Doubtful Sound Trip - Part One

Well hello everyone! I am here to finally tell you about my cruise to Doubtful Sound. I will separate it into different parts because I know how annoying it is to read super long journal entries and it seems that each part of the whole entry will be long enough to fill quite a bit of space. If I am uninterrupted for the next hour or so, I will also get around to writing about the new Youth Centre's progress and where we're at right now. And if no one bothers me for the next two hours (VERY highly unlikely), I will get the pictures posted, and add a couple links to the Photo list. Ok, so here are all my Doubtful Sound adventure details.

My first trip was going to be a bus trip, I was the only one on the bus at first...I waited there for about 10 minutes even without the driver. So I took the opportunity to not look like a loser by taking a picture of the ceiling of the bus. Why would I take a picture of the ceiling, you ask? Well that's because every "Real Journeys" bus has windows on the ceiling so that if you're driving right up next to mountains or beautiful scenery above, you won't miss it! How spectacular! I ended up being the only one on the bus until we stopped around a few hotels to pick up some more people - whew. That would've been awkward.

The bus ride itself was pretty cool. The driver was giving some fun facts about Te Anau and wildlife and history...did you know that Te Anau has a permanent population of about 2800 - but during tourist season it's up to 10,000 people at a time. To be honest, I'm glad tourist season is just wrapping up.

We got to Manapouri (a very small town about 20 minutes from here, but home to the 5th largest lake in New Zealand) to get onto the boat. Let me tell you quickly here that the only way to get to doubtful sound is to take a boat, then a bus - and even if you try to get over there yourself without having to pay a tour company, it is illegal for private traffic to drive on the road that goes between Lake Manapouri (West Arm) and the Sound. So if you want to do it yourself, you're tramping (hiking) it.

Anyways, I got to Manapouri, checked in for the boat ride and was told that I could pick up my picnic lunch down in the cafe. I was greeted by a lady who handed me a plastic bag with a good sized carboard lunch box inside it. It was pretty dang heavy. I wondered what these people planned on feeding me - and hoped it was good. Otherwise, I'd be eating about 2 pounds worth of yuck. This thing was massive! Anyways...I got on the boat and sat down at one of the tables, watching everyone file into the boat and find their desired seating arrangement. Travelling alone isn't all that fun because most people will sit down with others who are already talking to eachother, rather than sitting with someone who is alone and silent. I kinda felt like the last person being picked in gym class, and I knew that when a slightly elderly couple walked onto the boat, they would be the ones coming my way. I just knew it.

They sat down across the table from me and introduced themselves as Len and Mary...I'm going to call her Mary but to be honest it sounded like she said Maori - and I wasn't sure if that was the accent or the actual pronounciation. So, to be honest, I just didn't say her name during the rest of the day. They told me they were from Australia and Len was quite chatty to be honest. Classic Aussie. Another man from Holland sat down beside me, and he was slightly creepy. And of course the first thing he said when he found out Len was Australian was a very BAD pronounciation of "G'day mate!"...imagine a Dutch man who can barely speak english trying to mimick an Australian classic. I was embarassed for him.

Anyways...as we were going along in the boat, the fog started to lift (when I first got to Manapouri, you couldn't even see the mountains across the lake because it was so thick) and all of a sudden everyone decided it was a Kodak moment - they all rushed up to the top platform of the boat to stand in the frigid wind, take a picture and get back down before their face froze off. Well, me being from Canada, I quite welcomed the similar-to-Calgary bitter kind of wind blowing off the lake and mountains. We were ripping along at quite a high speed...and if anyone knows me really well, they know that my place on a boat is at the bow. For as long as I can remember, I have sat cross legged at the bow of grampa's fishing boat...holding onto the tie-off roap so the wind (and angle of the boat) didn't knock me backwards. So I am quite used to blowing winds and chilly temperatures. I took a bunch of pictures and then stood up there at the very front of the platform...letting the wind rip past my face and make my ears numb. I only left the platform because we were just about to get into West Arm and dock the boat so we could get on our bus to Doubtful.

As I came back down into the main cabin, everyone saw that I was certainly up there almost the whole time. My face was bright red with windburn and the hair that doesn't quite fit into my ponytail was a rats nest on the top of my head.

At this point, my day had already been made.