15 October 2014 Wednesday
Some light drizzle throughout the night and a little wet and cold.
Looking out of the window….the garden view was fantastic.
I sat on the verandah and sipped some hot coffee. Simple and peaceful life.
Exploring the Garden….The owner must be passionate about maintaining this beautiful garden.
The flowers were dotted with fresh morning dew…
And the lake view…
We bid good bye to this lovely motel…
Had some sandwich from Sandfly Cafe.
zoooooom…. on our way to Manapouri Doubtful Sound Visitor Center.
We had our boarding passes..
Most travelers were waiting at the jetty…
Looking out into the Lake…. another place of perfect reflection.
Picture with perfect reflections.
A little methyl orange Boat and a duckling
The authorities put in effort to control the level of the lake…
The arrival of “The real Journey”
Boarding
Looking back at the jetty…
As the cruise move… we could see the reflection of vegetation on the shoreline. So lovely.
shortly, the shore faded away into bluish images…
In front of us… are layers of mountains mysterious hidden behind curtain of mist.
Our Pictures…
arriving at disembarkation jetty
We had bus ride to the Doubtful Sound cruise. We were told the bus would take us through Wilmot Pass. It was cold misty forest throughout.
Stellar Falls.
Water flowing down from sky….天上流下来的水。。。。
This is really a paradise of waterfalls …we have it even by the side the roads…
Aggressive Rapids…
Arrived at Cruise Jetty. This is our Real Journey Cruise.
Boarding
Other ships at the Jetty
Waterfalls at the Jetty
Gathering at the lounge.
A quick bite while Briefing was on.
Our Cabin Number 8.
A little horn echo in the valley as the cruise started to head into Doubtful Sound.
Minutes later… approaching a significant large waterfall…Looking up
Then it begin to rain…
The rain swept like swaying curtain …
The sun continued to shine from one corner of the Sound.
Suddenly …. nature’s miracle unfolded in front of our eyes… first one rainbow
Then two rainbows….
and the intensity grew…
Our Pictures on the cruise.
when the rain subsided…we were given choice to go on speedboat or canoeing. The canoes set off first.
We opted for speed boat…the first speed boat set off.
Going along the shore… full of thick vegetation..
… and a colored deer (so we thought)
A tiny and an aggressive waterfall.
We were told there is a hotel in Doubtful Sound !!!
Looking back on the real Journey Cruise…and some canoes went very far….
Our pictures on the speedboat…
same scene drew four different expressions….
The return of the first speedboat…
It was evening time. The ship make its way to the exit of Doubtful Sound. Number of islands separate the sound from the open ocean.
The rocky water in front of the island.
And red brownish unique deposit….
Circling the rock…
A seal colony…
The pounding wave…
Another series of islands sheltering the sound – shelter islands
this is special… the layers of rocky folds…
Seabirds flying amid splashing wave….
Yes…. it was a very unique experience….people taking in the sight with different expressions….
A very focus professional…
The sails were up…..and we were on wind power.
Looking back at Doubtful Sound…peaceful, quiet, wild, mysterious and probably Doubtful.
It was almost nightfall when the ship make its way back into Doubtful Sound.
The dark quiet water sprinkled an aura of mysterious in this quiet wildness.
End of Day 12 : A day full of lucky surprises… beautiful garden at Te Anau Motel, reflection at Lake Manapouri, nature unfolded double rainbow in front of our eyes and we settled in wild lonely remote part of planet earth….
Looking back at large volume of reflection pictures, rainbow pictures, pictures showing layers of mountain, pictures with stray lights…..I started to realize these are things that I love !
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