15th November 2009

Today we were up early in order to see us enter the first of the 3 Sounds, Milford Sound. This Sound remains an unspoiled beauty dominated by the famed Mitre peak and marked by pristine waters that mirror the sheer granite peaks surrounding them. The scenery is spectacular. Following this the action moved indoors when we watched a Haka/Powhiri ceremony which is the traditional Maori Welcome to New Zealand. The challenge is made to the chief, in this case the captain of the ship Captain Sullivan. With two more sounds to visit, Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound we hoped for smooth sailing, unfortunately this has not been the case. The sea has been rough with the swell reaching heights of 24 feet! We have also been rolling at an angle of 5 degrees which doesn't sound much, but trust me it feels worse. We have also been pitching up and down over the high waves. Not pleasant but we are hopeful it will clear up soon and thankfully we are docking tomorrow so we will be able to get off the ship for a while.

(This is now Rosalyn typing: As Stephan has said, it has been actually very rough tonight. We understand that the first dinner sitting lost over 300 pieces of crockery and glasses and our sitting lost a number of plates, etc. but we were quicker and managed to hold onto just about anything that moved! Our friend David was more concerned about hanging onto his wine then onto his wife! Anyway, as those of you who know me well, will know I am not the world's best traveller however, I coped well with yesterday and up until about 5 pm tonight I was still congratulating myself on feeling okay and then the queasiness struck. I went into dinner but did I get any sympathy – no – everyone enjoyed telling me when the next big wave was about to hit – and they were huge – in excess of 25 feet. Fortunately by 10.30 pm(ish) things have calmed down and although we are still rolling, the queasiness has gone and I am obviously able to type this note).