New Zealand

Took a cruise through Milford Sound. Carved out by a glacier, the U-shaped valley has mountain walls that plunge straight into the frigid water. We lucked out with fantastic, sunny weather, but on a rainy day the rocky walls turn into hundreds of waterfalls. That sight must be spectacular!
The bus ride from Queenstown to the sounds took around six hours roundtrip, but never fear - the most ridiculous bus driver ever is here!
Bus driver Carlyn (sp?) spent the first hour and a half telling us the intimate details of his life story. From before his birth, when his unwed mother was "sent away" for being pregnant, to when he was 21 and met his parents for the first time, and on and on and on... He was once recorded saying "um" 96 times in half an hour, managed to leave two passengers behind at a photo-op stop, drove the coach bus into a tiny dirt forest road (not part of our itinerary), coordinated a musical quiz game using songs on his ipod whilst simultaneously driving the coach along narrow, windy, cliff-sheer mountain roads ("um, let me um, drive the bus here so I um don't drive it off the road"), and took more than one stab at the Indian family on the coach ("um I'm gonna um put in a movie for you if I can um figure out the bloody DVD player. It's um called um the Fastest Indian and um it's not about um a boy from Mumbai..."). Needless to say, it was an endlessly entertaining adventure.Les mer