Dec 12, 2009 - Volendam, Holland America - Milford Sound, NZ

What a day !!!! After the 2 days at sea crossing from Tasmania to New Zealand, we pulled into Milford Sound. IT’s like a waterway bay with lots of Fiords (cliffs of mountains on each side of the ship). It was still raining, so it was so amazing to see soooo many waterfalls just streaming down the cliffs. They were way taller than the top of the ship. Beautiful. The winds were howling too !! Strong gusts to the point that in some cases where the waterfall was supposed to drop into the sea, the winds just caught the water and blew it away into nothingness. I tried to get a picture, but I had to get it from the window, so not sure if it came out. But, wow, what a site. The captain turned the ship around and stopped for just a brief moment to allow the people going on the overnight shore excursion to get off the ship. Well, this is where Peggy got off. She and 5 other singles, and 85 other couples left. We continued on cruising leaving Milford Sound and headed back out to the open sea. We headed south following the coastline, but our weather was horrendous!! The winds were just short of Gale Force, the seas were really, really high! I’m on deck 1 forward, so as the waves were breaking over the bow of the ship, it was sometimes covering my window completely !!! I heard a couple was on the forward bow sticking their coffee cups over the railing and collecting the water as it broke over the bow! The ship was a rocking and a reeling.. Many people were nauseated and sick, others were fine. I spent most of the day working on my clients paperwork, then just relaxed in the room for the rest of the night. Read a book. I’m so boring.

Peggy and her group continued on by bus out of the rain forest, toured the countryside and spent the night in a beautiful 5 star resort overlooking the mountains called the Hotel St. Moritz. Once they settled in, they took a paddle wheel boat across the lake to a beautiful cottage for dinner. She said the food was fantastic, then they hit a couple of the bars around the local town that evening before retiring for the night. Another very early morning for them as they are traveling over 1600km in order to meet up with the ship again in Dunedin.