Sea Kayaking in Milford Sound

Stayed the night in a small dorm at Milford Sound Lodge.  No cell service or wifi up here and nothing else around except this lodge and the Milford Sound, it felt good to be disconnected from the world.
 
Sunset from the lodge:

Made a new friend while on the scenic cruise.  Chris is a ginger from London disguised as a blonde temporarily living in Auckland.  He was actually in my same dorm at the Mount Cook hostel a couple days ago but I didn't talk to him then because after being completely solo for 2 days I had temporarily forgotten how to talk to other humans.  Fun fact, he will also be working in the same KPMG Advisory practice I used to work in... small world!

At the lodge kitchen, there were some super gourmet meals being cooked by the guests... chicken with fresh herbs, steak, sautéed kale, stir fry, etc.  It was so fun seeing a packed kitchen full of strangers who like to cook.  Chris was being nice and/or pitied me and shared his dinner with me... I'm positive everyone else was envious of the ramen and microwavable chicken satay that we made. :)

Next morning I went sea kayaking.  This was one of my favorite experiences of the trip.

More seals! All the seals in the sound are juvenile males living solo there until age 4-5, just getting fat off fish until they are ready to swim to the west coast of the island to join a colony and mate.

 

Approaching the waterfall and getting ready for a glacial facial.

We took the kayak under this waterfall.  The wind was so strong right under the falls it literally took the breath out of me.  Apparently the wind can get up to 100 knots.

 

We kayaked 12km out to the entrance of the sound and then a small boat picked us up.  On the ride back, we encountered a pack of dolphins.  They were doing jumps in the air and we made waves with the boat so they could play in it. There are only ~60 dolphins that hang out around  the Fjordlands so it is pretty special to see them in the sound.

This time, I made it to my bus for the ride back to Queenstown. :)