Day 30 doubtful sound day 2,

Jan 30
I now understand why there was no need for Chris to wake anyone up. The engines went on at 6:10 and on a small boat that's better than any alarm clock. I was out of bed and up on the main deck pretty quickly not least because there is only one female bathroom and I didn't  want to find someone had decided  to have a leisurely shower and that there was no access. I needn't  have worried, apart from Travis and Chris no one else had surfaced. It was still dark outside, faint rays of dawn just beginning  to spread across the sky.

The table was set and I  had a solitary breakfast as everyone else slowly woke up and the sky lightened. There was toast, vegemite, marmalade, honey, jam,peanut butter, fruit salad, yoghurt and two sorts of cereal.

As the others appeared the vegemite produced a discussion on which was best: vegemite, nz brand marmite or uk brand marmite. Discussion ranged over a broad set of topics from politics, education, brexit, the health service to that weighty matter of  why don't  women's  clothes have enough/deep enough pockets?

We had the last arm of Doubtful Sound to potter through, Hall arm. We sat and watched  the scenery, Chris pointed out a wild deer on the hills and we stopped while binoculars were brought out to see it better.

It was quite a misty morning with the hills appearing and disapppearing into the mist

We didn't  take many photographs, content to watch the scenery as Chris pointed out places we had seen on the video the night before.

The crayfish in the box had disappeared, instead there was a bucket of raw cray fish tails ready to be cooked. Travis had dealt with them before we were up. Chris asked if anyone wanted crayfish and/or blue cod to take away with us and there was an enthusiastic  response. He showed me how they were cooked, its very simple, into boiling  water for 5 minutes. Done. Shortly after, packets of bagged up fillet cod and cooked crayfish appeared. They are not allowed to sell anything  they catch, so it all has to be used on board the trip, eaten themselves or given away. This was an unexpected bonus, Chris and Travis had just supplied lunch and tea for us as well!

Finally we docked back at Deep Cove ready for the bus back

Sea Finn

On the way back Chris showed us where all the water comes out of the hydro electric plant and into the sound.

At the top of the pass that the road travels through we stopped to take one last look back and have a group picture. 

James, Sarah,Tom, Chris, Travis, Harsh, Katja, Manuel, Jono and I

looking back over Doubtful sound

We had time at the visitor centre to wander around and read all about the creation of the power station and how the native birds are being protected before boarding the boat back over Lake Manopouri. Our group headed up to the top deck together. Tom went down and brought up coffees for all who wanted them. The mist had already lifted, the sky was blue and the forecast was for 33 degrees, it was warm!

It was sad to say goodbye to everyone but our fish needed a fridge fast so we set off back to Te Anua. Partway down the road Jono realised his gearfit was no longer on his wrist. We stopped and searched the car and then decided we'd better head back. We checked the car park and the path leading down to the harbour with no success. We remembered him having it on his wrist on the boat which was still moored but we couldn't access the boat. One last attempt to get it back, we headed inside to ask if we could search where we had been sitting. Wonder of wonders, one of the crew had found it and handed it in. Jono was very grateful!

Back to Te Anua again for our crayfish lunch.

We picked up some veg in the local supermarket to go with our blue cod, again, we'd  been given generous portions. 

A last wander around Te anua lake and the harbour. Tomorrow we were off to Wanaka.