Don't, just don't

I'm a bit behind, as usual. Vacation dementia. The long distance flights were quite relaxing, I managed to binge watch the whole 7th season of Game of Thrones, had tons of food and even caught a short nap or two. Service on both SIA and NZ flights was outstanding, the food was really good, too. SIA has much wider seats and less people in the cabin, NZ manages to put quite a lot of passengers in the cabin due to the herringbone layout. But still very comfortable. There was also a family with a little baby and naturally he cried / wailed quite a bit during take-off and some turbulence we encountered mid-flight. This caused one of the most bizarre events I ever witnessed on a flight ... The elderly Swiss guy sitting next to me started shouting at the family (or rather pretty much the whole world) in German, demanding that they should be in the back of the plane with their noisy child. And he wouldn't calm down. He was very lucky that a) the father did not understand what he was saying, b) everybody else kept calm and the family ignored him, c) it was kinda obvious that he was probably slightly demented or sth like that, d) that this wasn't a US airline, and, last but not least, e) that he wasn't shouting at me. 😁 Very embarrassing episode. Myself and another passenger offered to swap seats with him so he could move away further from the child but he refused. His wife eventually calmed him down and he then slept throughout the remainder of the flight. What an arsehole.

We flew straight down to the South Island the next day, AKL to ZQN, hand luggage only, travelling lite for real. ☺ Picked up our car, as usual from Omega rental cars and headed down to Te Anau after some emergency shopping (sunglasses, medications). I even purchased full insurance this time after all the bad luck we've had so far. 😁 Driving along the shore of Lake Wakatipu with the mountains left and right is just awesome, I've done it many times now and am still flashed each time I take this drive.

I've been to Fiordland a number of times and never had too much luck with the weather. It's a rainforest area after all. This time we had packed all the serious gear, but of course in the checked luggage. Turns out that this year's the driest and hottest summer ever down south, so wonderful sunny days, 27 degrees, very little rain. Beautiful. We met some friends in Te Anau, had a nice late lunch at the Sandfly Cafe, did some more emergency shopping at the only outdoor store and headed off to Knob's Flat, halfway between Te Anau and Milford Sound. Why? Because we wanted to do the early morning ocean kayaking tour the next day and cut down the driving distance as much as possible. Worked like a charm, got to Milford in time, were attacked by gazillions of sandflies and had a great time exploring the Sound which is actually a Fiord with Rosco's. The last two hours were not that great anymore, too many cruise ships and scenic flights ruined the majestic scenery for me. But still very much on the fantastic side, we kayaked right up to Stirling Falls and for the most part enjoyed the splendor and serenity of this wonderful place. Afterwards, drive back to Te Anau and start investigating the whereabouts and whenabouts of our luggage. Photos coming as soon as possible, currently no decent Internet connection on Stewart Island.