December 22, 2012, Milford Sound, New Zealand

Finally we arrive in the South island of New Zealand.  We got up at 5:30 AM…looked out the window at Milford Sound and the view took your breath away.  Rudyard Kipling called this place “the eighth wonder of the world”.  We cruised all day through Milford Sound and Fiordland National Park.  We saw magnificent waterfalls, sheer cliffs and mile high mountains.  The topography looked like fiords.  Lots of wildlife.  They have sand flies that are very abundant in the area.  They say if you kill one sand fly, 1000 other sand flies come to his funeral.  We were invited to have lunch with the Captain today as we are repeat customers on Holland American Cruise Lines (Another 500 people were also invited.)  I was going to tell the captain that if he got in trouble, just call on me but he did not show for lunch.  Oh well, I’ll tell him later.