May 2020

One day you get a bit depressed when you see rain, the next morning you wake up with a smile on your face when you see the sun shining. New Zealand is such a strange country and although I am here almost 3 weeks, I still can’t figure it out. Do I hate it or do I love it???

Like usual we had an early morning coz we needed to go on the road again and today we once again had a few hours of driving ahead of us, but luckily we were going to do something a bit more active as well and today we were going for a bike ride.

The trip from the small town of Te Anau to Arrowtown wasn’t that far, just about an hour and a half and as soon as we got there, we had some time to explore this old gold rush town a little bit more. Instead of trying to look for some lost gold flakes, me and Tania just relaxed on a terrace and enjoyed the sun on our face while having a marvelous cup of chai latte together with a yummy scone. I can’t describe how delicious the selfmade jam was without drooling, it was just that good!

Now that we had a bit of real food in our system (because how long can a person survive on cereals and a piece of toast), we were ready for our 13 km long bike ride from Arrowtown to the Kawarau bridge where me and Tania jumped off just a few days ago. Thinking about that day made me wanna relive it and I guess Tania was thinking the same thing coz as soon as we all got our bikes, she went off like a rabbit on cocaine. I tried to follow but my scone drug of this morning wasn’t helping, so instead I just made it a relaxing one and together with a few members of our group we made sure this trip was going to be unforgettable. During our ride we made a lot of jokes, had some speeding contests, made a few picture stops, but most of all we just laughed and enjoyed the scenery.

Upon our arrival at the bridge, we saw people jumping off it and although I knew that there wasn’t any time left for me to do this as well, I secretly hoped that Tania got her chance and could jump for a second time. When I met up with her, I was a bit sad to hear that she didn’t and as I wanted to ask Craig if it was possible to do the zip lining, he also declined. Apparently there wasn't enough time. On the other hand, maybe it wasn’t that bad after all coz there was so much wind, but still, instead I just resorted to looking at the jumpers but unlike a few days ago, the people were just hooked with a harness around their waist. The weather wasn’t really permitting a bungee jump, but a normal jump was allowed. We were so lucky that we could do the real one. It doesn’t happen that often, but sometimes luck is a bit on our side. A bit that is!

On the other hand, maybe I wrote this down too soon coz while almost our entire group waited for the last people to arrive at the bridge, we suddenly realized that we missed 3 persons. In the beginning we thought they were still coming because they were just slow riders, but when our driver Craig went on the track and tried to find time for about half an hour, they were no where to be found. What the heck???

During our bike ride, we always had to follow the stream, but it looked like those 3 had taking the wrong track which went all the way to Queenstown.

Not something we wanted of course, so we left Helen behind and the search went on for a tall German guy and 2 petit Australian girls. In the beginning it was kinda funny, but after driving more than half an hour it wasn’t. I even started to think we were never going to find them because once lost, there are more than one side tracks you can take. Where the heck are they??? 

Thankfully Helen called that they were finally at the bridge and as soon as we were back on the road again, we drove all the way back to Kawarau bridge where our 3 missing „sheep" were waiting for us. All in all I am just happy to see that nothing went wrong, but on the other hand I am a bit selfish as well as I was thinking that while all this drama was going on, I’d better had stayed at the bridge so that I had time for a zip line adventure. Am I bad or am I bad!?

With everyone back on the bus, we continued further along the road towards Lake Ohau, the place where we were going to spend the night. It was still quite a drive and while we passed once again some amazing sceneries, thanks to my great selection of music I fell asleep once more, only to wake up again when we stopped at a small shop alongside the road. This place was called Jones’s fruit stall where you could buy some delicious fruit as well as dried fruit, nougat and all kinds of nuts. If you are a fruit lover, you really would go „nuts" about it.

The two of us bought a nice selection of everything, some freshly cut pineapple, a box of cherries and of course, how can we resist it, nougat with honey and kiwi. What is not to like about that. If the weather isn’t good, the food has to be!

Back on the road again, we had one more stop in a small town called Cromwell. It is not like there is much to see in this little town except for a giant display of fruit while entering the town, but I have to admit, the Pad Thai they served in the local Thai restaurant was more than fine to me. For dessert we still had some pineapple and as soon as we all had the lunch we wanted, we could jump back on the bus for another 2 hours of driving towards the lake.

During our ride, we saw the blue sky turn into some kind of thick pea soup of clouds and soon after even dark clouds where hovering around the Lake Ohau area. By the time we reached it, rain was pooring again. It seemed it was going to haunt us wherever we went. Instead of going for a run around the lake, I chose to relax in a hot bath and by the time I was totally zen again, it was time to have dinner as well. This was going to be our last meal together with the group and afterwards, a few of us met up at the bar. Not that we were such a big party group, but with a few drinks, some nice conversations and from time to time even funny dance moves, the evening wasn’t all that bad.

At 11 PM we all called it a night, after all, we all had to get out of bed early and in the end I think we made a wise decision coz as soon as I crawled into my bed, my Vodka Raspberry did his work and brought me straight to dreamland.

Unlike a few days before, today we had yet again an early start and this meant that with sleepy eyes I got dressed and had breakfast just like the rest of our group so that we could leave for Milford Sound at about 7 AM. I was really looking forward to this day coz I read so much about it, the trouble however is that someone told me that it rains about 300 days at this particular place, so it was unlikely that with our luck we were going to see it with a bright blue sky.

The trip towards Milford Sound was going to take a few hours and as soon as we were gone, Helen told us that it wasn’t likely that we were going to see it without rain. I knew it, it was just our luck again, but hopefully it wouldn’t be that bad?

I still had a little bit of hope left, because after all, what else is there? Helen assured us however that not only the Sound, but also the road towards it was well worth, so at least we had something to look forward to.

About one hour into the trip, we suddenly stopped at a very big open field with mountains in the distance and suddenly it hit me why our driver Craig was playing the theme song of the musical „Sound of Music”. When "Maria" started to sing, Craig and Helen jumped out of the bus and started frolicking around. I have to admit it is kind of a weird experience but on the other hand, with the snowy mountains in the near distance, it sounded about right. The temperature on the other hand could be better, but hey, the music and sceneries made the stop well worth and as soon as we found our responsible „leaders” again, it was time to go back on the road again where we stopped about half an hour later.

This time we had a quick stop at the Mirror Lakes, which are well-known for their reflection onto the water and although we had yet again a cloudy day, I was amazed to see that you still could see it. The water is truly crystal clear and I was wondering if I could drink from it and I am sure we could.

Fortunately we couldn’t gaze at the mountains too much coz other tour groups were following us as well and the sad story is that this was going to be for the remainder of the day, definitely not a fun day if you have to run through everything just in order to see something, but that sometimes happens when you are on a tour trip I suppose.

From the lakes we drove further on and had a quick toilet stop in Knobs Flat, where you had just a few toilets and I think I even saw a caravan park, but that’s about it. A very sad place indeed, so that is probably the reason we just went there to have a 5 minute break.

Once back on the bus, it was yet again a fairly long drive, but Craig made it up with a few photo stops along the way and I do agree with Helen on this one, the drive towards the Sound is amazingly beautiful, especially when you have some customized music playing through the boxes. It was like driving through a magical place and the waterfalls we drove by from time to time were nice to look at as well. To be honest, I was waiting for the moment some fairies were going to come out and play. But that's just me of course!

As we arrived at the Homer tunnel, which was cut out through the entire mountain, we had to wait a few minutes before we could go trough, but once we got the green light, we've got an amazing experience of driving through it on the theme song of Mission Impossible with a laser show and everything. That is something I really like about Topdeck, even at dull moments, they always try to lift up the spirit and it really works. I really love that!

Passing the Homer tunnel, it amazed me, that after driving about half an hour we arrived in some kind of forest that could easily be the shooting location for the movie Jurassic Park. It is strange, but being here in New Zealand wants me to compare everything with movies, I guess the recent relaeses of the Hobbit movies as well as the Lord of the Rings movies don’t help this of course. But I have to admit, this country is made for making some of the world’s greatest movies and who knows how many will follow coz when we were in Wellington almost a week ago, they were telling us something of a sequel for the Avatar movie. Not my favorite one, but now seeing all this, I can imagine why they wanna film it here. When the sun is coming out, it must be mind-blowing, because it is beautiful with dark clouds as well.

Dark clouds usually meant trouble and this time it was no different, coz as soon as we drove a few minutes through a forest, it started to rain, but it in way that's not the right word, it were more downpours. It literally came falling out of the sky with buckets. Unbelievable!

Sadly enough we had to go and see the Chasm, which is sort of a water fall, but with the heavy rainfall, no one is really enthusiastic and nor am I, but I am here and I don’t think I am coming back soon, so as soon as I put on my rain jacket I walk into the rainforest (hence why we have it of course) and I loved it. The spooky looking trees were amazing, the many ferns looked the same, I could wonder of here if it wasn’t for the rain of course and secondly of all, the hundreds of asian people walking besides me with their umbrellas trying to do their best to poke my eyes out … jeezzz, that is not what I particularly call magical. Now I know why it is only us humans out here!

Needless to say, we walked through the forest if our ass was on fire and as soon as we were on the road again, it was only an one hour drive towards the Milford Sound, which we reached … in the rain!

I have to admit, I was a bit disappointment when we arrived and as soon as we were on the boat, it started to rain even harder. I have to admit that a depression was starting to kick in and besides a few waterfalls and lots of fog, there was nothing else to see here at the sound. It didn’t help when the crew of the boat told us how beautiful it was here at the Sound because at that moment we couldn’t see much. Needless to say, the mood was gone to almost freezing temperatures for some of us, including yours truly. Although I have to admit that there were still some people on board who saw the fun in it coz they were even crazy enough to go and stand under a freezing cold waterfall. I on the other hand can verify how pure the water was by drinking it, that is how far my sense of adventure goes when I am on depression mode!

During our 3 hour cruise, we tried to spot a few penguins, but in the end we never saw one single one. I have my hopes up at meeting a few in Torango Zoo but we will see when we get there, for now it was just one lonely seal and that is about everything you can see here when we are talking about wildlife. When I come to think about it, it is a bit disappointing as well coz since my last trip to Australia, I saw so much wildlife that for some crazy reason, I expected the same here in New Zealand. Not a jumping kangaroo or even a cute koala, but somehow I expected to see lots of birds, but the only one showing up was a Kea at the parking lot of the waterfall we visited earlier. Maybe we have chosen the wrong season???

Nothing to do about that of course, but I was so glad to be of the boat again because not only didn't I see something worthwhile, I also began to get a bit seasick, so during the ride back to Te Anau where we were going to spend the night, I did nothing else but sleep in the bus. It seemed I was really exhausted.

Upon our arrival at the hotel, we quickly dropped of our luggage and went for a run. After a whole day of riding and sleeping in a bus it was time for a bit of action and a half an hour run around the lake was just the perfect medicine. It made me feel all energized again.

It was already fairly late when we had dinner, so needless to say, by the time that I packed my stuff and got organized it was already time to close my eyes and dream about an other day on the road.

Since we had another free day today, this meant that we could sleep in as well and that is just what I needed after a day like yesterday. After not sleeping a whole night the day before, this was more than welcome, but we still wanted to do some stuff today, so we set our alarm clock at about 8.15 AM and while the damn thing was making its usual noise, we slowly got dressed and had some breakfast.

We didn’t plan any extreme activities today because like always you’ll never know what the weather is going to be like, but for some reason the weather gods agreed with us and as soon as we opened the curtains, we saw a nice blue sky and that yellow thing that we saw yesterday was back again as well. What a little bit of sunshine can do to a person coz I felt instant happiness.

Because we didn’t plan nothing, this didn’t mean of course that we weren’t planning of doing nothing. Lots of people from our group said to us yesterday that the view from up the mountain was so beautiful, so we planned to go and have a look around. Unlike everyone else, who just took the gondola upstairs and back down again, we wanted to go and hike up the mountain and of course come back as well.

I know that we looked like a few crazy tourists, but since we started this trip we did so many active things, that walking up a mountain is just a part of it all.

As soon as we arrived at the base of the gondola, we could follow the tiki trail all the way up and that was just the thing we wanted to do. The start was pretty steep and so was the middle and the end. For an hour long we did nothing else but climb and climb and this wouldn’t be a biggie if it weren’t for the trail itself. It wasn’t always that flat, sometimes we had to cross rocks, roots, trees, you name it what you can find in nature and we crossed or passed it. But I have to admit that the views on the way up were so nice and as soon as we arrived at the top of the mountain, we even got rewarded with more than beautiful sceneries. It was just so worth it!

Going back down wasn’t as easy as well coz now we had to do it all over again and sometimes we thought we were going to slide from the mountain sooner than later, but about an hour later we were back at the base, happy to have made it and done with this morning exercise.

Since it was already after 12 AM, we just went for a quick bite at the local bakery and than we were in search for some bikes. We wanted to rent one for the remaining of the afternoon. Now that the weather was still so nice, we had to make the best of it and what better way to do it than with a cycling trip.

It wasn’t hard to rent a bike, finding a good one was a bit harder, but after a bit of walking, we finally found the right bike shop and about 15 minutes later we were out of the place and were ready to start a trip along the lake, that is if you know that you have to ride on the left hand side, which I must say, wasn’t always that easy for the both of us and I was more than happy that most of the trip we just had to follow the gravel road.

The views we saw on the way were so amazing but by the time we ended up on the other end of the lake, we urgently needed some food into our body and this was hard to come by. It seemed we were always too far away from civilization if you didn’t count the endless houses with a lake view.

It took us a few more minutes of riding when we suddenly saw a sign to a golf club , which also had a cafe and it invited all travelers along the way. This was the ideal situation and since we craved for some food, we went for it. Only the way up wasn’t all that easy and the road was just too steep for me to handle. I had to go further on foot, but hey, although completely tired, I made it.

We ordered some pumpkin soup and afterwards we split a passion fruit muffin and with some food in our system, we felt more human again.

Back on track about half an hour later, the road got more heavier and above all, it wasn’t as flat anymore, there were rocks on it and getting up a hill wasn’t that easy. I am not a real experienced mountain biker, so after we came to a certain lookout point, it was the ideal place for me to end this ride all together and although Tania went a little further to go and have a look, she also told me it came to an end at a beach. There wasn’t much to do anymore than slowly drive back to the centre of Queenstown where we arrived about a few hours later.

As soon as we got rid of our bike, we searched for some more food and this time we went again for the noodle canteen. It is quick, it is eatable and I guess it is a bit more healthier dan going to do golden arches every day, so we weren’t exactly complaining.

The sun was still shining so bright that we enjoyed every sunbeam. We walked around town till the sun was almost setting and before we went back to our room, we went for another piece of lemon meringue. It was just so yummy and after a day full physical activities, I felt like we kind of deserved it. 

Since we were going to leave tomorrow for another part of the tour, this meant packing again and this time it was a bit more difficult with all the souvenirs and stuff, but we made it. A quick shower later, I called it a night and closed my eyes. I must have been more tired than expected coz I fell asleep in an instant.

I don’t know what happened, but although I was mentally prepared for my bungee jump since a last couple of days, somehow this night I couldn’t sleep at all. I guess the movies Tania showed me on YouTube didn’t help all that well. We practiced our jump a few times last night and although I was sure I was going to be prepared, my dreams begged the differ. I kept on dreaming that the rope broke, that I couldn’t jump because my feet were stuck somehow or even that I jumped completely wrong. I kept on practicing my jump in my dreams till it was morning and when it was time for Tania to leave for her skydive adventure, I could finally close my eyes for a couple of hours, when I suddenly woke up at about 8 AM.

Today was going to be a relaxing morning coz Tania was already high up in the sky and by the time that she was done at about 10 AM, I was going to meet up with her at the skydive shop, but till than I just got dressed and had some breakfast, which was simply a bowl of cereal and a toast with jam.

Not that much, but my stomach wasn’t up to something more. I still was very nervous, but can you blame me. I am afraid of heights and now I was planning to jump of a bridge, but I had to do it. If I want to achieve something, I need to take action, and this was as good as place to start with it. After all, I already overcome my fear of heights a little with skiing, so this is just another step in the right direction. Some people I would know, would tell me that this is a bit extreme, but it is my life, my decision!

On the other hand, that doesn’t made me less scared, so in order to put my mind at ease, I just went into town and walked all the way to the waterfront where a few people where feeding the ducks. It was such a reassuring picture and with the sun on my face, it felt like a real holiday and after all, that is just what this is!

Earlier than expected, Tania send me a text message that she was done already, so I just walked up to our room again where we saw each other again after a few minutes.

Tania was really excited about her skydive and loved it so much that I was beginning the wonder why I didn’t join her, but on the other hand, my jump this afternoon is scary enough, falling out of an airplane from 12500 feet, that is a little bit more extreme. Maybe for next time, I have to think about it, if I survive this one of course.

Our jump was planned for 1.30 PM, so we had enough time to walk through the Gardens Park of town and have something small to eat for lunch. We didn’t wanted to eat something too heavy, so we just opted for a bowl of hot soup with some bread and that was more than enough for me.

All excited and nervous for what was about to happen, the two of us went to the shop and paid for our jump. We were not alone, two girls from our group, Kelly and Avril were going to join us and by the time we left with the bus, we were with about 20 people who were going to jump. Most of the group was going to do the higher one, the Nevis jump which is about 143 meters, but I was satisfied with the bridge of about 43 meters, think small I always say.

The strange thing about it is, that I was really nervous this morning, but by the time things got closer and closer, I felt more and more at ease.

On our way up to the bridge, I sat next to a girl from Christchurch who was going to do the Nevis swing and she was so excited about the whole ordeal that I suddenly wanted to go for it. Although still very nervous, I had set my mind to it and once we arrived at the scene, the people were so friendly and nice that I almost forgot my anxiety and once I saw the bridge and walked over it, I knew … this is it!

Tania and Sini (a girl from Germany) first wanted to have a look at the jumpers, but I knew that if I was going to do that, I got more nervous, so I just walked up to the bridge and within seconds I found myself right in front of my worst nightmare. Some Korean guy was in front of me and the next in line and I saw on his face that he was really nervous and a bit scared as well, so we started talking and made a few jokes and before I even realized it, he was gone and I was next.

I can’t explain the feeling exactly, but at the moment they put everything on me, I was just so relaxed that it didn’t even felt real. It was like I was sleepwalking and before I knew it I was standing on the platform when it suddenly hit me. One of the crew members just told me not to look down since I told him about my fear of heights and he told me to concentrate on the bridge in front of me. I just did that and by the count of one, two and three, I jumped when he told me to jump. It was just that easy!!

The feeling was just incredible and to be honest, I thought it was going to be much scarier, maybe this bridge was too low???  I don’t exactly know, but it was fun and the only thing that went through my mind at that moment was … I DID THIS!!!! Hell yeah!!!

I can recommend it to everyone, even with fear of heights, one should once in a lifetime do something like this and it even makes me wonder if I could do the Nevis as well??? Maybe for the future???

Anyway, once I was down, Tania was up next and just like me, she had the feeling that it was going to be worse than it actually was. Are we good or are we good??? In a way I am just happy that nothing went wrong, but that's just me. I was so proud that I could finally do something of which I don’t have control over. It felt great, I can tell you that!

Since we still had a little bit of free time on our hands, we took some pictures with our goofy looking t-shirt and than it was of to the souvenir shop and a few minutes later, the shuttle bus was there again to bring us back to town. With a big smile on our faces we walked inside the bus, still feeling a little bit „high”.

Upon our arrival in town we were so hungry that we decided to go for the famous Fergburger. It is said to be the best burger of the whole country and although we had to wait for almost an hour, I must admit that it was a good one, but too big for me and I still don’t understand why people want to wait for almost 3 hours to get one in the first place!!!

By the time we left the place, it was already 6 PM, this meant that within an hour we had to go to dinner again with our group and food was the last thing on my mind right now.

The weather was still very nice, so we decided to do some souvenir hunting and of course we scored a few things. With our new purchases in our hand we walked back to our room only to leave it again about half an hour later. Tonight we were going to a pizza place which supposedly has to best pizza’s in town, but still not hungry, I ate only a bit of bread and one slice of pizza. It was just too much!

On the other hand drinks were no problem, especially the vodka with raspberry, that was way yummy, but when the alcohol started to kick in, I felt sleepy as well and by the time it was 9 PM, me and Tania went back to our room. No party for us tonight, we were way to tired, what a jump (or even two in Tania’s case) can do to a person.

By the time we closed our eyes it was already 11.30 PM, way too early actually, but I didn’t care much about it, I was completely knackered.

Strangely enough I slept quite alright, but in the middle of the night everything became so quite that I suddenly woke up. It seemed that the rain had finally stopped and with a smile on my face I went back to sleep. Little did I know of course what was going to happen in the next few hours and believe it or not, a little bit after 6 AM, it started to rain again, my god, does it ever stop ????

Lots of us wanted to do the heli-hike excursion to Fox Glacier and secretly I already knew that it was going to be cancelled, but there was still a chance that we could walk up to the glacier, sadly enough not in this weather though. If it kept on raining in the morning, even the walk up was going to be cancelled and now that it started to rain again, all hope was gone. The one thing that went through my mind at that moment was the fact that I hated rain!

I don’t mind so much that it rains on other days, but one of the reasons I really wanted to come to NZ was for the Tongariro crossing (cancelled), Fox glacier (cancelled) and now my only hope is set on Milfourd Sound. Knowing my luck, this is going to be in the rain as well, I am sure of it. I really don’t know what I have done to deserve this but hey, that’s destiny for you I guess?

As we meet up with the rest of the group for breakfast, it is soon enough clear to everyone that we aren’t going to the glacier, after all, it is really raining cats and dogs and the conclusion of everyone is to get the hell out of this miserable place. Nope, it doesn’t look like I am going to have happy memories of Fox Glacier, it really is a pity.

When everything is loaded into the bus, it is time for us to leave and we all wanted to get out of here as soon as possible but because we left earlier than planned, Helen and Craig had to come up with alternatives. Not that this is easy with such weather, but hey, at least they tried to cheer us all up.

About one hour into the drive and a few floods later (I am not exaggerating, we quite literally had to drive on the other side of the road), we arrived at the information centre of Haast. This was the ideal stop for a toilet break and it also had a small interactive museum about the fauna and flora of the region we were in. Of course we couldn’t stay there for days, so after about half an hour, we were back on the road again only to stop again at one of the many road cafe's we came across.

With a delicious chai latte in the hand, we were on the move again, only to have another stop about half an hour later. We were near the Thunder Creek falls, which is supposed to be a very beautiful place and the home of a fairy. According to Helen, she is called abcde (spoken abcidee). This fairy rewards only the good people at the fall. If you look closely at the waterfall for about 12 seconds at a fixed point, something magical is going to happen. And although it rained so hard that it was difficult to concentrate, I finally got rewarded,, so it seems that I was a good person after all. For the more sober people amongst us, the optical illusion is the fact that the mountains seemed to move. Am I now a bad person by telling this ???

Suddenly it started to rain even harder and we had to make a run for it, I am so glad that we were leaving for Queenstown today, coz they promised us better weather on the other side of the mountain and in a way that was true coz once we left them behind, we were sort of rid of the pooring rain.

I guess it must haven been about 2 hours later when we arrived at the little town of Wanaka, which is also known for its lake. At the moment we arrived, the sun was shining so bright that we all got so excited and happy at the same time. It had been a few days since we saw this round yellow thing and some of us were even wondering how it looked like.

This stop was also going to be our place to have some lunch and what is not to like when you can eat with such nice weather. Me and Tania tried to find a spot on a terrace to enjoy the sunrays but as soon as we got our food, dark clouds were hovering over the city, please go away!!!!!

Sadly enough they wouldn’t go away, but luckily we had eaten already and as soon as we left the terrace, it started drizzling again. This is always a bad omen and by the time we left an ice-cream parlor (what is a person without a dessert), it was raining cats and dogs again. It clearly was written in stone that today was going to be a shitty day!!

Back on the road again, we only had a few hours of driving left and we arrived at Queenstown with the sun in our backs. That yellow thing that is sometimes hovering high in the sky was finally back and as soon as we checked in to our room, me and Tania went into town to have a look around.

Tonight we had a free dinner and since tomorrow we were going to do some adrenaline activities (especially Tania), we wanted to have one last good meal. Since we both like Mexican food so much, we decided to go with it and tried out a cute restaurant which looked very good. We even ordered a margarita as an aperitif, because after all, if we were going to die tomorrow, we at least had one last good meal together.

A little tipsy, we went back to our room again, but not before we had one last stop at the Ferg bakery for a dessert. The choice of the day was lemon Meringue and one thing is for sure, it was delicious.

The perfect ending for a dinner, after all, it could be our last!

It is already way after 9 PM when we started to organize our stuff we needed for tomorrow and after a long hot shower it was time for me to hit the sack. It was going to be an early night coz tomorrow morning Tania had to jump out of an airplane. I on the other hand could sleep in and that was just what I needed because it was going to be a stressful afternoon all together.