The Routeburn Track was definitely more challenging and exhausting than the Rakiura Track, but with commensurately fabulous scenery. Still, we got to our next stop- the Milford Sound Lodge in Milford Sound-- and I showered for about 2 hours (exaggeration, but slight) and then collapsed for the evening. Although Kara and Jordan and I did find time to chat with our very interesting dutch roommate Roland! He is pretty famous in Holland, apparently, for a series of educational math YouTube videos. Also, he had some great stories about hiking the world- especially near the Himalayas in Nepal. He also pointed out how much English teachers in South Korea make, so that's on my mind. :p
The early bedtime was great, and we all slept in the next day. The day started out extremely rainy which disappointed us, as we had a Milford Sound cruise booked, but we figured the weather was deserved after our remarkable luck on Routeburn and so we headed off to the cruise in good spirits.
Wouldn't you know it but our luck held! (And cross your fingers for us for it to continue.) As we got on the cruise we had the most eerie views of the massive mountains of Milford Sound appearing out of the fog- and then, as we continued on, the rain stopped and the fog started to clear. We spend the last 3/4ths of our cruise on the top deck, with clear views!