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| Our path- Manapouri, across the lake to Doubtful |
Just another quick update- this weekend my program went on an overnight cruise of Doubtful Sound- it is a very isolated fjord in Fiordland National park. It was a great trip, aside from the getting up at 6:00 AM to leave portion.
Doubtful sound was named by Captain Cook- who was "Doubtful" that they would get out of it.
Getting there was a little bit of a pain- we bused 4 hours to Manapouri, got on a boat to go across the lake and then took a bus over the divide and went down to the fjord- where we finally met our boat- so as you can imagine it was very isolated.
The boat was nice- we had little cabins, and really good food. We also got to go sea-kayaking and then took dips into the cold-cold water. The weather was foggy and rainy which was to be expected as it rains 200 days of the year in Fiordland. That night the naturalist told us about the fjord, it has a permanent pod of 60 dolphins that never leave the fjord. In addition, we also learned about how the glaciers carved out the amazing valleys. The fjord is 400 meters deep, but at its entrance, where the sediment was deposited, it is only 30 meters deep.
The next day we awoke early to enjoy the fjord. The boat took us up the Fjord and we saw DOLPHINS- they played around the boat and jumped in the waves- it was definitely one of the high-lights of the trip. We also saw some amazing waterfalls- one of which towered several hundred meters above our heads.
On the way back we stopped at a pie shop and had some amazing pies. We also stopped at a bird reserve and saw a rare Takahae- they are funny looking birds.
All in all it was an amazing weekend adventure- I am looking forward to this weekend- we are going to see Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers on the west coast as well as see Arthur's Pass before stopping off in Christchurch. It should be incredible.
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| A more detailed outline of the trip |
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| Our boat- and the kayaks |
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| We were on the bottom floor- students |
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| We stopped at this place on the way back- I will def. miss pies in the U.S |
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| Views from the boat on Lake Manapouri |
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| The Manapouri power station- I did a report about it- it drains into Doubtful sound. |
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| One last look at the Lake before Doubtful Sound |
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| Looking down towards the sound |
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| The Bus's grill |
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| View from the boat |
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| Dolphin!!! |
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| A last look at the sound |
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| Kia |
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| Takahae!!!! |
