Milford Sound Cruise Under the Rain – Day 147

It’s raining. It’s raining so much! I have never seen a storm that bad. Ever.

Today we are waking up in the beautiful Milford Sound Lodge which is not only a holiday park it’s also luxury lodge as well as having some backpacker dorms and it’s actually one of the only accommodations here in Milford Sound.

As you can see it is pouring down with rain in fact it is raining so much that even the Milford Sound Road is closed. So we decide to wait out the weather by stuffing our faces inside the Milford Sound Lodge.

The great thing though about Real Journeys is that despite the weather and the rain and the gusting gales out there today they are still putting on their Milford Sound Nature Cruise so we are so stoked to be jumping on that today.

So Laura and I are jumping onto the free shuttle to the Milford Wharf. There we’re gonna be boarding the Milford marina which is the Real Journeys boat which is gonna take us around Milford Sound today. It’s incredible that they keep running the tours in that crazy weather.

Bit of a breeze out here so be aware of that make sure you hang onto anything that might blow away, like loose hats, toupee small children husbands wallets those sorts of things.

As the boat the boat is heading out toward the marina and out toward the sound it looks like Laura and I are the only ones brave enough to head toward the front deck but the nature guide is already there giving us commentary so if here’s here doing his job we’ll be here listening to him.

The Sound is roaring like never before There is a huge amount of waves the wind is splashing our faces but it makes the whole place look so much better there are thousands of waterfalls surrounding us those waterfalls are not here on a sunny day so we are feeling so happy to have made it to Milford Sound in such crummy weather.

It is absolutely blowing a gale out here the wind is so strong the rain is absolutely pounding us in the face but it is really so much fun. All these temporary waterfalls are making their way from the tops of the mountains it looks absolutely stunning around here.

And we are about to get an even closer look to one of those waterfalls it seems to be a Real Journeys thing to actually get super close and intimate with waterfalls so the captain in maneuvering his boat right underneath it.

So it’s Laura’s fourth time here, it’s my fifth time here, and I don’t think we’ve ever seen those waterfalls as big and gushing. that’s definitely a treat.

This nature cruise usually about 2 hours long taking us all the way to the very end of Milford Sound but because the swell is so rough today the boat can only really make it to the end of where the sheltered waters are. But that’s all good because we get more time to explore the best of what Milford Sound has to offer.

Alright so now we’re looking for some seals. We know we’re gonna find some because there is never a cruise in Milford Sound without any seals. It’s just a matter of where. I think I know where. Where? Seal rock. What? They do not move.

There’s heaps of wildlife to be found in Milford Sound there is the Fiordland-crested penguins there are bottle-nose dolphins there are crazy tourists staring at my camera and there is also the New Zealand fur seal and that’s exactly what we’re gonna be looking for today and we end up finding them lazying on a rock.

Because New Zealand fur seals lazying on a rock are actually quite hard to spot our nature guide is actually pointing them out for us, They are little dots in the middle of waves and rocks and the vegetation. it’s super hard to see them, but with their help we get some really awesome pictures of the massive seal colony here in Milford Sound.

As soon as we leave the seals my attention is straight back on the amazing scenery around us. All these towering mountains have been carved by glaciers. This is amazing.

As we are approaching Stirling Falls, the captain is calling out for everybody to head out toward the front deck for an experience not to be forgotten but once more Laura and I are the only ones to answer the call.

Holy shoot!

It turns out that the Real Journeys crew are as crazy as we are and they do love their rain. I love my job. this is what we do everyday!

I really thought I couldn’t get anymore wet but turns out I can.

We can’t hide it, Milford Sound is one hell of a rainy place you usually get about a 50 50 chance chance on whether you’re gonna be in the rain or a sunny day in Milford Sound but if you want to check out what being in the sound is like on a sunny day head on over to our Doubtful Sound video.

We are leaving the boat super wet but super happy we had a blast on the cruise and the weather only made it better because that’s such a different cruise than we’ve ever done in New Zealand.

Milford Marina, that wasn’t the best weather but that was the best time. We’ve never seen Milford Sound like this I don’t thin we’ll ever see Milford Sound like this again. So I consider myself treated.

We go back to the Milford Sound Lodge feeling like we’re never going to be dry again and now we have the massive challenge of trying to dry our clothes in our campervan. But we have loads more to show you in Milford Sound with kayaking in Milford Sound tomorrow so join us then!

We are getting on a boat which is a bit old school today it’s got a bit of history by the looks of things it’s got all these sailing poles up and pretty old school like eating area… It’s not a pole, it’s a mast. I’m getting some information from the studio saying they are actually called masts not sailing poles, so this boat is covered in sailing sticks and I don’t care what they’re called.