well i’m on my way…

The day after the Kepler Track we got ready to go on a cruise of Doubtful Sound.  We joked about how one day we were roughing it, walking outside for eight hours and the next floating on luxury, having people cook for us.  Ah, the wonders of travel.

We boarded a catamaran on Lake Manapouri and boated to the other side where the hydroelectric power plant is located.  I was enjoying the scenery until the electrical towers started blemishing the landscape.  I was really turned off by the ugliness of technology in what I consider now to be the most beautiful place in the world (so far).

After we got off the catamaran we boarded a bus to take us over to Doubtful Sound.  The bus was an official tour bus that stopped so the passengers could take photos of waterfalls and kias (beautiful birds that will eat your cameras).  Naomi and I stayed on the bus when we realized that we had seen all of this alreay on our tramps, and realized that most of the people on the bus who were taking photos of the moss on the trees had never tramped.  We were oficially in Tourist Country, a place we aren’t really fond of.

We finally got to the wharf and boarded The Navigator.  We were thrilled to finally be on Doubtful Sound!  The vessel was beautiful, with oak trim and fancy lanterns on the walls and tables.  We enjoyed delicious blueberry muffins as we sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the view.

After cruising for about an hour, we stopped and dropped anchor to do some water activities.  Our options were either to kayak or take a speedboat along the coast with the possiblity to swim when everyone was back on board.  Naomi and I both chose to kayak and got very close to a waka, a brown bird that was hanging out on the coast.  It was pouring down rain before we dropped anchor but the rain had dissipated to a light drizzle as we began kayaking.  I would paddle a bit, turn myself in a full circle, and enjoy the lush green mountains and the dark water.  I was in heaven.  As I looked back at the boat, I noticed there was a rainbow-the absolute clearest rainbow I have seen in my life, and its end was right in the water.  Naomi and I joked about where exactly that pot o’ gold might be, and decided it was at the bottom of the fiord, and that we didn’t want to dive down to get it.  We paddled a bit and then another rainbow appeared above the first one for a beautiful view of a double rainbow with both ends vanishing into the dark depths of the water.  Perfection!

After we were back on board, the crew told us that the water was 16 degrees, and that if we were brave enough to swim, we should do it now.  Myself and a few other brave (or crazy) people jumped in and we all were shocked at how cold the water actually was!  I’m pretty sure that yes, the water was 16 degrees, but 16 degrees Farenheit!  It literally took my breath away and I didn’t get a real breath of air until after I exited the water.   The air was chilly, but I felt instantly warm the second I was back on board drying off.

We rode out to the Tasman sea, where we could feel the effects of the waves of the sea and to check out some beached seals on a rock.  They were cute, but I’m beginning to get sealed out.  I’ve seen so many since I’ve been in New Zealand.

Dinner was fabulous–or maybe it was so good because it was cooked for us.  I had greek salad, coleslaw, roast potatoes, steamed vegetables, and a mini quiche with kumara (NZ sweet potato), spinach, and maybe pumpkin?  It was delish!  Naomi and I stayed up talking to the other backpackers on the boat, as there weren’t too many of us.  One of the other passengers was a piano teacher, so he played while another woman, who had to be a professional singer, sang along.  Unexpected entertainment is great!

I awoke the next moring to the engines starting and heard rain.  I got up and had breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and fried tomatoes-yum!  I went outside and just watched the beautifulness of the mountains in the fog behind curtains of rain pouring down.  Waterfalls trickling down the mountainside into the fiord were everywhere.

Near the end of the cruise the captain stopped the boat all the engines and ushered everyone outside so we could marvel at the beauty of the Sound as it was seen over 200 years ago when it was first “discovered”.  He told us to put our cameras away and to just look.  We all stood in the rain and stared at the magnificence of it all.  I counted over 30 waterfalls, some gushing down the mountain, and others just little trickles.  We were still quite far away from shore, but the sounds of the waterfalls were deafening.  I started to get a bit emotional, but then one of the passengers on the boat decided to walk down the stairs, creating a lot of noise and started snapping away on his camera.  Everyone turned and stared at the rudeness of this man.  Although he interrupted my train of thought, or lack thereof, I was secretly a bit glad that he prevented me from openly crying in public.

On the catamaran ride back to civilization, I decide that Fiordland (the southwest corner of the South Island, where I’ve been floating on and tramping through) is my favorite place in the world.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 8:05 pm and is filed under New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.