Doubtful Sound

The weather was a bit miserable as we set off from Te Anau, clouds and a bit of drizzle didn't bode well for our trip. 

This was the view on the trip over Lake Manapouri on our way to the fjords

However, the weather cleared by the time we got to our boat, the Southern Secret. This is our first view of Doubtful sound from the viewpoint on the mountain pass.

Onboard the boat we were looked after by Adam and Nellie who treated us to a lunch of freshly cooked crayfish, lovely.

We sailed to the end of the fjord where it joins the Tasman sea and where we hoped to fish, but it was a bit choppy so headed a bit further inland for the fishing. Although we didn't catch any blue cod, we had a successful afternoon, with Dave almost landing a small shark! Caught enough fish to bait up the crayfish pots which were hoisted overboard hopefully to catch lunch for tomorrow's travellers.

Later on, Barbara and I had a go at kayaking, would you believe it? Got soaked, but had a great time. A lovely meal, a bit of star gazing, and then to bed. Slept well, but the engines started around 5am and there was not much sleeping after that. Unfortunately the crayfish pots came up empty, so bad luck for today's guests. We hear they are having sandwiches for lunch today!

Highlight of the morning was when the sea plane landed to take two of our party for a trip around the fjords on their way back to Te Anau.

Then a last sail back to the jetty for the trip back to Te Anau, and on to Central Otago for our bike ride tomorrow.