Ice on the windscreen this morning but a clear blue sky. When we went down town for breakfast the lake was looking a picture. Mists were rising and swirling just above the surface and it gave the lake An eerie look.
We left the motel at 10am, leaving the car behind on the motel owners lawn hidden behind a tree, to walk down to the Real Journeys office to catch our bus to Lake Manapouri and board the boat for Doubtful Sound. Sat in the sun overlooking the lake while we waited. Finally underway on Lake Manapouri with a full complement on the way to West Arm where everyone disembarked. Nice trip up the lake with fringing mountain views. Transferred onto a coach for the trip over to Doubtful Sound. Spectacular road, deepest gorges, beech forests etc.
All 70 persons boarded the Navigator,
Lake Te Anau
The Navigator. Taken when we were off the boat on a tender exploring the area more closely
View up the sound on a grey day
our home for the next 24 hours. Our room is small but cosy with our own tiny bathroom. The boat is quite large and well appointed with plenty of seating and viewing areas inside and out on decks. The weather was grey but calm which made photography difficult but gave a mystical look to the scenery. The mountains are enormously high and mostly almost vertical as they plunge into the fiord, with much evidence of tree avalanches and regeneration of old Avalanche sites. The fiord is 400 metres deep. Dinner was great with a large selection of dishes on a buffet. All so well organised. Soup course before we ventured out the end of the fiord into the Southern ocean to see a seal colony on the islands at the mouth of the fiord. Quite rocky for a little while. Then main and dessert when we returned to sheltered waters. Early to bed in our cosy cabin.
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