Our first stop is Te Anu, the "gateway" to Fiordland – a vast national park and Heritage site encompassing much of the southwestern corner of the south island. The jagged coast line is a mass of large fiords and inlets, but the two most accessible and most visited are Milford and Doubtful Sounds. Based on a recommendation in a travel article in the New York Times (hence, by definition accurate and reliable!), we decided to go for an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. is a lot more accessible and consequently a lot more crowded. To reach Doubtful Sound required a 40 minute bus ride from where we were staying in Te Anu, followed by an hour on a boat across Lake Manapouri and then another hour by bus along a dirt road over the Wilmot Pass
. What awaits you though is an almost deserted fiord and a pristine temperate rain forest. Here it rains on more than 200 days a year, around 1000 cm (400 inches) in total. A “drought” is when there has been no rain for a week. The sheer cliffs lining the fiord are completely covered in trees, ferns and moss right down to the water line, but with virtually no soil cover, the trees hang on by interlocking their roots. When there’s a “drought”, some trees can no longer hold on, resulting in massive tree avalanches which leave what appear to be giant scars on the cliff sides. True to form, it rained off and on for our entire stay, but as a consequence, the waterfalls were in full flood and seeing the inlets and cliffs shrouded in cloud somehow seemed most appropriate. Te Anu continued the great string of accommodation we had experienced throughout our stay in New Zealand. This time, the Fiordland Lodge with sweeping, uninterrupted views of Lake Te Anu and the Kepler Mountains. Just a few rooms, but with a superb dinner included, the place had a house-party atmosphere about it. It almost paled though in contrast to our accommodation in . The “Hotel” Azur is at the end of a long driveway off a cul-de-sac in a housing community about ten minutes drive outside the main town. Until a few years ago, it had been a private house when the current owners (Beijing residents) bought the property and constructed nine completely private villas in the grounds
. The views over Lake Wakatipu, the Remarkables mountain range and itself from each villa, as well as the original house, can’t possibly have been bettered anywhere. The Azur is really a B&B, but the large number of staff (mostly aged under 30) are there to provide anything that you might want as well as an incredibly relaxed and laid-back atmosphere. We occasionally bumped into other guests, but the place prides itself on being discreet and private. Another to be added to the list of “best B&B’s we have stayed at anywhere”. The Lonely Planet guide describes as the “Disneyland of derring-do”. Las Vegas would perhaps be a more apt description! The streets teem with 20-something year olds all looking for the next life-threatening adventure and being heavily exploited in to the bargain. We came across one young Scandinavian who had just done his 4th bungy jump of the day and he probably would have carried on had he not run out of cash! Similarly, a young Dutch girl still flying high after forking out nearly $200 (photos or DVD extra!) for 15 minutes of hang gliding. It is like an addiction and the various tour companies in town are more than happy feed the habit! Like Las Vegas, the buzz and excitement of has that sort of effect on you. Well, perhaps not everyone. February in Queenstown seems to have two distinct populations – young backpackers looking for a thrill and elderly tourists, many from the US, on their “trip of a lifetime”
. The latter group is here mostly for the scenery and perhaps just a “mild” thrill – jet boating.Jet boating, like bungy jumping was invented in this part of New Zealand before being sent off around the world. Jet boats are able to travel at relatively high speed (around 50 mph) in very shallow water – no more than a few inches deep. They are also very maneuverable and would be difficult, if not impossible to flip. So a pretty secure way of providing the “older” tourist with a bit of a thrill!! We signed on for a tour that was to take us 50 km from and the Dart River Valley – the site of much of the location shooting for the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. A combination of 4-wheel driving, a short hike and then an hour or so zooming down the Dart River on a jet boat. Most of our dozen or so fellow passengers were indeed elderly American tourists, not too enthusiastic about doing too many 360° spins! Beautiful scenery, but the weather wasn’t too kind to us - quite windy and rainy, but indeed the scenery was majestic, all very “Lord of the Rings”. The jet boat did the usual maneuvers, including the 360° turns, when mishap struck. We ran aground on a stone and sand bar in the middle of the Dart River. The driver jumped out and tried to push the boat off and then a tour guide joined him
. The passengers were asked to shift around the boat to try to help dislodge it. That didn’t work and the driver radioed for a rescue boat. We would have to get out, if only to be able to get into the rescue boat. So into the fast flowing Dart River, upto our knees in 54°water. Only Sandra decided to go one better than just “up to the knees” …. and fell in, ending up flat on her back in the river! Fortunately, other than very wet and cold, none the worse for wear! We clambered over the rocks on to the river bank and then I went back in to help dislodge the boat, which we succeeded in doing. We then had to wade back into the river and onto the boat. It was still another wet & cold 30 minutes down the river to the dock and an hour’s drive to Queenstown. So apparently, jet boating is not quite without “thrill”!! 
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