Weather
So I've been told that in Boston they got 27" of snow and that in Bethlehem PA 22" of snow fell. I'm very glad I'm not home right now however if it makes any of you who are dealing with all that any better - today I bought some polypropelyne long johns in Te Anau, a heavier fleece jacket and a fleece hat. Two days ago I bought some wool gloves in Dunedin because I was so cold.

Here in Te Anau (where Milford Sound is) they closed the Kempler Pass tramping (hiking) track due to snow. It's unseasonably cold here with snow up in the passes which is never seen. The weather in Te Anau has been sunny, sun with rain, cloudy with rain, sunny, sun with rain, cloudy with rain (wash, rinse repeat) for the better part of the day. We got here about noontime and it did that cycle at least 3 full times already. Having wet weather is normal around here however.

I've been wearing my silk long underwear top and my light fleece every day on top of whatever T-shirt I've chosen for the day and I've been borrowing my friend Sarah's extra fleece most mornings and evenings. So warmth hasn't been that great a commodity for me in the past week.

The last couple of nights I've been sleeping under the duvet on the bed over my sleep sack which is supposed to be good down to 55'F because I've been so chilly. They've got a fire going in the wood stove in the lounge here at the hostel. We've run the heat in the hostel rooms I've been in the last 2 nights as well. I knew it'd be cooler in the South Island but I was happy to find out that this isn't normal summer weather since I was starting to think I'd done a really really crappy job of packing for this trip.

In other news I've had a wonderful time the last few days seeing wildlife and great landscapes. On Tuesday I arrived in Dunedin w/Sarah from Queenstown and that afternoon we went on the Otaga Pinnensula tour where we got to see Fur seals (and their cubs) up close from this blind that was built to look like the rocks they lived on. The pups are soooo adorable. We also saw the extremely rare yellow eyed penguins that only exist on the southern end of the South Island of New Zealand. They are the rarest penguin and just about the rarest animal statistically speaking. We saw them through binoculars from quite a distance but it was still quite a thrill. Then we saw some adorable blue penguins again from a blind of sorts through these little doors. They're so cute and small and blue. As hatchlings they are 44 milimeters large and they don't get that much bigger -the ones we saw were adults and I'd guess they were about 8" tall maybe. From there we stopped at an Albatross colony and saw some of them - they're quite large.

The next day we saw more seals then we went to a beach in the Catlins to see sea lions. They can move surprisingly fast and are HUGE so there were 3 rules we were to abide by - 1) stay together in one group, 2) stay 20 meters away at least and 3) NEVER EVER get between the sea lion and the sea. These were the rules put forth by our bus driver and guide from the Bottom Bus - of course he proceeded to walk us through breakin every one of them. It was a thrill to see them but also for me somewhat nervewracking. I was totally ready to push someone in front of a sea lion then run for my life if necessary :).

Later we saw 2 dusky dolphins at Porpoise Cove which Andy the driver said was a misnomer since there were only dolphins in that cove. Andy and a few of the guys from the bus swam there - it was awfully cold out of the water - not sure how they did it. Plus there was another sea lion on the beach who decided he wanted to take a swim so Andy yelled for everyone to get out of the water IMMEDIATELY so it was quite the excitment. Thankfully I was watching from a distance and safe. I just don't trust those Sea Lions. We also saw a neat waterfall yesterday and then ended up in this small fishing town named Riverton. Got to sleep in a bit and woke to rain to head out to Te Anau which was a relatively quick drive with just a few stops. One at McCracken Rest where a few of the young men on the bus sat on the sign with their bare bottoms showing their own "McCracken's" which of course everyone got a good laugh out of. It's an image the Bottom Bus uses on their brocures so it wasn't a huge surprise to see the boys do it. Then it rained again while we went from there to Te Anau and then got sunny then rained then sunny then rained - as I said wash, rinse and repeat.

I'm looking forward to tomorrows trip to Milford Sound in the fiordland. It's supposed to be awe inspiringly beautiful so I can't wait.