Yally!

Getting from Queenstown to Te Anau was surprisingly easy, though we had to squeeze all our bags with us on the back seat again. The weather was slowly turning bad with grey skies and fierce winds, so for the first time in ages I had to put on my sweater. After booking our accomodation we decided to go for the dive trip into Milford sounds despite the fact that the two dives were only 25 minutes long (this was because we had to get over a mountain on the way back and a longer dive would make us risk decompression sickness). We had to get up at 5:30 the following morning and drowsily got in the van that would take us to the sounds. It was to be a 2 hour journey and it was still too dark to see anything outside so we just tried to catch some sleep. When we got to the dock in Milford Sounds our dive guide introduced himself as Alex (his real name was masouf or something), he was an egyptian guy somewhere in his 60s who said he'd been a diver all his life and used to train navy seal divers. He was an interesting character to say the least.
After a quick toilet break he had us (me, Jasper and the American Guy who was with us) carry a small pontoon boat into the water, the skipper then rammed his boat into the pebbles next to the small boat (he wasn't allowed to use the docks). We would then step from the small boat onto the bigger one (a very interesting system for getting on the boat if you ask me. . .). As we sailed out to the first dive-site we spotted some dolphins jumping out of the water in the wake of the boat.
We geared up and jumped into the water and it was freezing! We weren't exactly used to warm waters, but this water was only 12 degrees and that was a bit difference compared to the 16-18 degrees we were used to. After a quick weight check we descended into the very mirky looking water and reached the clearer salt water layer. Because of all the rain there is a fresh water layer on top of the salt water which causes a lot of light to be filtered out and thus creates a dark cold environment which is very similar to conditions at 60-70 meters. This makes the sounds a very unique place to dive in and you can see rare sea life that you wouldn't normally find at such shallow depths, such as black coral (which is actually white). We quickly spotted a nudi-branch and black coral. The black coral rose up like small white trees and there were fish hanging all around it like fruit. It seemed the American was having some problems with his buoyancy and was swimming hand in hand with Alex. Too soon the dive was over and we headed back to the boat. On the way to our next dive-site we passed by a bunch of seals and Ox our skipper said he was going to clean the boat. We were wondering what he meant by this, but he said we'd soon find out. While we were taking pictures of the spectacular scenery ox sailed the boat towards one of the many waterfalls in the area. Before we knew it water was pounding down on the roof and deck of the boat. After this refreshing shower we went to our next dive site, though the water here was even colder than ta the first site it didn't bother us as much as the first time. This time we swam along a 160m deep wall (though only at about 16m deep) taking our time to search the wall for all sorts of sea life. After we got back to the boat we sailed to a small island where we were to clean our wetsuits in one of the waterfalls. As Alex rowed the small boat ashore he sang an egyptian song and has us sing "Yally!" after every sentence, it was a very amusing situation. Once we reached the island we stepped into the waterfall and jumped into a pool to clean the wetsuits. After we arrived back in the port we hung around a bit and had some lunch to get the nitrogen out of our blood before we headed over the mountain.
The American guy went to the toilet while me and Jasper jumped into the van, when the American came back we drove off and stopped at a place to take some pictures. After I had gotten out and was about to walk towards the river to take some pictures Alex called and asked me where my friend was. I looked around to see where Jasper was, but I couldn't see him. I was sure he didn't walk past me yet but I was also sure I'd seen him get in the car but he wasn't in the car either. . . In the end we concluded we must have left him back in Milford Sounds somehow and Alex and Ox went back to get him while me and the American checked out the river. When we came back Alex and Ox had picked up Jasper, who apparently went to the toilet after he had dropped his bag in the van and without anyone noticing. We then drove back to Te Anau and I slept most of the way, I was dead tired.
After a few more days of resting we headed towards Invercargill.