Beautiful, peaceful, idyllic Doubtful Sound

Apparently we struck it lucky and got the most amazing weather...rather than the usual rain in Fiordland. The guides tell us this view hadn't been seen for two months. The journey to Doubtful Sounds involved a one hour boat ride across Lake Manapouri and then a 40 minute van ride to get into the Doubtful Sounds to board the boat.

 Our boat for the two day trip and our penthouse cabin on top.

Jaime exploring our cabin.

 Stunning scenery

 Getting ready for fishing

One of our jobs on the boat was to catch fish for dinner.

 

 Here is Josh our van driver/chef/diver heading down under to catch our dinner.

 Here is his haul..so many huge crayfish.

Cooked up and ready to eat an hour or so later.

As the sun goes down the stars came out. I have never seen so many stars and it was breathtaking lying in our beds and looking at the stars above.

Another treat the following morning was having a pod of bottlenose dolphins following us.

Another beautiful day to finish the trip.

Stewart Island

Stewart Island was stunning, remote, rugged and beautiful and with a population of just 400 people.

Exploring Ulva Island on a cold and windy day...and another crazy ferry crossing - even though this one was only 8min long!

Finding weka...unfortunately no kiwi sightings during our time on Stewart Island. 

  A morning spent walking and playing on the beach on part of the Rakaia Great Walk.

 A little windy...

 Fish and chips from the Kai Kart were fantastic!

And back to our place to eat them.

 Crossfit time

And we made it back to Bluff. Not a fan of the ferry crossing across Foveaux Strait. We crossed on a day of big swells, strong winds and rough waters but apparently that was a smooth to average crossing...say the locals.

 The anchor chain at Bluff

Catlins to Invercargill

Nugget Point

Purakaunui Falls

Tautuku Bay

Cathedral Caves

McLean Falls

Curio Bay

Unfortunately the weather was pretty wet once we got to Invercargill so only seem to have captured Henry - one of the biggest and oldest living tuataras at 114 years old.