Our cruise left the dock at 8am, and it was forecasted to be a clear day! We boated across Lake Manapouri & then drove up to Wilmot Pass. And here is where Doubtful Sound made its first appearance. Amazing! We then drove down to the boat, and boarded the shortest 3 hr cruise we've ever taken. It went by so fast. I'll let the pictures describe the scenery. But we saw ocean seals out in the Tasman Sea, and were also visited by wild dolphins, who live in Doubtful Sound. There was a nature guide on the cruise, which helped spot & describe everything we saw. Even though the skies stayed clear, it certainly was brisk standing outside on a moving boat.
One of the best parts of the cruise, was when they pulled into a cove, and then shut off everything to let everyone just listen to the quiet for 5 mins. A moment that caused self-reflection by everybody. Afterwards, the guide said "imagine this place in winter, with snow falling and everything covered in white..." (now that image is unreal).
And then, sadly, it was time to hop off the boat and head back. We got back about 4pm, and then zoomed up to the city of Te Anau. We grabbed some souvenirs, setup camp, and then ate dinner overlooking the lake. At 7pm, we boarded the boat to our Glowworm Cave tour. WOW! HOLY COW, WOW! The cave was magical. No pictures were allowed in the caves, to preserve the glowworms. It felt like Disney World ride...but it was for real!
We got back to camp around 10pm and passed out quickly once again. We needed sleep for all of our wine tasting planned for Monday!
Wilmot Pass (hard to get a good pic bc of the haze)
Doubtful Sound
Doubtful Sound 2
Look how still the water is!
The boat was coooold
Dinner before the glowworm tour
Glowworm info!
Mon April 6 (Wine tasting & Wanaka)
We were on the road by 7am, and arrived back into Queenstown ~930am. We made a few souvenir purchases, then drove onto Gibbston Valley for some wine tasting. We had plans to rent bikes & ride to each winery...but when we got there ~11am, they were all out of bikes! So instead we drove along the winery trail, taking some extra time to be careful. We even made a quick lunch stop to watch some more bungy jumpers plunge off a of bridge!
All the wines were delicious, especially the Pinot Noirs. In fact, we bought a bottle at our last winery, and the proceeds went to a wildlife preserve, supporting an endangered beetle in the area.
We then drove ~1 hr to Wanaka for dinner, and this town took us by surprise. This was maybe our favorite city along the trip. We grabbed dinner at arestaurant along the lake overlooking the mountains, and then wandered over a local pub, to again watch some rugby, as well as a surfing competition. When it was time to go, we walked outside ~9pm to a steady rain. We drove to our freedom campsite & quickly setup. We fell asleep to the sound of wind, rain, and very vocal 'mooing' cows.
Tomorrow was the very secluded Rob Roy Glacier Hike!
Gibbston Valley
Chard Farm Winery
Lunchtime Bungy jumper
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