To get to Doubtful Sound we first drove from Queenstown to Te Anau; a beautiful lake town with incredible views of it’s own. We did unfortunately encounter a snowstorm on the way so beware that this area of New Zealand gets a fair share of snow right up until Summer so you may wish to plan accordingly.
We had an overnight stay in Te Anau and early the next morning we drove to the cruise office, a very short drive from our hotel. We were cruising with Southern Secret Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruises and I highly recommend this company; it is very small with a maximum of 12 guests and we got so lucky that we were the only ones who had booked for the time we booked and actually had a private cruise! Do keep in mind that it is definitely a trek to get into Doubtful Sound, we had a van drive to Lake Manapouri and boarded a ferry boat there which in turn took us into Doubtful Sound where our cruise awaited.
The reason I suggest this small of a cruise is that it is much more personal; we got to know the captain and first mate/cook so well and we were basically in charge as far as where we wanted to go, what we wanted to see and what activities we wished to engage in.
Above is a photo of the kitchen of our boat, our cook made us the most delicious meals!
As we began our 21 hour adventure we got to know our captain and first mate; they were absolutely lovely people who explained how everything works, showed us to our cabin and basically told us it was our trip and that we would be telling them what we wished to see/do for the entire time.
After we settled into our very comfortable cabin with it’s own ensuite, we were excited to begin; the surroundings were breathtaking and it was the kind of experience where you felt someone might pinch you and you would wake up from a magnificent dream!
As we cruised around the views just got better and better; the captain had told us that he had seen a whale that morning and we spent a lot of time trying to find him again but he did a great job hiding from us! We did however get to see some dolphins and penguins in their natural habitat, unfortunately we could not get quite close enough to get a good quality photo but both are etched in our memory.
One of the activities we chose to do was kayaking, it was such an amazing experience being at one in this breathtakingly beautiful setting, its a memory I will never forget!
It would be remiss of me not to show some of the breathtaking views we had at every turn in this incredible setting so I will post a couple of my favourites.
