4/2/10 (doubtful sound)

Doubtful Sound - Intercargil

Wakie, wakie. Those were the first words of the day for Annie and I the morning of our Doubtful Sound overnight cruise. The captain was summoning everyone to breakfast at 7am to allow the crew to clean the bunks for the next day’s guests. Neither of us had the best sleep and were pretty tired in the morning. We met some great friends the night before and for breakfast we sat next to two guys who worked for Kia Motors and were based out of South Korea. One was from Italy and the other from France. They were pretty interesting and we got into some fun discussions about cameras and Apple computer. Following breakfast the captain invited everyone outside for a moment of silence. The rain had stopped, we all filed out on the deck and the boat engines were turned off. We were surrounded by the huge Fiordlands and drifted along the sound in the middle of nowhere. It was incredibly relaxing. 

Once we got back to Manapouri, the rest of the day was up in the air. We had met two couples, Erin and Wei along with Georgi and Cathy, the prior night and they were raving about Milford Sound, which was roughly two hours north. We decided to head back to Te Anau. We stopped into the local iSite to get some information and ran into the same not so friendly clerk who sold us the glow worm cruise. He told us to not bother with Milford Sound. It would be very busy over the Easter weekend and we had just done Doubtful which was roughly the same. Annie and I decided to grab some lunch at the Sandfly Cafe to come up with a plan. 

We were both really tired and decided not to risk driving all the way to Milford without a campsite. Time was running short in New Zealand and we needed to start making our way to Christchurch. We decided to head toward the Catlands on the southeast side of the island and after a short drive we found a picnic site to take an epic nap before driving to Intercargil. 

Intercargil is one of the bigger cities in the southland. It felt a bit industrial and we arrived at 5pm after a very beautiful drive along the scenic highway filled with massive sheep pastures. This Friday happens to be a national holiday in New Zealand, Good Friday. Almost everything is closed. We drove around the downtown area and it was a bit of a ghost town. Since Friday was traditionally “date night,” I spotted the local theater and a nice little thai restaurant right next door. I suggested dinner and a movie which Annie happily obliged. She is quite the trooper because I wanted to indulge my youth and watch Clash of the Titans. It was pretty terrible but it felt good to watch a movie after a 6 week hiatus. 

We then moved on to our campsite for the night after a much needed night of sleep. 

Like: Doubtful Sound, Fiordlands