Florence had breakfast waiting for us at 0800 this morning–yogurt, kiwi, cereal, orange juice, bacon, and a baked omelette–more yummy food. We packed up and drove to Te Anau where we planned to go on a hike suggested by Florence before getting on our boat. Unfortunately, Te Anau was socked in with fog, so no hike. We filled up the car with gas, & walked around the small town looking for something to eat for lunch. Jim wanted to see if he could find a cheap coat since his heavy coat is in the suitcase. We stopped at several stores where hoodies were $100 & coats were well over that–very discouraging. There was one store at the end of the street that advertised sandwiches. As we walked in Jim saw a rack of fleece coats for $20. He found one that fit him, and we found some sandwiches and chips inside, and felt like we made a hall.
The short drive to Manapouri provided some more beautiful scenery.
Once at the Real Jouneys office, we boarded the lake boat which took us across Lake Manapouri to.
There was one small area that was fog enshrouded and mysterious.
At the end of the lake we boarded a bus for the drive over the Wilmot Pass, ending at Doubtful Sound where we embarked the Fjordland Navigator and started our overnight cruise through Doubtful Sound.
The water was like glass, the sky was bright blue and cloudless.
About halfway down they offered the choice of getting on a tender or riding in kayaks. I would have loved to try the kayaks, but was too chicken, afraid I might capsize it, so I rode in the tender with Jim for about an hour.
We met a cute little 2 year old named Ruby who was there with her two moms.
At the end of the sound was a large rock that was the hang out for some sea lions.
Because the water was so calm, the captain took the boat out into the Tasman Sea to watch the sun set. They put two of the three the sails up.
The sun set around 1730, dinner buffet was at 1900, which included roast lamb, and after that we went to bed. The boat anchored and didn’t even rock through the night.
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