Ho, ho, ho! (not sure what that is these days in the good old politically correct mad US of A). Merry Christmas! However, the season to be merry does not mean that idleness can be allowed, especially whilst on holiday. Organisation thrice over! (read: ho, ho, ho!).
We were up by 07:00 hrs (before the alarm, believe it or not) to already do the bulk of the packing and divvying up the various bits and pieces for our hike on the Milford Track.
At about 08:15 hrs we were having our first sit down breakfast of this holiday. Whilst enjoying our breakfast, what started as a quick SMS exchange with Howard, to wish him and Julia a merry X-mas, soon turned into a full fledged telecon. Most enjoyable but very confusing. Off to Te Anau!
As the washing wasn’t quite dry yet, the car’s backseats were turned in to a Chinese laundry for the drive to Te Anau, which we wanted to reach before 13:00 hrs so we could already collect our tickets for the Milford Track, rather than having to rush around tomorrow morning.
By 12:00 hrs we reached Te Anau and thus had plenty of time to complete the necessary formalities to join the track tomorrow. Although slightly early, The Village Inn already had our room ready, so bag dump completed and back out to see if we could still get a booking somewhere for our Christmas dinner. 18:30 hrs was the latest time still available in one of the only 2 restaurants open on this special evening and considering that we have an exciting (although not too early) day ahead of us tomorrow, this would probably be a good time to start a buffet style dinner. Plenty of eating time!!!
Next stop; a local shop we’d spotted open on this special day, where we could buy some proper warm head gear and something warm to wear for Q (just for peace of my mind as all he’d brought were T-shirt style garments). Although Q keeps insisting he won’t need it, I might need some additional layers, but just to make sure I don’t have to carry it.... Clever he!?!
With all the things on our shopping list ticked off we could go for a traipse to a local wildlife centre to stretch our legs and get a taste of the Te Anau scenery. As we were both feeling a little bit drowsy, we thought we should perhaps also go for a quick snooze. So, following our bird spotting and the coffee on the go, it was back to the inn. However, by the time the electronics updated and charge and the diary write up were completed, whilst watching Marry Poppins, the clock pointed to 17:15 hrs, not leaving us much time for a proper snooze before having to report for dinner.
21:30 hrs now. By the time I finally felt myself dozing off this afternoon, with MP still playing in the background, the alarm went off. Off we went for our dinner. The restaurant setting was very nice with 180° views of the surrounding mountain ranges. Food was plentiful and not bad at all. The extensive dessert choice especially, more than tickled Quentin’s fancy and required a second visit. A quick walk to get rid of the worst of the food excesses followed by a phone call home got us back to bed at this time of 22:00 hrs.
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