Day 10: We woke up to pouring rain. We had to cancel the riding trip. We also learned that Queenstown is designed for outdoor activities only. There was a bird sanctuary, & we finally got to see the famous Kiwi birds. Tammy got a huge laugh out of the Chicago public school system when it was discovered that Raj never heard of those birds before. The birds were adorable. They're flightless, & look like the cat Stimpy from the Ren & Stimpy Show. They're just a fat body, 2 skinny legs, & a beak. The male just runs around following the female all day. Tammy said "Take notes." We then decided to see what human Kiwis thought of American cuisine. We went to a Lone Star Tex-Mex restaurant. We've learned from our travels that every single American restaurant in the world (outside of the U.S.) must have many pictures of Elvis. It was also the only Tex-Mex place we've been to with giant maps of the NORTHwestern United States everywhere. But the food wasn't British, & was wonderful!

Day 11: It was raining even harder than yesterday! Our white-water rafting trip was canceled because of the flooding river. We stayed in and watched rafting videos. Of course, the locals were saying "We've never seen weather this bad in years." We were a little worried because the 4 day Milford hike was only 2 days away, & since they only let 40 people a day on the trip, we had to book months in advance. Milford is a rainforest, yet they were canceling trips for today due to the severe rain! In the evening the rain let up a bit, & we walked to a Japanese restaurant. We were the only non-Japanese people there. We suddenly realized that this place was like a McDonalds to the Japanese tourists. After going to a place with really weird food, they need to find a place for some familiar, normal food. On the way back to the B&B the entire town was hit with a blackout. Luckily, Raj had packed a little flashlight in his coat for the upcoming Milford hike, so we were able to find our way back. Not so luckily, we heard the steamship tour boat that was returning to the dock blow it's whistle frantically. We were reminded of that scene in the movie Airplane where the guy pulled the plug & the runway lights went out just before the plane could land. Somehow, they got the boat docked, because it was there the next day.

Day 12: We raced here so we could spend 4 days in active Queenstown, & it's still raining! But we got to see a beautiful rainbow. We also saw on the news that 18 hikers had been stranded in this weather for days. Our hike is tomorrow. Gulp. We also saw a news clip about how 1 in every 10 helicopters in New Zealand have crashed in the last 3 years. Good thing we didn't take that copter back at the glacier. We also got to see the New Zealand Wheel of Fortune TV show. Spin the wheel, & if you're lucky, it might land on the $55 or even the $115 slot. Finally, the rain stopped, & in the same day the hikers were rescued, & the rivers lowered enough to let us go rafting. We ate well that night, as it was our last hot supper (for 4 days, at least).