ANZ Day 9: Fiordland National Park, NZ (12/29/2012)

Today was absolutely breathtaking! I woke up early to try to catch the sunrise, but it was cloudy :(. Instead I worked on a new crossword puzzle and then brought breakfast to the room. C called it "mom-service." We sat on our balcony and ate breakfast while we cruised through Milford Sound.

Eating the "Mom-Service" Breakfast

It was stunning! We saw albatross flying low near the water, seals waving to us, plunging cliffs, waterfalls, and rainbows! What a great way to start our anniversary!

If you can see the white dots on the top left of the water, those are the albatross.  Their wingspan is 8-10 feet!  That certainly puts the land into perspective!

Rainbow!

I had to take a nap after Milford Sound - I wasn't really prepared for a 5:45am wake-up! We had lunch as we cruised through Doubtful Sound, then we went back to the room and built the 3-D cruises ship puzzle the kids gave M for Christmas.

Then it was back to the pool for more swimming!

By this time, we had made it into Dusky Sound and we got to see Dolphins! The on board naturalist said our wake would be like a floating amusement park for them, and sure enough, as soon as they got to the wake, they were all jumping and playing! What a treat for them and us!!

Gorgeous!

Can you see the snow-capped mountain the distant center?

We got to know a little more about Nikola, our assistant waiter, at dinner tonight. He is 22 and just finished going to school for electronics. He is from Serbia. He has wanted to see the world for some time and has thought that a job like this would be just the ticket, but in order to sign up for this job, he had to be 21. He is always so great with our kids, it was nice to learn a little more about him today.

Nikola with the kids

I haven't talked much about sea-sickness and I realize you may be wondering. We have had some rough seas, particularly on our way to Melbourne (when the hangers in the closet were swaying), then again on the way out. Tonight is no exception. I had heard that the Tasman Sea could be quite rough. We are doing fine though, for the most part. Sometimes we don't feel very good and we just have to change what we're doing - either our position, or the activity itself. Thankfully, none of us have actually gotten sick! I think we've all felt worse for eating too much than we have due to the movement of the ship!