For the latest international news check out

Click on any picture to see a larger version. Move mouse over picture for explanatory text. IMPORTANT NOTICE: All images on this site are Copyright Ian Smith and may not be reproduced or sold on Ebay, or copied outright to other fan sites without my express permission!

Today we have a relatively late start - meet at the coach at 7.45am, and no need to worry about packed suitcases. Hoorah!
I've had a good eight hours sleep, albeit sleep broken by my phone going off at 1 o'clock in the morning (midday UK time). It probably serves me right as I've been quietly laughing at a fellow UK traveller who is getting frustrated at the number of people phoning her, and leaving voice messages which she can't retrieve. I'm not stupid - I've saved the number I need to call to retrieve my voice mail. When I get the text message saying I need to retrieve a message from the call I've just missed (becasue it's dark and I'm half asleep and don't get to the phone in time), I call the number and after a tedious long message at expensive UK phone rates I'm told to key in my mobile phone number. This then gives me another UK number to dial 'to retrieve your voice messages'. Are British Telecom and O2 taking the p*** or what?! I dial the number, to hear my own pre-recorded message telling me to leave a message. What the... ?! Of course this then causes another expensive message to get relayed to me telling me I have another voice message, and it becomes clear this is another damned ruse by BT to totally screw the customer over with expensive phone charges caused by 'infinite loop' syndrome. No wonder my fellow traveller was unhappy. Aaaaarrrrrgggghhh! Anybody know who to write a long letter of complaint, demanding a refund, to?!
		Our planned cruise down Milford Sound is scheduled to leave at 11am, which gives us time to stop off at several stops on the way. Alas, the weather that has turned dark the previous day, hasn't cleared and there is very little sun all day. We see a lot of snow, at ground level this time, as we wend our way up to a route through the mountains called The Homer Tunnel. At each stop we see two or three other tourist coaches, all full of Chinese or Japanese visitors. This is clearly a popular area. It's not hard to see why as the views are stunning and the powerful waterfalls left, right and centre, are impressive and the stuff of many a photo book and picture postcard. The Mirror Lakes are our first stop - obviously named because of their highly reflective, tranquil nature that reflects the snow-tipped mountains around them perfectly. At one stop we discover a plucky, rather large, indiginous bird: the Kea. This is apparently well known as a scavenger and a bird that pesters tourists for food. It certainly has no fear of the tourists all gathered around it, and it's rather sharp beak gives the impression that it's not the sort of bird that you'd want to have an argument with. We resist encouraging its rather pushy behaviour by making sure we don't feed it as our coach driver gives the impression the bird is a nuiscance, like the pigeons in London, rather than something that we should be encouraging in its extrovert behaviour. The trip through The Homer tunnel is rather like a ghost train ride at a fair. The walls are particularly low and narrow and made of rough-hewn rock. Our coach seems to barely fit and it's very dark. It's with some horror that we realise that despite the size, this is a two-way tunnel. Fortunately there are pass-by bays along the tunnel and cars coming in the opposite direction all pull in to let us past. The tunnel is apparently nearly a mile long and, although opened in 1954, has suffered from avalanches in the past with three documented deaths. Extensive fractures in the rock meant that when it was being built snow flowed into the tunnel and compressors and a powerhouse downriver eventually had to deal with 10,000 gallons of water entering the tunnel an hour. We exit the tunnel to find the entrance to Milford Sound and a large number of tourist coaches in the main car park. Inside the building many tourists are queueing for tickets, but our tour guide has pre-purchased thsoe for our group and it's a simple matter of getting our ticket from him and joining the queue to get on the 11am cruise on 'The Milford Monarch'. This is clearly a busy time for the tourist industry here and I overhear a member of the crew complaining that things are so busy he's been working thirteen straight days without a break. The boat is comfortable and supplies free coffee and tea, with a small area upstairs on deck in the chilling breeze for photographic opportunities. Truth is most of us use the time to get to know our fellow travellers as the scenery (tree-lined mountains with great gushing waterfalls) is pretty much the same for the whole cruise and slight drizzle discourages most of us from staying on the top deck for the duration of the cruise. It may seem odd that many of us haven't got to know each other before hand, and this is partly down to the coach which features very high chairs that discourage communication other than with the person sat right beside you, and partly because of the lack of any formal arrangements in the evenings, when many travellers seem to disappear to their rooms to watch TV (or write web logs!). I discover that we have two honeymoon couples in our party, and quite a number of people having 'the holiday of a lifetime' after dealing with difficult pressures at home (death of loved ones, supporting relatives with Alzheimer's etc). It is encouraging to hear that, aside from a very small minority who seem to have expected more organisation, everybody is impressed with New Zealand, and everyone is already trying to work out ways and means to come back and explore the country at a more leisurely pace. Most are pleased with the pace of this Red Carpet tour, which strikes a fine balance between organised activities and long periods on a coach, with allowing time for people to 'do their own thing', but would like the opportunity to set their own agenda and timings. Several talk about how relieved they are that the tour is not as hectic as they thought it might be, and as a result a lot less stressful than they had anticipated. Our tour guide, Ben, has realised that the planned two days activities in Queenstown (Tuesday and Wednesday) may be problematic with the number of tourists currently around - not least the 120 people on the other tour which are also in Queenstown the same day. He bravely offers to try and arrange things ahead of time to avoid disappointment and we all mark down activities we're interested in. Things get quite messy very quickly with all the options, and I agree to make my own arrangements since I have a cell phone and particularly want to do two main activities: New Zealand's highest bungee jump - A J Hackett's 134 metre jump from a cable car over the Nevis river, and a helicopter tour of the mountain ranges depicted so vividly in the opening scenes of 'The Two Towers'. Amazingly, this proves pretty straightforward to arrange, although the locations I want for the helicopter tour are not included in any of the four 'LOTR location' helicopter tours available. Instead a custom tour is arranged, which will prove expensive if there is just me, but very reasonable if I can persuade two others to join me. Tours safely arranged, there's time for a 'proper' meal instead of the packed lunches we've been mainly surviving on, and a 'catch up' on two days worth of photo's and web logs. Tomorrow we have visits to several more film sites in a fairly packed schedule, before hitting Queenstown - adrenalin adventure capital of the world - to arrange two days of whatever takes our fancy! This is probably the part of the tour I have been most looking foward to! Back to Day 13 report Forward to Day 14 report Stay tuned for future reports (indicated by a photo appearing in the main Itinerary calendar)

Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk