Queenstown ⇨Lake Manapouri ⇨Doubtful Sound

2 buses, 2 boats.  7:15am pickup, 8pm return.  FULL day – but first, a 3-mile pitch-black run along Lake Wakatipu thru Queenstown Gardens.  Would purchase a flashlight later in the day – last time getting spooked in the early a.m. 🙂

2 hour 45 minutes west over the Southern Alps to Lake Manapouri.  Box lunch purchase, then ferried ‘cross glacier-fed water, where a 2^nd motor coach awaited.  Travelled on New Zealand’s most expensive road over Wilmot Pass, stopping twice to walkabout/experience the dense rainforest of Fiordland National Park.  Clouds parted, sun appeared – snapped several shots of Deep Cove, our catamaran entrance on West Arm.

3 hour cruise thru pristine water, surrounded by lush volcanic mountains.  If you’re limited on funds, this is the one place to splurge.  Just WOW!  Gotta/hafta/must [see] Doubtful Sound (or Milford Sound) on NZ’s Tasman Sea.

Doubtful Sound was named ‘Doubtful Harbour’ in 1770 by Captain Cook, who did not enter the inlet as he was uncertain whether it was navigable under sail.  It was later renamed Doubtful Sound by whalers and sealers, ‘though it is not technically a sound but a fiord.

Beautiful sunshiny day.  Deep Cove to Crooked Arm, Crooked Arm to First Arm, First Arm past the Shelter Islands.

Fur seals sunbathed on the tiny boulder-faced islands, last land before entering the turbulent Tasman Sea.  Boat lurched in ocean waves – up, back, side-to-side – before turning back, returning to the Sound.

Extra time available so…explored First Arm’s inlet waters.  Stopped our Patea Explorer, cut the engines entirely.  Ship staff asked for 2 minutes of silence, [would be] the day’s most memorable takeaway.  Island waterfalls splashed, saltwater lapped against our drifting vessel.  Silence.  Emotional, visceral & exotic.

Easy half-day adventure tomorrow – panning for gold…in New Zealand.

…meanwhile, far far away in New Jersey — Ash’s bridal shower; next up: a Colorado wedding