Overseas Experience: The Fiordland

Our trip to Doubtfull Sound was very much a success! We got quite an amazing deal on the cruise, normally a shortened one day cruise runs about $290, however we managed to get an overnight cruise for just $220 (meals included and the meals were FANTASTIC!) It rained the entire time we were there which really isnt as bad as it sounds (they normally get around 220 rainy days per year). It rains enough that "temporary" waterfalls are formed, these waterfalls are VERY impressive and when it stops raining, the waterfalls stop falling.
The trip started with a boat ride across a lake for about an hour or maybe an hour and a half. Then we met with a bus which took us even deeper into the fiord. After the lengthy bus ride, we got on our final cruise ship, on the sound. the boat was not too big, I believe it could hold 70 people.
Unbeknownst to us, they had a Kayak break where we all got kayaks and got to paddle around and explore the fiord. It was pretty cool paddling right up to waterfalls and going underneath of overhanging trees. It poured rain, but luckily our jackets kept us super dry! Sleeping on the boat was actually really nice and smooth, not rocky or anything.
After the trip we continued North to Milford sound, which strangely enough we cought on a sunny day (I understand it rains more in Milford than in Doubtfull) It was a perfect blue sky and you could see for miles. Our intention at Milford was to go into their deep sea observation point. The heavy amount of rain washes the tanin out of the mountains and into the water wich makes a VERY dark layer of freshwater on top of the salty seawater. This freshwater layer filters out the light making it possible for things that normally live at 60 meters below sealevel to grow at relitivaly shallow depths, 10 meters. The underwater observatory is 10 meters below sea level and has 360 degree glass walls so you can enjoy the deep sea animals and plants. We already did the cruise thing at Doubtful so we didnt really want (Read: "afford") another cruise, so just visiting this observatory was our plan. Unfortunately they didnt tell us untill we drove all the way there that to get to the obervatory you needed to take a cruise. Milford was alot cheaper than Doubtfull, so after much rationalizing we decided we better do it... and boy am I glad we did!
At Doubtfull we saw (from a distance and through the trees) the Fiordland Crested Penguin (very rare,) many many many Fur Seals, Dolphins, and an Albotross flying! This was spread out over the two days. In the 2 HOUR cruise at Milford we saw 8 or 10 Fiordland Crested Penguins, and not just through the trees, but swimming, playing, and porpousing in the water, lots of dolphins playing all around our boat, we even saw a Humpback Whale (It was one of our tour guides first time seeing a whale there, we were VERY lucky!) Next was the Observatory, we couldn't have picked a better day! Because it hasn't rained for a couple days not too much tanin was in the water. That meant enough sunlight was able to penatrate the dark freshwater. The artificial lights which are regularly required to see the deep sea life werent needed. One of the most interesting sights down there was the Black Coral. On the Black Coral there lives a "Snake Star" which feeds off of bacterias and such, cleaning the Coral. Usually they dont really move however, for whatever reason, we got to see the Snake Star stretching its legs. VERY UNUSUAL!

Our Cruise Ship