Milford Sound

Friends and family,

Weather: Mostly cloudy, showers. Temperatures around 50 degrees.

My day started with a 6:00 a.m. alarm and breakfast at 6:15 a.m. Milford Sound; here we come! Our study abroad group boarded the bus and settled in for a 5 hour bus trip across the southern part of New Zealand's south island. The weather is much colder here and it rains nearly every day. At Milford Sound it rains 360 out of 365 days each year. Needless to say, I packed my rain jacket and umbrella.

The Southern Alps mountain range in the Fiordland region of New Zealand was the best part of the trip. These mountains are simply remarkable! They dwarf any of the Rocky Mountains I have ever seen and waterfalls seem to appear out of nowhere on the face of the rocks. Another stop our buses made was at Mirror Lake. Mirror Lake is so clear you can see to the bottom from nearly any part of the lake without any difficulty at all. During out stop it was cloudy and rainy, so we did not have the opportunity to view the "mirror effect" of the mountains on the lake.

We arrived at Milford Sound just minutes before our tour boat departed. Everyone had packed a lunch the night before to provide a cheaper option than purchasing our lunch on the boat. Peanut butter and jelly, a bag of chips, and a granola bar suited me quite well. The name of our touring boat was the Spirit of Milford. It didn't take me long to make friends it the Captain; Max Derroch and secure an interview for the Rural Radio Network. Be sure to listen online at: http://sites.radiowebservices.com/kp_unlstudy/. Other sites I enjoyed during the two hour outing included sea lions and mountains reaching one mile above the water level. Max told me the average depth of Milford Sound was around 1,000 feet. The scenery I witnessed is something I will not soon forget.

While traveling the countryside back to Queenstown, I couldn't help but noticed their round hay bales. Not a lot of hay is baled and put up in New Zealand due to the intensive grazing systems they utilize. This was not the case throughout the area we traveled. I am curious to find out the weight of their bales. They are much smaller than those produced throughout the Midwest and nearly all of them were entirely wrapped in plastic. Our buses returned to Queenstown around 7:00 p.m. A few of us headed to town for supper at McDonald's and then stopped off at a wine tasting shop to take in more of the New Zealand culture.

Tomorrow we head back to Lincoln University for the remainder of our stay. It is hard to believe how quickly the time has passed. Classes begin at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln again tomorrow morning and I will not be in attendance. I guess I will have to study twice as hard when I return.

Heading to bed,

Matt