which excited me. We saw Sea Lions, Bottlenose Dolphins and even the Fiordland Crested Penguin -- the rarest penguin in the world. All in all a great day.

From Milford we drove back to Queenstown admiring the scenery that we had previously seen only by moonlight. The drive is filled with no stopping signs due to avalanches but we had to stop at the Homer Tunnel to take some photos. The Tunnel itself is 1270m and is unlined granite, so you could essentially reach out and touch the inside of a moutain. This place is breathtaking.

We left Queenstown yesterday and made it here to Kaikoura where we were awoken by crashing waves. We will do some whale watching today and perhaps have an enoucounter with the Albatross.

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