Doubtful Sound, Queenstown … and it’s all over.

Our trip to the Fiordlands was fantastic. It was a bit of an effort to get there – a 2 hour drive past Queenstown, a one hour boat ride, followed by a one hour coach journey, before reaching our main vessel for the trip – the Fiordland Navigator. But it was all worth it. We went on the overnight cruise, so set off at around midday and spent the afternoon sailing down through the fiords, stopping to either do some kayaking or, as I did, go out in the tender boat (small speedboat) and explore a bit further into the fiords where the main boat couldn’t go. I got some good photos of the little waterfalls we came across.

As we sailed out of Doubtful Sound and into the Tasman Sea to look at the seals, we had dolphins swim by us, alongside the boat! Check out the photos on Flickr and the video on YouTube! After half an hour out in the Tasman Sea, we headed back into the fiords and dropped anchor for dinner. By the time we’d finished it was gone 10pm so it was time for an early night. The engines fired up at 7am so we grabbed a bite to eat for breakfast and then headed back out on deck to take some more photos, which I think came out even better than yesterday’s, thanks to the early morning sunlight and clear skies.

After doing the reverse journey – coach, boat, drive – we’re now in Queenstown for our final night before flying out of Queenstown on Saturday afternoon to Auckland, a six hour wait at the airport (yay!) and then the mission back to London via Los Angeles. Expect me to be like a zombie when I get back!

It’s a shame to have to leave as I’ve completely fallen in love with New Zealand. I’ll definitely be back out here with Clare and the kids when they’re old enough (the kids, I think Clare might just be OK for the journey now). But, all good things come to an end and it’ll be really nice to be home.