Sunday Feb 1-2 Doubtful Sound
After a night on dry land in Te
Anau, and a free morning (during which some of us watched the fantastic
'Shadowlands' film with ethereal music and helicopter shots of
the Fjordland area) we were picked up by bus and driven to Pearl
Harbour on Lake Manapouri, about half an hour away. Thus began our
journey to Doiubtful Sound, one of the longer fjords. It was cold and
windy on the deck of the launch taking us across Lake Manapouri to West
Arm , then warm on the bus taking us over Wilmot Pass on a dirt road
and down to Deep Cove where our ship, the Fjordland Navigator, was
moored.
Along with 55 other land-lubbers we boarded and had a briefing by the
crew before finding our 2-berth cabins (sorry Graham, you got me
again!), and then tucking into blueberry muffins (and this was just
after our picnic lunch en-route!) and tea - and, oh yes, marvelling at
the steep forested fjord walls as we slowly slipped out of Deep Cove
and headed towards Australia.
Fur Seal at rest 
Sailing back up Doubtful Sound
Just 1000 km before we reached Australia we hit the Tasman Sea,
distinctly choppy in the strong SW wind, and peered at some fur seals
flopping over some rocks, the Nee Islets, surrounded by white surf.
Turning back down-wind, & heading back up Doubtful Sound, the
captain unfurled the sails which, in his words, "Won't slow us down too
much!". Put there mainly for aesthetic reasons, rather than any
practical use, they certainly looked good, when not getting in the way
of pictures of the fjord!
There were still lots of temporary waterfalls from the overnight rain,
looking more like thin strands of white wool draped down the
near-vertical sides of the fjord. These strands often coincided with
the traces of rock falls and tree avalanches that striped the fjord
sides in different shades of green and grey. We turned into Bradshaw
Sound in search of calmer water for our 'activities' - namely kayaking
or motor-boating, and swimming. It looked successful at first, but once
bobbing about on the water in 30 or so kayaks, the wind seemed to get
up. Final score: 1 capsized kayaker and one swimmer rescued by motor
launch - neither from our group.
We remained at the head of the Bradshaw Sound overnight. The wind
dropped and it was calm. Few sounds until the engines started up at
6.45 the next morning. We were underway before most of us had emerged
from the cabins to witness a few puffs of rose coloured clouds in the
blue sky as the sun rose. It hardly made it over the mountains before
we had to leave the ship. Before this we returned up Doubtful Sound and
turned off for 5 minutes of 'Sound of Silence' at the head of the Hall
Arm - all the ship's equipment was turned off, and the majority of the
passengers heeded the plea to keep quiet, not move, not to take photos
etc. Only a few bird sounds could be heard, but there was the constant
sound of falling water from the falls all around. Towards the end of
the silence there was also the sound of falling rocks - a reminder of
the occasional instability of the solid rocks here.
Bradshaw Sound in the Morning
All too soon it was time top reverse our outward journey - this time
free of commentary (the first commentary-free journey for ages!). At
West Arm we had a good demonstration of the Kea's (the New Zealand
Mountain Parrot) sense of humour as it investigated the contents of one
of the crew member's purse...
"Let's look at this diary. . . . . . . . . . . oh,
boring!
I'll try
this purse
instead
O.K.,
honest, I won't do it again!"
Then we headed back to Queenstown via Te Anau to collect our bags. I
would have counted the number of people who slept on the coach back,
but unfortunately I was asleep.