i woke up when it was dark. it was very nice to take a hot shower. the morning cruise started while we were having breakfast. i took pictures but it's very cold outside. we went out to sea and turned back around. there's only one other vessel that does the overnight cruise so it's very peaceful, unlike the peak cruising period of daytime.

early morning on the sea

the rainy night gave snow to the mountain tops so it was very cool to see that. after taking a few pictures, the battery was getting too low on my camera so i went down to the bunks to charge the battery because i noticed there was an outlet. too bad i didn't charge it last night. as i was down below, a pod of dolphins passed by. i needed the charge to take photos during the afternoon cruise we would do. i only had about 30 minutes to charge the thing anyway so i didn't rush up to take photos of the dolphins. besides, we might get lucky and see them again.

early morning in the fiord/sound

we had to wait in the freezing cold terminal for over 1 hour. i couldn't stand it anymore and we went to the cafe for lunch. it's sunny today but still cold as fuck. we were back in time to put our stuff on the kiwi bus. it's not full, yes! hardly anyone there at all. which means i get the seats all to myself and don't have to share. nice!

fish

black coral

we got on the boat and went to the underwater observatory. it wasn't spectacular. again, disappointing. i looked out all the windows and then went back up. once on board again, i don't know why but for some reason i was extremely sleepy. so i took a nap. i woke up in time to see a pod of dolphins swim by. i can never seem to take a good action shot of them jumping out of the water.

a clear view of mitre peak and milford sound

rainbows and waterfalls

nz fur seal on rocks

dolphins barely visible

during the bus ride back to queenstown we picked up a few more people but still the bus was not full so it was cool. once in queenstown, we booked activities for tomorrow then checked in to the southern laughter hostel. my debit card arrived, woohoo! thank you mom! i got my stuff out of the hostel locker too.