NZ Trip Day 9 & 10 - Doubtful Sound and the Glowworm caves

Early start in the morning, woke up at 6am and jump on a bus to Te Anau. Te Anau is a middle stop for tourist going to Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound from Queenstown. I arrived there at around 9:30am, had a cup of hot chocolate, a small breakfast, and wait for the tour which begins at 11:30.

Why is it called "Sound"?
In geography a sound or seaway is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land (see also strait).

from Wikipedia.

Well...
Anyway, a coach brought us to Lake Manapouri, then we cruised over Lake Manapouri, traveled across the Wilmot Pass by coach, and finally boarded the Fiordland Navigator, a traditional style vessel which can hold up to 70 passengers.
After a short brefing, we moved to our accomodation to settle down our stuff. I'm in a Quad-share room which as my room-mate said, just like a high school event, coz it was a tiny room. ha~

We had a afternoon soup while we cruise to the Tasman Sea. Weather was great. After we arrived the exit of the Doubtful Sound, we stopped there for a while and take a look at the seal. We tried to look for penguin and dolphin but failed. Then we turn around and look for a place for our night.


The steering control of the ship is no longer the LARGE wheel we saw in movies and cartoon, it's now a stick which is smaller than a McDonald chip. ha... And it's located on the armrest of the captain's seat, so it's actually very easy to sail.

The activities started after we found a location for our night. We can choose to get on board the tender craft, kayaks or either swim. Well, the temperature was around 15C and the water is much cooler, swimming is not a good idea so I went for kayaking. That's my first kayaking, well it's a lot easy then I thought, and it was FUN!~!!

After about 45 min of activities, we had a dinner buffet which were really really great~ At least I feel really satisfied. After dinner there was a slide show about New Zealand creature, and it's time to sleep~

The next morning it started to rain. Wook up at 7:30 and had a great breakfast, then we cruised to Hall Arms. The captain stop the engines and generators, request everyone to keep silent and listen to the nature. It's just 3 min but the feeling was just great...You can hear the sound of birds, water falls, wind and the creature in the forest. That's really great.

After that we head back to Te Anau, and that's the end of the journey to Doubtful Sound.

After 1 hour 30 min, the tour to the Glowworm caves started. We jump on a boat and cruise over the Lake Te Anau, and arrive the Glowworm caves. We entered the caves, jumped on the a boat, and entered a complete dark and silence cave. My eyes just can't get used to the darkness, I still can see some light even it's completely dark. After a few min, my eyes feel OK and I saw the glowworms, they were over the roof of the cave, they were just so small, and amazing...

We then left the cave, study some history about the glowworm and head back to Te Anau, then Queenstown. The trip was short but well~ it worths ~ :)


Arrived Queenstown at 7:30pm, so cold and raining.... I guess the temperature was around 7-8C. Bought a bag of fish and chips at the A&J in the Queenstown center, a must try fish and chips!! Then head back to Lake Front YHA.

From Doubtful Sound

So far.... so good!!




Today afternoon, jet boating then a helicopter ride for rafting~ wuhoo!!

Tomorrow, a visit to the Gondola and 12,000 ft skydiving!! ah wait....it's now 15,000 ft after sister's encouragement. haha~


I am alright everyone! Enjoying my long holiday~! Tons of activities~! and most important, still healthy~! hoho~!!!


oioi: yeah, I'm just not sure if I can still do the same after I returned HK~ so got to enjoy it~!

c : ok ga ~~ Come join me~ XD

Raymond : Come join me too~~ haha~~