Land ahoy! Three sounds - Milford, Doubtful and Dusty.

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Today was an easier day, much more leisurely! There was land outside our deck when we awoke, and soon after we were heading into Milford Sound, somewhat earlier than expected (Captain Leadfoot, as the amusing naturalist narrator referred to the ship’s captain). We dressed into some warm gear and went upstairs to the cafe for breakfast. It was very busy with everyone wanting to see the views of Milford Sound. It was very very cold out on deck, which is where we were whilst enjoying our brekky and mimosas. After that we took ourselves to the sky lounge where I made us a coffee each and got the bartender to put a shot of Jamison’s in it (that was allowed in our package) to make it an Irish coffee - that warmed us up! We enjoyed sitting in the warmth with the huge expanse of glass to see all of the views. When we’d had enough we wandered out and found the grass we’d heard talk of - one of the decks has grass growing on it, for bowling of course. The young girl who offered to take our photo (I look like the wild woman from Borneo with the breeze we’d been in) got talking with us - she originally said she was from Melbourne, but it turned out to be the same suburb as Sophie and Cory on the Mornington Peninsula, and her friend’s father owns the venue where they are getting married!! How bizarre is that?
After we finished admiring the grass (lol) we returned to our room for reading and admiring the passing scenery, before heading back up to the cafe for lunch.

Well, lunch was really crowded! We had to cruise through twice before we found ourselves a table! Today‘S luck had an Aussie theme - fish and chips, kangaroo kebab sticks and crocodile pie. I had another delightful salad and a piece of the fish. Tom tried the kangaroo kebabs and the crocodile pie (snap snap, you’ll have to tell James, Jess and Pete!). After lunch we did more reading and watching the scenery from our deck.

Our dinner staff are delightful and getting to know us - Janine pops the sparkly when she sees us arrive, and Suldeep has quickly picked up what our likes and dislikes are. Tom chatted to Suldeep about the new British prime minister soon to be sworn in - an Indian! Guests sitting near us at dinner tonight were from Phoenix (the second lot we’ve met from Phoenix). Apparently it gets up to 120 degrees fahrenheit there in summer, so they have a winter home in Wyoming (Yellowstone country). They are on their 37th cruise! They got on at Hawaii, and we met some people today who got on at Vancouver! No wonder there are so many Americans. The man from Phoenix got COVID a week after they boarded, which was interesting to hear. Staff have a big squeezy bottle of hand sanitiser outside the buffet that they squirt into your hands, whereas the other restaurants just have a cleaning station that you do (or not) yourself. I’ve been wondering about our curtains - all we have is the blockout backing with no pretty fabric on the outside. I wonder if it’s a COVID thing? Apparently there are no books in the library - they all had to be thrown out after Covid struck. :’( The USA are now up to their 3rd booster shots.
I forgot to take pics of our starters (talking to the Phoenicians), but I remembered a dinner shot. I had duck terrine and Tom had pumpkin soup for starters. For mains Tom enjoyed turkey with spaghetti and a marinara sauce - I had an amazing slow-cooked veal shank in phyllo pastry - it was just wonderful! Then we both had tiramisu before rushing off to catch the show in the theatre. Tonight featured a girl from WA named Lisa Woodbrook. She was amazing! So professional, such an amazing (low) voice, and so entertaining between songs.
After the show finished we returned to the sky bar for a mudslide, and enjoyed watching the bottom of the South Island of NZ slide past - the sun doesn’t set until really late.

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