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So, up at 6 again, just like deja vu! Had to take all our luggage with us on the bus as we couldn't afford another night at Nomads, Went to get on the bus.... and our names weren't down!!! Couldn't believe it but got it all sorted in the end and got on the bus. Made the 2 hour trip to the town we knew all too well, got our food and drinks, then on for the hour journey to k*** Flat where we got to see our now wheel-less bus from the day before! Was a lovely feeling to move on from that point, and the scenery did start to get impressive! Drove for just over an hour to get to Milford Sounds. It had gone undiscovered for a very long time as the narrow entry did not appear to lead into such large interior bays. The Maori people found it, but it then wasn't discovered by Europeans until 1812! The only access to it was by water, through the sea, but in 1960 a decision was made to make it accessable by road. The roads on thw ay in are very prone to avalanches in the winter so we are lucky to be here in the summer! A massive tunnle was built through one of the mountains to access Milford Sounds, its over 1km long! Was pretty incredible coming out the other side to see increidble mountains and only one road. Only 120 people live in the whole of Milford Sounds! Made our way through the mountains to the water, where we got on a boat and had a buffett lunch which was nicer than we expected! Then we went on a cruise with other tourist groups, saw some brilliant waterfalls, but didn't see the mirror reflection of the mountains which is what i was most looking forward to - guess it was the wind, although it was a nice day and the sun was shining. Apparently the best times to go to Milford Sounds are when its still, so you can see the mirror, or pouring with rain because there are thousand of waterfalls. It still looked amazing though but the cruise felt over quickly - it did all feel very structured and rushed, but it is apparently the top tourist destination in the world so they have to keep things moving! We went to an underwater observatory which was really cool - Milford Sounds is pretty special because the top two meters are rain water, which is why it isn't clear, but under that it is clear, clear blue and looks amazing. Not quite sure how it works but marine life that normally lives hundreds of meters under sea level can live right near the service, so we got to see black coral which isnormally right at the bottom. Pretty cool, and saw lots of fish, the water was soo clear. Got back ont he boat and was still searching desperatly for dolphins, but unfortunatley didn;t see any. Got off the boat and back on the bus for the journey back to Queenstown. Got caught in a traffic jam on the way in (there had been a bad car incident) so got back at half 8. Said goodbye to the others as this was the last time we'd see them :-( then went and signed into Base. As I was still poorly and we'd be spending a while here we decided to go for a double room, especially as Base dorms aren't great. Had made the decision so were then pretty gutted when they said there weren't any left :-( And as we though, our dorm wasn't great. Just a bit run down and smelly, especially after being at Nomads which is brand new. But we popped on the computer for a bit, I rang home, and then we went to bed.
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