When it rains, it pours

Well, hello to the 3 people still reading this! I'm still alive (as witnessed on Instagram), the South Island has given me my mojo back, mostly (...although I've given myself way, way too much time in each place. If you're not into 8-hour hikes, bungee jumping, jetboating or other crazy activities, there really isn't enough to see in most places to fill two or three complete days. So basically I could have seen twice as much if I'd planned a bit more like...me?), and...I'm already in my last week in New Zealand. How did that happen?

Right now I'm sitting in my room in Te Anau (the "Gateway to Milford Sound", if you were wondering), looking at a picture of a lake that someone put in front of my window (cause my room most definitely has a wall view, not a lake view, even if the hotel name suggests something different), my room smells like wet dog, it is pouring (and has been for most of the 200km it took to get here), the road to Milford Sound is closed due to avalanche risk because of all the rain and it's still unclear whether it will open again tomorrow (because the weather isn't exactly foreceast to get any better) and there is absolutely nothing to do here. Well, you could do a completely overprized 65€ glowworm cave tour, which seems to involve crossing the lake and then hovering under the same little patch of glowworms for half an hour if the reviews are to be believed, or visit the outdoor bird sanctuary where the birds mostly hide from the tourists (and who can blame them) and which doesn't sound too appealing right now anyway considering it's pouring. So let's hope that road opens up again, or I'm gonna go stir-crazy here.

Fun fact, though: for some reason, whenever I check into a place, I get a bottle of milk? Not sure if they're just very aware of their calcium needs here, but it's kinda cute. Unfortunately, the milk bottles look like cleaning products, so at first I really wasn't sure what was going on, but now I've taken to drinking milk every morning (which I never do at home).

Anyway. Today's weather mishap aside, I'm actually a really big fan of the South Island (constant gale-force winds notwithstanding). The North for some reason really wasn't my cup of tea (aside from Hobbiton of course), but the South Island is really, really gorgeous. Funny thing, the day after I complained about the curvy streets on the North Island, the South Island gave me about 100km of practially completely straight road as if to apologize for its little sibling. Driving here is a lot more fun in general. The views are usually amazing (even though I can't check them out as much as I want considering I have to pay attention to traffic) and I've had quite a few "wow"-moments. So if you ever plan on coming to NZ, just skip the North. Or spend as little time there as possible. 

Alright. I'm gonna go bring an offering to the rain gods to make it stop out there. Not only so I can leave my room sometime today, but also so I didn't drive through all that mayhem for nothing...