Boat tour on Milford Sound

01/29/17

We spent the night at a DOC campground, but since we don't want to pay $13 for a pit toilet, we get up at 5:30 am so the ranger doesn't charge us. We drive further into the Fjordland because we booked a boat tour on Milford Sound for 12:30 pm the day before. Our mood is pretty low because we got up in the middle of the night and it's pouring rain. On the way to the harbor, we drive through a one-way tunnel through the mountains. When we come out on the other side, we can't see much because there is a huge rain cloud hanging in the mountains. When we arrive at the harbor, we take a little nap in the morning because we can't do anything in this rain anyway.

We slowly make our way to the departure point at 12 o'clock, carrying bad mood with us. We imagine how it might look if we weren't standing in a cloud.

We board the boat and suddenly it starts to clear up and the clouds slowly move away. We are really lucky because during our 2-hour journey, almost all the clouds disappeared and we had a wonderful time on the water with an incredible view. As if we weren't lucky enough, we see a group of dolphins inside the fjord and our skipper heads straight for them. We drive with the dolphins for 15 minutes and then head back to the landing place.

We decide to drive back to the campground in Lumsden. On the way there, we can now see everything that we missed in the morning due to the rain clouds. We also take a short walk at Lake Gunn.

When we arrive at the campground, we spot a campervan that looks very familiar and we meet the two Israelis again. Together with a few other backpackers, we play frisbee and chat until late in the evening.