Doubtful Sound

Monday we went on an overnight cruise through Doubtful Sound. Known for its beauty and wildlife, Doubtful Sound is the second largest fiord in Fiordland National Park. There are just a view areas in the world where no human has ever set foot. More than 200 days of rain a year ensures not a tree branch to be left bare and brown, moss is present everywhere. The entire forest is intensively green. In order to get there, we had to take a transfer boat to cross lake Manapouri, and a bus to take us to the cruise ship. We started with delicious muffins and we were sailing through this beautiful environment at 13:00 P.M. The entire atmosphere had something magical. There was this distinct smell, and the unspoilt wilderness was mysterious and mist-cloaked. I felt like I was sailing through a fairy tale. As if elves could start to pop up any minute now. It even reminded me a little bit about ''Droomvlucht'' in the Dutch amusementpark Efteling, however this was real. Magical. After a while we started with the water activities and I chose to do kayakking. It was surreal to be kayakking in such an environment. Of course I wanted to have the full Sounds experience, so therefore I also dived into the cold water. Interestingly, these mountains catch a lot of clouds and therefore a huge layer of fresh rain water is covering the top of the sea water. Therefore, it attracts a wide range of marine life, even 4 meter sized white sharks. Luckiky, I was not aware of this until after I dived into the water. But because of these circumstances, the water is really dark. The buffet was amazing. This cruise is known to deliver good food. It was true. In the evening we played Pictionary with a bunch of people and that was so much fun. The next day, it was raining intensely. However, in Fiordland this is a good thing, because the steep hills were showing hundreds of waterfalls as a result. I felt like the mountains were crying. At some point, the boat turned off its engine so that everyone could absorb the scenery in silence. It was unbelievable: dark, black water, hundreds of waterfalls, mist mysteriously moving through the mountains. It was an amazing experience.