Doubtful and Happy

We were up and at 'em early today; caught the coach, with a lot of blue hairs, and rode to Lake Manapouri. It's the fifth largest lake in NZ and the second deepest. The lake wasn't our destination, just a stop on the way. The day looked to be sunny, but we had to cross a mountain range, and they warned it could turn on us. Manapouri was beautiful, and it took about an hour to transit the lake. We got into another coach and had our complimentary visit to the underground power station. Not my idea of fun but interesting none the less. The bus then took us to Doubtful Sound. It is the second longest sound in the Fiords National Park and is also part of the World Heritage Site. We floated through the fiord throughout the day. Unfortunately, the weather was crummy but luckily not totally a waste. The rain was light, and the clouds stayed high enough for us to see the mountain tops (mostly).

The fiord is still quite remote, and there were very few boats on the water. Because of the access restrictions, there are no residents on the shore, there are no moorings, and there just is no civilization out there. It is truly Gods' country. At one point the captain took us into a cove, turned off the motor, and we sat in complete silence, save for the birds on the shore and wind in the trees. The beauty of the fiords, and as I remember from a similar boat ride in Norway, are the spontaneous waterfalls, which tumble from high above all the way to the sea. Spectacular is an understatement.

At the mouth of the Sound, where it meets the Tasman Sea, there was a NZ fur seal colony, with the furry little mammals laying on the rocks, bathing in the drizzle. We also saw crown penguins swimming, but none on shore posing for my lens. Dang. The cruise was several hours long, and we did a lot of picture taking.

We got back into town at about 5pm, made dinner, then walked into town for groceries. We will be cruising Milford Sound tomorrow, which is much different than Doubtful. Stay tuned....Read more