Delightful Doubtful Sound

We went out to Fjordland for a fantabulous day/overnight on Doubtful Sound (so named because Captain Cook was doubtful the ship would be able to get back out if they entered it there...heee). We had gorgeous weather, a great kayak outing and swimming (cold!!) off the back of the boat, lots of fur seals, a few bottlenose dolphins up close, and some beaker whales from very far away. And great food -- soup was served as afternoon snack as a warm-up after the activities, buffet dinner was really good, especially potatoes with hollandaise sauce.... And they sang HB to me because Brian has a big mouth. ;-)

We picked up bicycles today for a 2-week trek starting tomorrow -- first on the train across the mountains to Greymouth (west coast), then north around the top part of the South Island. We shouldn't need to ride every day to finish on time back here in ChCh, which is good because I've been having knee isues -- not good! I've been riding the stationary bike in gyms along the way and it's not giving me much trouble on those, so I hope it'll be OK. Taking way too much ibuprofen though!