The sequencing of hiking, kayaking, helicopter, rafting (our Queenstown personal option) was perfect and was scalable to skill & fitness except for the elementary mtn biking. The early-on visit to an excellent, informative winery opened our eyes to NZ's non-SauvB wines and informed our trip. The guides were pleasant and to-the-task, driving very safely, making everyone timely w/o "the whip". We need two beds and we had them, beds mosty okay-to-good. The van was quite comfortable. Except for Queenstown and two nights of guide cuisine and NZ's remarkable bakery goods, the food was carb-loaded and mediocre, probably due to high cost NZ dollar from which the pre-paid trip insulated us. Our US-bought nut bar supplements proved vital for protein (inferentially suggested in the pre-trip material). There is no scenario in our mtn-rich WA/OR as wondrous as the approach to Mt Cook. For we-longtime kayakers, Milford Sound was un-matchable and I am sure surpassing the experience of the renowned land-based "Trek". For rafters, Queenstown's Shotover R. is a "don't miss" - first time guides have asked "anyone on heart meds", a disqualifier and with good reason. These compensate for the 100+ long-lasting sand fly bites. (Note to your Paul McDonald: I asked you the week prior if sandflies would be a problem on our trip. "No - you'll have no problem with them at all". Thanks, Paul - you should be staked out on a sandfly beach. Pre-trip our friends told us we were travelling a long & costly way for a Pacific NW experience. NZ scenery is like a greatly enhanced and much more varied Pacific NW. We do a lot of provisioned adventure travel - this was one of our best trlps!

| January 1970