The most wonderful weekend! There have been several times I have stopped at the end of the day and thought 'Wow! How amazing has today been! It is currently Sunday night Nathan has gone for a run and I am laying on the grass outside the tent as the chairs, bench, car and tent are all covered in our clothes that are drying and I am thinking 'Wow how amazing has this weekend been' and writing this blog post about it!
Saturday morning started with us visiting a farmers market in Dunedin and buying groceries for the next few days. Then we headed off to Manapouri. We had no idea what to expect and no idea whether we were even going to stay in Manapouri, however, we did know that we wanted to see Doubtful Sound.
If I firstly explain that in the Fiordlands there are two main sounds that are visited by people Milford and Doubtful. We had been recommended each one by several different people, however we realistically could only afford one (as is the situation with many people) so decided to go for Doubtful Sound.
We pulled into the tiny village of Manapouri and went to the kayaking office to see about booking a tour to kayak through the sounds, however her next available trip was in the middle of next week. We though this might be the case so had a back up plan to kayak in a few days time at a different spot and to book the wilderness cruise to Doubtful. When we turned up at the cruise office they only had one place left, so I asked the guy if there was anything he could do and he said he would give the captain a ring. After a 5 minute phone call he said they would fit us on. Then when he told us the price I said I had seen it for $50 less online so he then said ok and gave me the discount! I think at this point he wanted to get rid of me, but I was happy we had our 8am booking for the following day and had received the online price.
Next we headed to the campsite. It reminded me of the campsites I went to with girl guides when I was young. The buildings were wooden with a camp shop and run by an elderly couple. We paid the guy our $68 for 2 nights and drove into the woodlands to pitch our tent next to some apple and plum trees. It was totally secluded and peaceful with no one else around, probably our most picturesque campsite to date.
The campsite itself was so quant and had old cars dotted around inbetween the trees. There was 5 Morris Minors in a line which reminded me of mum as it was her first car. Mum this photo is for you!
Opposite the campsite was Lake Manapori so we headed down for a swim! Gosh the water was cold, but crystal clear and inviting.
Nathan braved the water first and had a swim. I took about 15 minutes but eventually got in and swam around. I was really glad I did it was stunning scenery and so refreshing.
That evening we had a Valentines Day meal of lamb on the BBQ with a salad and a bottle of red, then afterwards we walked to one of two restaurants in the village and Nathan ordered profiteroles for dessert. Dad would have loved them as they are his favourite.
Sunday morning we arrived at the harbour and boarded the first boat at 8am, we took our seats opposite a lovely couple from England. He was a Stoke supporter and she was a retired food technology teacher and Head of Year so we had lots to chat about. The boat took us across Lake Manapouri where we then got off the boat and onto a coach. The coach drove us over Wilmot pass and down to Deep Cove where we boarded our vessel for our cruise on Doubtful Sound.
As we set off on our cruise the water ahead of us was gorgeous and the sheer vastness of the alpine forest was impressive. Our guide on board was extremely good explaining that Doubtful Sound is the second largest of Fiordland National Park's 14 fiords (Dusky Sound is the largest). It is three times longer than Milford Sound and it has a sea surface area roughly 10 times larger than Milford Sound due to its greater length and three arms. However Milford had the impressive height of the mountains with the sheer rock face.
We were served unlimited tea and coffee on board which was actually really nice and we had packed our lunch so now we had 3 hours to walk around the boat and look out at the wildlife around us.
When we had reached the end of the sound we went out onto the Tasman Sea and saw so many seals swimming and playing on the rocks.
The best part of the trip for me was seeing the bottlenose dolphins. Doubtful Sound is home to a resident pod of around 60 dolphins. They were obviously in a playful mood as they were riding the bow waves of our vessel and leaping in the air. It was fantastic to see, Nathan and I were both wide eyed and loving it.
About half way through the cruise the captain turned off the engine and everyone had to be silent. We were silent for about 5 minutes as it was beautiful just to hear the water splashing on the bank and the birds singing. Everyone was scared to move in case we made any noise to ruin that magical moment.
The cruise was absolutely amazing. I loved every minute of it and spent the entire day with my eyes wide open trying to take in every single thing I saw. I would definitely recommend this trip and I hear Milford Sounds is also wonderful. I think whatever trip you take on the Sounds would blow you mind with beauty.
What an amazing weekend!