Day 4 in New Zealand: Kayaking with Dolphins in Milford Sound

This is the fourth installment of Steven and my adventures in New Zealand in April 2013. You can find the first post, second, and third on these links. Enjoy!

When I first pressured Steven to sign up for this tour, the Rosco's Morning Glory Sea Kayak, I really had no idea what we were in for.

All I knew was that I wanted to try my hand at 5+ hours of kayaking because I'm a sucker for punishment, endurance challenges and early mornings.

Yeah, I don't know how Steven puts up with me either.

ANYWAY, we stayed in the nearest town, Te Anau, the night before our kayak. This is because accommodation in Milford Sound is limited to basically the Milford Lodge which either charges dirt cheap prices for backpacker accommodation, or Millionaire prices for luxury suites.

As Steven and I are no longer backpackers (hello late 20s, creaky joints, early morning Ashtanga), and not yet millionaires (Plan B: marry rich), we decided to stay in an average-ly priced motel and drive the 2 hours to Milford Sound in the morning.

The kayak tour met at 7 AM. This meant we had to be on the road by 5, which meant a 3:30 AM check out to HAUL SOME SERIOUS ASS to Milford.

It was pitch black, a partly cloudy night, and an absolutely once-in-a-lifetime drive. Think snow-capped mountains and a blanket of stars. Steven probably had a 1 and 1/2 hour panic attack trying not to drive off the road, but I had a very pleasant journey nap.

At Milford Sound Lodge, we met the group and went to Deepwater Basin to get our gear on.

This company really fits you out with everything you possibly need: fleece pants, top, sweater, rain/wind jacket, and a floppy kayak skirt that basically keeps the water out of your seat. You really only need to wear some underwear, and you're all set!

We were off without delay. The sky was getting brighter and brighter, but because of the height of the mountains it would still be hours before we got direct light.

We started in the quiet, idyllic Deepwater Basin, and started paddling out to the Sound, which is actually a Fjord, but you can't change the name now that everyone's calling it a Sound, right?

It had rained the day before, so the waterfalls were plentiful and in force!

Then, we had our first wildlife spotting.

THAT'S A DOLPHIN!! 

A

DOLPHIN!

There was a pod swimming into the fjord to start a day of fishing, playing, and showing off in front of the cruise ships.

They sped past us, as we were moving out of the fjord towards the Tasman Sea.

We turned the corner and saw these:

Seals, just chillin', sunning themselves on the rocks. Y'know how it goes, the life of a seal.

By now, as you can see, we had direct sunlight on us.

Neither Steven nor I had any idea what time it was.

All we knew was that we were having a BLAST. Paddling, paddling, and paddling.

We each took turns paddling under and through Rainbow Falls.

Then, our friendly dolphins caught up to us. They were returning to sea by now.

It's too bad I couldn't get any pictures of them jumping and frolicking. There was even a little baby dolphin.

We paddled HARD to keep up with the pod. Those little buggers can swim.

It was hard to believe that for 15-20 minutes, we were just paddling among the dolphin pod, going out to sea.

Finally, we made it to Tasman Sea. The dolphins stuck close to the shore line as we ventured straight out. The waves were bigger and the water was clear (being away from trees meant the tannins or oils in the trees couldn't stain the water here).

We met up with a little jet boat (to the very left of the above picture) that would speed us back to our start point. It basically did the work of our 5+ hour kayak in about 10 minutes.

This trip was hands-down the highlight of our time in New Zealand. Coming so close to the wildlife, chatting with our tour guide, and making friends with our kayak-trip-mates was incredible.

Before we knew it, we were back on the road.

We needed to put 4+ hours between us and Milford Sound, so we wasted no time.

Back to Queenstown!

Day 2 in New Zealand: Fox Glacier Township

This is the second installment to Steven and my adventures in New Zealand! If you missed the first, you can find it here. Cheers!

When Steven and I had planned our road trip to New Zealand, we were prepared for hours of driving a day. It would be worth the effort to have all the adventure we were planning on having.

Our first adventure would be hiking around Fox Glacier, the most accessible of New Zealand's 3000-some glaciers. This was supposed to be an easy drive: 5 hours from Christchurch to Fox Glacier Township through Arthur's Pass.

The drive was actually more like an agonizing 6 hrs plus. I was considering murdering Steven and dumping his corpse in the mountains.

Just kidding... Maybe.

We took a rest-and-stretch stop at a random lake about an hour or so out of Christchurch. Up in the mountains it was significantly chillier than the sunshine led you to believe.

We also stopped at Arthur's Pass for some gas and grub. I got 2 oranges for $3 NZD! Outrageous but I thought the vitamins would do well to heal my cold.

Some unique warnings...

Then, there was that magic moment when, after driving for hours through mountains and farms, you hit the coast and endless horizon:

By the time we got to Fox Glacier Township, the sun had just set. We were both really afraid of driving in the dark, so we were racing the sun to get there.

We had a quick dinner (btw, most delicious soup I've ever had; it was roasted tomato!), and went to bed.

The guy at our motel had told us to check out Lake Matheson, just 5 min down the road, before we went on our glacier hike at 8:30 AM. The sun was set to rise around 7:30, so we had a quick breakfast and made our way there.

So. Worth. It.

Steven and I signed up for a "Fox-Trot" half day hike around the glacier. You walk up the terminal face of the glacier and explore whatever area of it you can.

The company we went with, Fox Glacier Guiding, got us fully outfitted.

Boots, socks, wind/water proof jacket, waterproof backpacks, and crampons.

Crampons are sharp little pointy things that allow you to kick your enemies off glaciers and frolic with triumph. RAWR.

There was about a 20-30 minute walk from the car park to the glacier itself.

Those bits of white are the glacier there, covered in rock and silt.

Once you got on the glacier, it was incredible to think that it extended back another 30 miles up into the mountains.

It was really dirty up there.

"Glaciers are like conveyor belts for mountain rocks," our guides explained. "They carry them from the mountain tops to the bottom as they melt."

I just thought Foxie needed a good ol' shower and scrub. That dirty ol' glacier girl.

That's right.

"Sandy DOMINATED the mighty Fox Glacier."

One of our Heart Challenges is to dominate everything I do. What can I say. It comes naturally.