Day 63: Queenstown to Doubtful Sound

This morning we headed south along the Remarkables. We stopped at a bird sanctuary to see one of NZ's most endangered birds, the kea, then drove out west to the Fjordland national park that covers over a million acres. To get there we had to abandon our bus and get on a boat through the fjords. Huge green molehill mountains and islands covered in green hills and more different colours of moss that I've ever seen, all surrounded by velvet-like water. It's honestly one if the most beautiful places I've ever been.

A couple of fun facts for you. The national park through it's hydro power station supplies 14% of the country's power. Doubtful sound got its name when Captain Cook first arrived and was doubtful whether he would be able to get his ships in and out safely with the wind conditions. The road from the boat to Deep Cove, where we were staying, s the most expensive road per kilometre ever built.oh, and the sound is not actually a sound, it's a fjord.

We boarded a bus along this road to our lodge on the other side of the mountains, along with an elderly group from Christchurch who proceeded to engage us all in avid conversation, only it was our group who took the blame and were hushed like school kids the whole way...

In the afternoon our guides for the next 24 hours took us on a 2 hour walk up to Helena Falls, an impressive waterfall that we could climb right up to and swim in. The walk up over the slippery rocks was quite enough for me so I didn't take a dip myself and let others test it for me.

The evening consisted of spag bol, NZ's staple hokey pokey ice cream and quite a few rounds of picture art. We also got to watch a film capturing the changing seasons in the national park, which was impressive but the whole afternoon, film included, has felt a bit too much like a school trip to be honest. The place is stunning but the guides seem to think we are a bunch of rowdy kids... They even made us all wear matching and suspiciously prison-like outfits...