Milford Sound

today we took a side excursion from Queenstown to go see Milford Sound. it was absolutely gorgeous. all along the way were green pastures with tons of white dots on the land... sheep! after a five hour drive we got there and got onto a boat to see the fiords. actually, milford is a fiord, but misnamed as a sound. a sound is a body of water created by a river and a fiord is a body of water created by a glacier. this one was by glaciers. we drove by a solid wall of mountains on either side of us. once we got to the water and on the boat, we rode out onto smooth water on a cold, sunny day. it was so majestic. we were completely surrounded by mountains that were in our face. they were big rocky mountains going straight up to the sky and we were on the calm water in between them. we headed through the area and saw a lonely seal perched up on a rock. there were so many areas to take pictures, b/c every angle was spectacular. we made friends with Angela, who is from Korea. she's also doing the Kiwi Experience, but we are going to different places tomorrow. she was so fun and learned quickly to expect silly pictures from us. i actually was very reminded of Alaska on the fiord trip then. even the land in this area looks like western canada or alaska. i guess it's like the earth's mirror image on the other pole. the main difference is the pasture land, it's just so green.
we are back in queenstown and tomorrow leave for Christchurch. then the next morning we'll head out with the Kiwi Experience group to do the south and north islands. somehow we'll do this even with our belated start by our end date May 21st. we were checking into leaving later, but i think maybe we shouldn't risk anything, since we do have to be back for graduation on the 28th.
i'm still searching for the perfect NZ t-shirt here. i found the best thing for mom! i'm trying to buy it tomorrow. as some of you know, she's always been known for looking like Wonder Woman. when she had long hair, especially. i always thought it would be cute to get her a wonder woman t-shirt. well, the name applies to what a great wonder woman she really is. she has an incredible testimony for the Lord and deserves the title. so, we walk by this store in queenstown and i stop and have to get it! it's a red t-shirt that has wonder woman on it and it says, "SUPER MUM!" isn't that awesome! :) i've been talking to store managers every day to get this. they are making me wait until after mother's day. so, yes, i will be at the store first thing monday morning 9am. i know, mom, you will not wear this in public, but you can at least have it and know you are Super Mum! Happy Mother's Day! I wish i could be there with you!