After a quick breakfast, we hopped on the bus and drove to Manapouri. We stopped a few times for snacks and bathroom breaks, like at Wanaka.
When we got to Manapouri, we found there was a mixup with the tickets: we only had 21 tickets for the 22 of us, and the rest of the cruise was fully booked. To solve this, Cherry offered to go to Milford Sound instead of Doubtful Sound, and Liz offered to join her. We were all sad to have to split up, but it was only for 24 hours.
So the 20 of us took the ferry which takes us across Lake Manapouri to (near) Manapouri Power Station, where we got off, and hopped on two buses that shuttled us over a pass to the Deep Cove area of Doubtful Sound. From here, we got on the Fiordland Navigator for an overnight cruise around Doubtful Sound. The staff was the hardest-working crew I have seen, providing us with coffee, tea, cookies, soup, dinner, drinks (extra $), breakfast, and some information/entertainment.
The scenery was entertainment enough. Even with 3m (10 feet) of rain per year, it is picturesque ... especially when it is raining hard (as we found out the next morning).
One of the first things we did was a boat excursion in Crooked Arm: some (including Jeff) by kayak, and others (including Kate) by tender. It was raining lightly, but it gave us a closer look at our surroundings ... which looked like Jurassic Park ... 1-1.5km high mountains rising nearly straight up from the water, with Jurassic plant life clinging to the rock faces.
After the paddle came the optional swim. Surprisingly, nearly 20 people braved the cold brackish water (including Jeff). Most followed that up with a warm shower.
When we hit the open ocean, the ship started pitching. I don't know if we turned around because of that, because that was the plan, or because penguins had been sighted ... but we turned around, and the next thing we saw were five fiordland-crested penguins ... which, according to them, are the rarest penguins in the world.
Dinner started shortly after that, and consisted of roast beef, lamb, smoked salmon, roast veggies, and many salads and desserts. After dinner, one of the crew gave us a humorous and informational presentation on Doubtful Sound.
There may have been some conversations after that, but some of us went below deck and flaked out in our bunks around 10:30PM.
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