2/8/2023 - Overnight heavy seas and winds in the Tasman Sea continued into the morning as we cruised along the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The captain aborted our first attempt to enter Milford Sound early in the morning and we continued south to Doubtful Sound, which has a wider opening (first 5 photos). We reached our most southerly point on the trip here and then headed back north to cruise Milford Sound in the late afternoon. These cruises brought back powerful memories of our visits to these two Sounds -- in 2014 (Doubtful) and 2016 (Milford - when we hiked the Milford Track and then cruised the Sound). The Southern Alps are not as tall as the northern ones in Europe by a long shot, and the sounds are not fiords, even though we were in Fiordland National Park. The area is spectacular in its own right. No need to compare to anywhere else in the world.

2/9/2023 - As we made our way 1,000 miles across the Tasman Sea, aka The Ditch, from New Zealand to Tasmania, we encountered what is considered to be pretty normal weather. At noon today, the winds were 25 knots out of the SW (coming from Antarctica); sea swells averaged 15-20'; the ocean temperature was 61 degrees F; the sea depth was 17,208'. The captain updates us every day at noon. Mike did see some breakfast trays go flying to the floor when he went for our early morning coffee. Later in the day, one of the waiters, Ivica from Macedonia, showed us the ingenious way they keep the wine glasses from falling off the shelves during heavy seas. It was a great day for reading & napping.

2/10/2023 - What else to do on another sea day but taste wine? Today's tasting was Shiraz. Called Syrah in cooler climates (France), it is called Shiraz in warmer climates (Australia), but is the same grape. 75-80% of the wine in the bottle must be Shiraz/Syrah, but the rest can be from other wines and does not have to be listed on the label. Shiraz/Syrah is the 7th largest selling wine in the world and the #1 largest selling from Australia.

Tomorrow we arrive in Hobart, Tasmania, our first stop in Australia and which has been on our bucket list for a long time.