This month's issue of New Zealand magazine Mindfood comes with a free winter hair guide. Winter?!? Oh no! The shops have been filled with winter boots, winter coats and woollen jumpers for a while now. I don't like the sight of all the dark colours and thick fabrics at all... Luckily, winter hasn't arrived yet, but autumn certainly has. Even though the leaves aren't falling, the temperature has noticeably dropped. Brrr! I can't really complain, though. Last Saturday, there was a lot of wind and rain, but yesterday was a nice sunny day. The temperature rarely drops below zero here in Auckland and if it does, at least, there are heaters and people to keep me warm (unlike China), so I think I'll be fine!

Now, let's finish my Adventure Tours story. Last time, I promised I'd tell you about my encounter with a dolphin, so here we go...

On Wednesday, January 13, we (= 18 people + driver Kerry) left Queenstown in the morning and went for a short drive to a dock where two boats were waiting for us. We stored our luggage in the bus, because we were only allowed a daypack on board the Doubtful Sound cruise boat. We weren't there yet, though. First, we went on a small boat for about an hour and then we had to go into a bus. The bus took us to the Doubtful Sound cruise boat, driving through breath-taking scenery. When we stepped onto the cruise boat, we were welcomed by the friendly crew and shown to our huts at the bottom of the boat. The huts were small and narrow, with two bunk beds in them and a curtain instead of a door. Marianne and I decided to give Fabian and Martin another chance and asked if they wanted to share a hut with us. I had to promise Fabian not to set my alarm clock (!) and then they both agreed. We dumped our backpacks in our hut and went to the upper deck for a drink and a welcome speech. It had started to rain, but the planned kayak trip was still going ahead. Marianne and I changed into our bathing suits and lined up for a kayak. Apart from our group, there were a lot of other people on board and many of them decided to go kayaking, so we were with a big group. Two members of the crew accompanied us, one at the front of the group and one of the back. And guess where I was? At the very back. I couldn't make my kayak move at all! I felt so embarrassed. Helen, the crew member, had to stay with me, because I was way behind the others. She was happily chatting along and hardly paddling at all, while I was struggling to go forward. It must have looked hilarious, but at that time, I didn't really think it was funny. My right arm still hurt from the previous kayaking trip, it was pouring with rain and I couldn't make my kayak go in the right direction. I was trying to focus on paddling correctly and listening to Helen at the same time (I didn't want to come across rude by not responding to what she was saying). When Helen said:'Look, there are dolphins!', I looked up and stared at the distance. I didn't see any dolphins, so I turned my head towards Helen and asked:'Where?' - only to realize with freight that I was staring at one! Aaaaaah! The dolphin was right in front me and it scared me, haha! It looked cute, sweet and beautiful, but I just didn't expect it to be so close. That was a real pinch me-moment!

I managed to make it back to the boat. Since I was already wet,I decided to go for a swim with a few others. Because it was raining, it was quite cold, but once I was in the water, it was okay. I had to get out of the water at some point, though... I was shivering when I climbed on board and headed straight for the showers, but of course, they were all occupied by other swimmers (I'm never the first, am I?). Martin, who had been in the water as well, grabbed a hair dryer when he saw meand aimed the hot air at me. Nice! I felt a lot better after the shower. After all the water activities, it was time for dinner. The food was absolutely superb and they had a lot to eat for me as well. Yumm! After dinner, one of the crew members presented a slide show about New Zealand's flora and fauna. Was very interesting. Around 10 pm, it was time for bed.

The next day, after hardly having slept in my narrow bed and with three people snoring (!), I got up at 6 am. We were advised to get up at 6 am to watch the sunrise, but the sun was already up! That was a bit of a bummer, but the scenery made more than up for it.Doubtful Sound isabsolutely breath-taking. If you plan to go to New Zealand,I highly recommend you go on an overnight cruise in DoubtfulSound. It's stunning.

We cruised along on the boat while the captain provided us with information over the intercom. We saw sealions, seals, albatrosses and penguins. Amazing to seeanimals I only know from the zoo in the wild! Around noon, our cruise ended. We were picked up by a bus, toured through the beautiful mountains one last time, were dropped off at a dock to go into a smaller boat and after an hour on the water, we were back at our bus - with a lot of great memories.

I'll leave it at this for now. Don't want to get any more complaints that my stories are too long...