OT - bucket list trip - all food eaten will be shown.

@Durangler  we are on cruise now. In the past, my wife and I rented a boat, and I navigated it where we wanted to go.  Although navigation rules are the same around the world, this trip I am sitting back on since we are covering so much area, not to mention the Tasman sea is arguably the roughest in the world.  I am glad to be on a really big ship today.  

We navigated through Fiordland national park. Want to feel really small in the world?  This place will do it. Weather changes by the minute, and it is the second most rainy spot in the world - they get between 5 and 6 meters of rain a year!





Some other noteworthy dishes consumed:
lamb shank:

Venison carpaccio:


Haggis bites from Alabar on Stewart street in Dunedin


Duck confit:

NZ is incredible, stunningly beautiful, and the Kiwi people are so nice, friendly and helpful.  The North island is more populated, more hilly than mountainous, and has more cows than you would ever want to see.
 The South Island is the place you want to be if you are there for the traditional huge mountains with sweeping views with no people and tons of sheep. I never saw so many sheep.

Now that I have been to both islands, I understand why their product is so delicious.  The air is pure and clean. The grass grows year round.  The animals get to roam free and not have to move far if at all for for fresh high-nutrient young tender grass.  They are relaxed and have no stress. It does not get cold for them (below 30), nor too hot (above 90).  95% of farms have fresh unfiltered water flowing on their poroperty that is cleaner than our tap water. If I were a cow or sheep, this is where I would want to be.

The cost of being here is not bad.  70cents US = 1 dollar NZ. In AU it is .75 US cents to the dollar 

Being at sea all day yesterday,  there was not much to see other than waves and water. Today is another sea day, so more of this:


Dinner was yet another double portion.  One was shredded lamb shank in a puff pastry, and the other was a lamb Guinness pie with a cherry tomato on top. 


Desert were mini chocolate lava cakes. 

A few for @YukonRon
When we went to the vineyard, Pegasus bay, they had quotes on the walls in the bathroom. 
This one was right above the urinals:

Others:

And just two more for now.  
Entering Milford sound which is referenced by several publications the 8th natural wonder of the world.  


Here is Bowens falls, a 550 foot waterfall with a bit of volume to it.  

Sorry everyone for not posting, but I will promise to make it up to you.  A lot of things has happened.  Ship docked, got to hotel realized  had no cell phone.  Not sure if it was lost in the cab or was pick pocketed. We had a lot of events planned, so we went on with the trip.

I will post just a few teaser shots....  may more will be posted in the next few days.

Swiped my wife's phone as she shopped.  Anyone see this before? It is new to me.  

A few more pictures since I have a chance.  The opera house is really a beautiful building. Never thought anything about it before, but I guess once you learn more about something, the more you appreciate it. 


Same with the bridge.  We climbed it to the top.  It was pretty cool that someone proposed in our group when we were at the top. She accepted.  6 million rivets, 100k of them fell in the harbor, 7 years to build, and 16 people died building it. 


We we liked the tour of the opera house in the morning, so we looked into tickets.  Got a couple and listened to Strauss and Wagner. The only composition I know is known to many as the theme to 2001 a space odyssey. This building was incredible. A false ceiling for the symphony (the lights above them that look like clouds), the organ that took 2 years to tune, and has more than 2000 pipes, fabric/padding on every seat that absorbs/reflects sound the same as an average persons chest, and every wall/ceiling/floor angle purposely slanted. 


All that hat made me hungry, so we reserved a place for after the show and ate in the shadow of the house.