Our South Island Adventure - Doubtful Sound

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We had our lunch packed and were now ready for our day on Doubtful Sound and yes the sun was shining this time. We went with Real Journey Cruises which also included a tour of the Manapouri Power Station which was maybe an unnecessary stop for us but we tend to be up for anything and it is all actually quite interesting. Actually getting to Doubtful Sound is a bit of a process. It involved a bus drive to Manapouri as we were staying in Te Anau, then a boat ride on the Manapouri Lake to view the power station. We then had another bus ride down to catch the boat for our Doubtful Sound Cruise.

Doubtful Sound is a lot bigger than Milford and maybe doubly beautiful. The expanse leaves you breathless and you end up running madly around the boat trying to capture it all on the camera and soak it all in. It was going good until we got out to sea which was only a bit rough and made me start to feel a bit queasy. It was at this point that I handed the camera quite happily over to Alberto again. It seems that is only way to see the fur seals, but again no dolphins and no penguins either. It was fine once we were back on the calm of the sound. Towards the end the captain requests a minutes silence which is great. Everyone stood quietly on the deck listening to the sounds of the birds, the gently lapping of the water and we were by a small waterfall as well beating against the Sound. It really was a magical moment and well appreciated and respected by all passengers.

We heard people complain that maybe it was too long a day but we certainly had none! Though we were pretty tired once back to the camper and it was an early night for us.

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