Cruising in the southland...

I had already decided earlier on during my trip that I would treat myself to an overnight trip to either Milford or Doubtful Sound when I was in the South Island. A day-trip to Milford Sound, part of NZ's famous "fiordland", is almost mandatory for any visitor to New Zealand, but I had met a few people who had mentioned that the day trips are really long days and there is a lot of sitting on a bus involved. If you can afford an extra 100$ or so, you can do an overnight cruise and that breaks up the long bus ride and gives you an extra special place to sleep that night! Since I'm not spending thousands on bungies and etc..., I decided to go for it. I also had to choose between Milford & Doubtful Sounds, both beautiful fiords but each with their own "cachet". I chose the lesser travelled Doubtful Sound, simply because it is usually more expensive than Milford Sound but was on special the day I booked it. By a "poule de luxe" standard, if it was more expensive, it had to be better, right? Sorry, I'm not really that shallow. It's really the cute guy at the hostel reception desk that convinced me to go the Doubtful instead of Milford ;-)

So bright and early Monday morning I was off to catch a coach (bus, for us Canadians) for the first part of my journey to Doubtful Sound. The bus brings you as far as it can, then you hop on a boat to cross a lake (Lake Manganui) and take another bus that finally brings you to your final destination, a 70-passenger boat waiting for you on Doubtful Sound.

I had heard somewhere that "fiordland" is the wettest place in NZ, and thought that it rained there something like 350 days out of every 365. It turns out I was misinformed, it only rains about 200 days a year, but it does get the most rainfall in all of NZ. Everywhere else measures rainfall in millimeters, but there they measure it in meters. Seriously. Some parts get more than 6 meters of rain a year! All this to say that I was really expecting it to be rainy, and I was not disappointed. The ship's crew make a really big effort to make sure the passengers don't let the weather influence their experience. The fact that is was raining hard is actually a bonus, as you get to see dozens of "temporary" waterfalls falling from the cliffs. One of these waterfalls is actually higher than Victoria Falls in Africa, but it doesn't "count" as it is temporary. Meaning when the rain stops, so does the waterfall... Actually, I'll have to look that up. The guides on coaches and boats can basically tell you anything and you'll believe it. I must learn a bit more skepticism. (side note: my first "Magic" coach driver told us to look out the window at the new breed of animal they are raising in NZ. A sort of sheep, but with a long neck like a giraffe. it's called the "shiraffe". I actually believed it for maybe 10 seconds until I saw some lamas grazing in a field. I called the bus driver on it later that night in the bar, and he just laughed and told me they make up stuff all the time...)

Back to the cruise: It was a beautiful trip, in an almost mystical looking place. Because it is so remote and in a protected 3million square km park, you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere and are the only people there. With all the mist and rain and waterfalls, there is an eerie mystical feeling to the place. It's not to be missed if you ever decide to visit NZ!

The ship was nice, my shared cabin the smallest room I have ever slept in. It's no bigger than a train sleeping car, with 4 bunk beds. I met 2 Scottish girls and 2 Kiwi guys and spent most of my time with them. On the trip back to Queenstown, the sun poked out of the clouds, but not for long. It has been raining off and on since then, so I've attended to the mundane tasks of laundry, shopping and Blog instead of freezing my butt outside in cold wet weather! (another side note: really, if you ever decide to come to NZ, make sure you pack a jacket or fleece or something more than a cotton hoodie!)

And one last thing, thanks to my sister Johanne for reminding me to update my profile with my new age. That was really nice of you ;-)