we decided to go to milford sound, and it was decided that we would get up early. i set my alarm for 5.40am, which of course i got up to, alf woke up half an hour later, and we left at about 7.30am 
. it didn't really matter, and probably would've been better if we left later anyway. the plan was to stop by lake te anau for a bit along the way, and that's what we did. we got there at about 9.30am, but only stopped briefly really, it was picturesque, but it was already quite bright, so we decided just to move on to milford sound. i also got dust on my sensor (visible in my viewfinder, and still is, but not in pictures so i don't know), and was going crazy trying to get it out.
i was quite happy to let alf drive from te anau, as i was pretty tired, i don't think i was sleeping, or zoning out, but i did sort of feel like i was staring a bit (which might be what zoning out is, i don't know). alf took the wheel and took us the rest of the 110km to milford sound. we got there, and found out that there was no way around the sound apart from on a cruise. so we booked in the cheapest one, and had lunch while waiting. the guy selling the tickets, basically said that
all the cruises were the same, go out, see all the main attractions on one side (mitre peak, some waterfalls), and see the other side coming back (bowen falls, seals, penguins, dolphins, etc.).
our cruise started at 1.30pm, so it was going to be bright, each cruise lasts approximately one and a half hours, or so. unfortunately, we did get a lot of lens flares, over exposures, and hazy results. i did manage to get a couple that i was happy with, the better ones were probably under exposed, and bumped up in rawtherapee. definitely, the pictures going out of the sound were harsher, as we were moving towards the sunlight, whlie coming back to the pier, they were more pleasing (also slightly less light as it was a little later i guess).
i did manage to capture a couple of seals, and a penguin, i did see a couple of dolphins swimming, but they didn't hang around for photos. it was too bad, after we saw some of the post cards with sunset (or sunrise) pictures, and compared them to our own results, it was a little disappointing. i think we worried about the possibility of treacherous roads at night, a bit too much. we should've risked our lives to get better pictures .
anyway, on the way back, the fuel light indicator came on again, pretty much just after leaving milford sound. i wasn't too concerned, it was only about 100km to te anau, and we did get there comfortably, filling up with ten litres to spare. we decided not to stick around for the sunset at te anau (prolly about two hours), and just headed back to queenstown hoping that there would be a good stop along the way (maybe a mistake).
as the light was running out, and there didn't appear to be any lookout points, alf just decided to stop at a reset stop just after five rivers (don't ask me why it is so named, i didn't see one river!! ). after taking a couple pictures from the rest stop, i went to join alf in a field across the road, there was a fence which i tried to jump over, holding my camera and tripod. i didn't make it, smashing my left knee (against the fence), and my right shin (against the concrete post), both bruised, and shin bleeding. i managed to protect my camera well enough, but i was limping around the rest of the night . then we were finished, i realised i should have just climbed over the fence, which was surprisingly easy compared to trying to leap over it.
on the way back, alf stopped at some other rest stop to take a long exposure picture, it was dark and a little creepy, i sure hope that picture was worth it. i stayed in the car, it was too cold. when we finally got back, and went out for dinner, we went to winnies, a pizza place that people at alf's work had praised. we had garlic bread, an half and half hawaiin and mexican pizza, and monteith's pilseners. that was a good meal, the garlic bread was pretty big, and very good.
we didn't have much planned for the next day, but to book bungy, and see what we could trade our lift pass in for.
#33 dtra (david tran)
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