Hail from the Southern Hebrides

Hi Karen - you DID find us! Congrats on a successful stalk.

Kim - thanks! I did find time today to send Alice a little something. Hope she can use it.

Congrats to the Crimson Tide fans and regrets for the Longhorns. Why did they pull McCoy?

We have left Port Chalmers (Dunedin), our last chance to spend those NZ$ burning a hole in our collective pockets. We learned upon departure the weather calls for 30-40 knot winds, rough seas and 10 foot swells. Swell is not the immediate thought that comes to mind ..

Temps were about 40 degrees Farenheit this morning .. until one got outside and was greeted with blustery winds. We appear destined to share the cold, snowy weather gripping much of the US these days. We trundled into the small van and headed to Mt. Cargill and the Organ Pipes.

Our excursion today was in honor of Bradslie. 680 meters up, wet basalt rock and lots of cow pies along the path to sidestep. We made it up in 1.5 hours. The final sign was “butters peak – no exit”. This was, in fact, 100% accurate.

Hot coffee and an ANZAC biscuit (cookie is the term I use) followed our summit drive. An ANZAC biscuit is like a Rice Krispy treat, molded as a cookie, laced with coconut, baked a little and dressed with stripes of chocolate. For all you princesses out there, I took one for the team. You can vicariously cross this hike off your list. Our driver dropped us in nearby Dunedin, passing Baldwin Street ('steepest street in the world'). A couple from Carmel took a sharp look, as they were sure San Francisco was the holder in the Guiness Book of World's Records.

Once in Dunedin, the rain cleared and sunshine broke out. Wonderful .. for about 3 blocks. By the time we ducked into a Simply NZ shop, the clouds came back in force. 30 minutes later, more rain and low temperatures. I hoisted the umbrella, secure in the knowledge we could avoid the worst of the wee bit of wetness. It blew inside out in no time with the winds. Gadzooks, it was hailing like crazy. ENOUGH of the lousy weather, thank you! No such luck. We huddled under an overhang and waited for the shuttle bus with 20 other passengers and crew. Lots of local travel agents have been invited guests by Silversea on our various port stops. They were leaving as we were arriving.

Back in our suite at 2:30, we just missed the lunch at La Terrazes. Room service promptly arrived with strawberry salmon salad – delicious and only 206 calories.

We went down in defeat in trivia today – with a score of 18 out of 20. Ten more days to grab points. Your trivia question for today is:

which country, having been banned from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, had a female flag bearer in the 2004 Olympics?

Hint: Iran is not correct. Double hint: I don't think any of us got this answer correct.

Join us in hoping the weather is a bit better on the other side of the island, for our cruise of Milford Sound around 5 pm tomorrow. If it gets as rough as promised, I will have to check for the barf bags along the hand rails later tonight.

Cheers, Anne