Listen to the sound of silence.

Hello darkness my old friend.... We are required to be up and having breakfast by 7 am, which means getting up and looking respectable. So shower and then take photo of fjord in the dark before going up to the main saloon where most of the guests are already assembled. What M didn’t say previously was that we weren’t in steerage. Those below decks had to share cabins and had bunk beds and so the logistics of getting attired decently in mixed company speak for themselves. We booked so late that the only available cabin was a twin bedded with en suite and a port side view.
I won’t describe the breakfast as you have already seen that the catering was 4 star hotel standard. Sufficient to say this was the first cooked breakfast we have had since leaving Dorset in January.
We sat with some people we have mentioned previously when in Picton – you may remember the mussel raid and kayaking. The same couple (Anthony and Sarah) from Bowness in Windermere were on the same excursion. How’s that for a coincidence? Nearly 1000km later and we are on the same jetty at the same time. They were so surprised we remembered their names! No more than we were - we got one each!
Day 2 itinerary was a trip to hopefully see the very rare crested Fjordland penguin. We understand that they moult at this time of the year so are likely to look a bit scraggy. I’m not sure after my breakfast if I could eat a penguin, so they are probably safe!
We saw dolphins again and then heard the call of the penguin coming from a densely covered island. And then we saw them, very shyly hiding in the bushes. It was very difficult to get any photos as R’s camera hasn’t the zoom that M’s has but is more capable of pinpointing the subject especially in low light conditions. So we came, we saw and we captured ....on digital media of course... some images of these 60 cm tall flightless birds. WOW
After all this excitement the captain took the vessel to another very secluded arm of the fjord. Here all the power to the boat was switched off, including fans and everyone moving about on deck was told to be silent. We spent 5 minutes listening to only the sounds that nature makes. It was very moving, and brought it home to us how much noise pollution there is and just how much of a true wilderness we were in. We felt truly humbled and privileged to be there- a very spiritual moment!
Then 3 kayakers disturbed the peace. They were some way off the starboard bow but as we all know sound travels very well over still water!
Back at Lake Manapouri the sun decided to grace the heavens and we had a sunny if breezy trip back to collect our car.
Can we recommend this trip! A whole hearted YES. It was done very well by all the crew of Real Journeys, and nothing was too much trouble. When you have this job and you have to be pleasant to people every day it can be hard. But well done everyone.
We now have a long drive to the Catlins, east of Invercargill where we will camp tonight. The wind is very strong westerly and the choice of campsite is in some question. Our preferred one is on the coast, near a sea lion colony, but our fall back site is approx 20km further on by McLane Falls. A 4 – 5 hour4 drive along the Southern Scenic Route, so we’ll contact you later.