The meeting of the Kathryn/Katherine's and a phenomenal cruise in Fiordland

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Kia Ora everyone from Gore, New Zealand.
I arrived in the south island at Invercargill after flying two planes one from Auckland to Christchurch and the other to Invercargill. After having a great time in Auckland with my friend La'au, I was looking forward to seeing how the southland was different from the northland. The scenery in the south is much more dramatic than the north. Green fields, covered with sheep, huge mountains with snow in the distance and winding roads everywhere.

I was excitedly met by my cousins Jacqueline and Fred and the newest addition, my cousin Katherine. She was all laughs and smiles and hugs to meet me at the airport. I am the first of our extended family to meet her so that was neat. She was born 9 months ago... her grandparents are arriving in December to see her for the first time too!

We embarked on a two hour trip to Te Anau-a beautiful little town on the edge of Fiordland National Park where we rented a 3 bedroom house for the weekend. Time was spent walking around town, by Te Anau lake and trying some of the local eats and touristy shops. On Saturday I went on an overnight cruise that took me from Lake Manapouri in Fiordland, out to Doubtful Sound and its entrance into the Tasman Sea! What a highlight that was! It rained almost the whole time we were on the trip and that in fact is the best way to see Fiordland at its finest. The fiords themselves don't have any soil so the water from the rain simply runs off the fiords and creates huge waterfalls... hundreds of them. The joke on board our boat was unless the waterfall was permanent and had a specific name, you could name any other waterfall you saw after yourself, or give it any other name you wished. The shadows and hues of grey that you can see when it is raining are very beautiful too.

One of the activities on board was to go sea kayaking. While I have been sea kayaking a couple of times in my life, this experience was indeed one of the most special. Paddling around in my little yellow kayak I felt so small almost insignificant in comparison with the huge fiords above my head! it was beautiful. My new friend Sarah from Australia and I took photos of each other as good memories.

Over dinner, I met some more new friends all from the US in California and Chicago. We enjoyed good conversation over great soup-themed for the night Canadian Autumn - they were serving pumpkin soup and tomato soup! i was excited! and a huge dinner buffet complete with lamb, roast beef, potatoes, yams, cumra (like sweet potato), mixed veggies, 4 different salads, and of course a nice selection of NZ cheeses-they were fantastic!

We slept in bunks on the ship, but fortunately the ship was anchored so that we slept quite well. The rain continued through the night but that didn't dampen our spirits. We braved the elements and stood outside to catch some great photos.

Sunday afternoon, Jacqueline, Fred, Katherine and I had a nice stroll through Te Anau and had a lovely lunch at a great restaurant called the Olive Tree before we headed home to Gore. Fred made a delicious chili and we all took a rest after a nice long weekend.

As I write this email, I am at Jacqueline's school where I visited and helped teach grade 5 today. I even got to help one of the girl's become more confident in her swimming. We had a fun question and answer session this morning about my travels and such and it has been fun getting to know her students.

I was happy to chat with my parents this morning and they have told me that the cold and snow have set in back home... not sure I am ready for the weather, but a week from today I will be back in Canada. Lots of adventures still to be had here in NZ but I will be looking forward to seeing you all on the other side of the world in the next little while.

Hope this message finds you all happy and healthy.

Love you all

Katy (the "Kiwi")

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Comments

[Ryan]

Katy "The Kiwi"
LOL! I love your new nickname! NZ sounds wonderful! If there is one place I want to travel too, it would be there! I love the story about the waterfalls that form during the rainy weather, I'm sure that is a sight to see! Glad your having a great time! Ryan P.S. I made a mini snowman the other day! I'm sure its going to take a while for you to get used to this weather! AHHH!