And sometimes it is not a bad thing. I am sure you remember the whole boat on the water in Russell (at the beginning of our trip) and some may remember the boat ride from Inis Oírr to Doolin, but this time a boat and rain do mix!
I am not sure I have mentioned how much Dotty loves waterfalls. Well with all the rain that has been falling, popup or temporary waterfalls appear. If it had been warm and sunshiny, there would be the permanent waterfalls only. We saw so many waterfalls and they did not disappoint.
The trip started with a taxi from our apartment on the hill to the Beach St. Visitor Center in Queenstown. We arrived early, but it was all good as we were able to walk up the street and buy a coffee near Ferburgers. In fact, it was a cafe owned by Fergburger. If you didn’t know, Ferburger is a locally owned burger joint where people get in a queue around the block to buy a burger. They have a bakery and Mrs. Ferg has a gelato shop! (We did not tell Gammy but she sniffed out the ice cream 🤣.)
Back to the visitor center and Peanut shows up to take us to Manapouri. We make one stop before heading out of town to pick up new friends making the trip to Doubtful Sound. Peanut makes a stop for the bathroom and coffee. There were alpaca/llamas in the back yard. Then back on the road.
At Manapouri, we pick up our lunch, hop on a ferry, then get on another bus to go out to our boat for the next 24ish hours. It was rainy and cold, but Dotty and I rode the tender around the bay where we settled. Now you have to know the difference between and sound and a fjord is that a sound was made by a river and a fjord is carved out by a glacier. So Doubtful Sound was named by James Cook, who actually named a lot of New Zealand, but actually Doubtful Sound is a fjord.
The fed us hot cheese scones when we first got on the boat, then we had a charcuterie board, and finally dinner. After dinner, they gave us a cheese board. Dotty attended a presentation by the on board Nature guy. We sat and talked to Beibs. Beibs was our team leader and a full time employee of Real NZ. Beibs was so entertaining and willing to talk with us while everyone was winding down. Most of the time, Beibs was like the energizer bunny: organizing guests, sending us onto the tender or onto kayaks, cleaning rooms, you name it, Beibs did it.
Enjoy the video of our time on the boat. And yes, the requisite bathroom picture has been included!
#HowFortunateWeAre #MakeOurOwnSunshine #AdventureOfALifetime
Did you see penquins?
We did see some penguins. Some on an island, maybe I forgot to put them in the video, but they were so far away.. Will be posting the yellow eyed soon.
So many waterfalls! GladPony had a good cruise.