Milford Sound, the most famous tourist site in New Zealand so they say.
Needless to say I was excited about getting there. After some more
incredible dodgy roads and a tunnel carved out of the bottom of a
moutain, we arrived at our destination and checked into the harbour to
catch our small boat around the Sound.
We had heard from other travellers that it was better to travel in
smaller boast because the dolphins are more likely to come next to the
smaller boats (something about the engines tiggling their stomachs!) so
there was definitely some anticipation to get a close up of these
amazing creatures. Although we had been swimming with them before on a
holiday to Mexico a few years back and spotted them for a distance in
Perth, I was still excited. It doesn't take a lot to make me excited!
Aboard the boat which only had 25 people on board compared to others
which had hundereds, we set off around the Sound with a tour and
commentary about the area. There were sheer rock faces rising 1,200
metres out of the sea all around us and waterfalls everywhere.
Rainforests cling to the cliff tops and the water is clear and blue.
The wind picked up quite quickly and so only our eyes could be seen
above our fleeces as we huddled together.
As we walked around the boat to keep warm, I thought I spotted a fin in
the water and I ran to the side of the boat to get a closer look. I was
right, it was a fin and 8 dolphins appeared at the side of the boat,
leaping and swimming 10 foot away from me. I screamed to Nick and got
the camera just in time to capture a few videos and pictures of the
creatures. It was an awesome sight as they were all leaping over each
other. Usually you would have to pay for a dolphin trip (another $80
each) but we managed to combine it into one trip. I stopped listening
to the description of the shapes of the mountains around us and watched
the dolphins as they went on their way. A great experience. Even the
sandflys that had bitten us alive couldn't dampen our spirits.
Back in Te Anau, we stayed one more night in our deer park and left for
the town of Dunedin exhausted by the last couple of days.
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