Wow, wow, wow and wow. . . . . ! well, what can I say guys, other than WOW?!? I have just come back from an over night trip around the Doubtful Sounds on the south west fiord lands and well, it was awesome to say the least! However before I get in to telling you all about that, I should also fill you in from where I left off in Dunedin. . . . Yes, the Catlins!

So, I left Dunedin and headed into the Catlins coastal territory, taking in many of the spots highlighted in my book on the way. . . . Nugget Point was a nice walk out to a lighthouse with great views. Then onto a few other places, one of which was a trek over e few farmers fields to a place called Jacks Blowhole. Here there is a 55m deep hole in the ground that connects through a 200m tunnel to the sea, pretty much a collapsed roof of a cave! At the bottom you can see the surf coming in, it's pretty cool. . . !

From there I headed down some more back lane gravel roads around the Catlins lake, followed by a couple of walks to some waterfalls. . . . I then stopped at a lookout point and made myself some sarni's for lunch followed by a nice forest walk out to some wetlands. Next I went to the most impressive waterfall I had seen so far in NZ, McLean Falls, but was disappointed not to be able to go to the Cathedral caves nearby, as the road was close for safety reasons. Doh!

I then took a bit of a drive to some more beautiful coastline to a place called Curio Bay, famous for having a petrified forest, which is basically in Laymans terms for all you dummies like me is, fossilized Jurassic trees! A forest buried under blankets of volcanic mud and ash, but all you can see is the tree stumps at low tide. . . . Check out the pics, it's really exciting (Not). After all this excitement I made a decision to try and get as far around the coast as possible and get to Invercargill for the night, which I did, on the way seeing one of the most beautiful sunsets across a lake!

A stayed the night at a very nice cozy hostel and made myself some nice food, while gradually delving into a very nice bottle of wine! I also manage to organize some more photos and post them on my site!

Up bright and early and off towards the Fiords and my first nights accommodation in Manapouri. On the way as I was making really good time, I took a break and detoured down another gravel road and took a very nice walk through a forest to Lake Monowai, the most beautiful tranquil place in the world. . . . It was something else, so quiet and peaceful!

Back on the road again, I got to Manapouri and my hostel around midday. Well I say hostel, but it was more of a shed! They call them log cabins, but I am sure we call them sheds in the UK?!?! Now don''t get me wrong, I am not complaining, far from it. . . . The place was great, A little 4 bed shed, with a sink and a table and log burner. . . . . ! Having a reasonably quiet day planned, I thought I would head towards Te Anau and find out where all the trip would be going from, etc and get some more supplies.

On the way back I took a quick nosey at one of the treks of the area, the Kepler. . . . . There was a very nice bridge at the start and I really fancied giving it a go, but not having the equipment, this kind of thing will have to wait! Back at the shed, I got some fire wood ready and as it was dropping cold quickly, I thought I would get things going. . . . I was very happy, as I thought I had got the place to myself. . . . . It turned out, however that 2 Germans turned up and a Welsh girl, very cozy our shed! We all got on well and chatted and pretty much all had an early night. Before the night was up however, I was chatting to the Welsh girl about stuff planned, etc and that I wanted to go Kayaking on Tuesday, but couldn't because I was on my own and you needed a minimum of 2 people, she said she had the same problem. . . So to cut a long story short I phoned and we are both going. . . . Coolio. . .. . . ! She is not really on the same wave length as me, from a farming background and doesn't sound a bit Welsh, but hey, whatever, at least I can go kayaking now. . . ?!?!

So, up early on Saturday morning and up to Te Anau for my big adventure, the overnight boat cruise around the Doubtful Sounds. . . . First things first, I got into town early enough for a little breakfast, then it was up to the meeting point. . . . The bus took us back to Manapouri where we would get the first boat over Manapouri Lake. Here everyone got together for the first time, 8 of us, plus 3 crew. We took this quick boat about 40 minutes across the lake and through some nice scenery to a sort of dock where we got a bus for about 20km through this step winding pass up and over towards where the Doubtful Sound starts. . . . . We got on the bigger boat and pretty much got away. . . . After a little chat with us about the boat, etc, we were pretty much left to our own devices.

Now, Chris's plan (the captain) was to head right to the end of the sound, some 35kn, then mozy on back to a quiet spot to drop anchor for the night. We passed some beautiful scenery, it is so difficult to explain and to be fair the photos, probably won't show how cool it is. . . . . ?!?! Anyway, trust me, it was awesome!

So, on the boat we had 2 American couples, oh god, I hear you shout. . . . No no, don't panic, they weren't load, middle aged, stereo typical American tourists. No, they were a couple in there late 20's from New York over for a short holiday and a early thirties couple doing 2 months or so around NZ. There was an Aussy girl from Perth (very quiet) and 2 butch ladies from NZ (Dunedin). Now, I reckon the were a couple, it was pretty obvious, but they never threw it in your face. . . .They were coolio and I got on really well with them, to be honest, they got on really well with everyone. . . . Actually, everyone got on really well with everyone. . . . The last 2 crew were Blair, Chris's mate, along for the ride as well as a bit of a helper and Steve.

Now, there's not really much detail to tell you about on the trip other than my fishing. . . .The scenery was just fantastic and the place just had a great feel about it. . . The weather can change so quickly and on the first day we had quite a bit of low hanging cloud, but also lots of broken cloud that let the sun through later. . . . We stooped at a few place to fish and I loved it. . . . . I caught blue cod, a great fish to eat, also perch and some other types. . . . We anchored up for the night and along with the chicken for dinner we also had loads of fish that we had caught. . . . Everyone had a little dabble at fishing, but I did loads. . . . ! That night after finishing off the beers I had brought with me, we played a few games of cards and chatted. . . . . Me and the 2 NZ ladies then decided to stretch our legs and drop the fishing lines in again. . . . We caught loads of huge red cod, now these do not taste as nice in this area, so we threw them all back. One of the highlights for me was catching 2 sharks. . . . They weren't huge, but were still pretty good. I got a good photo of one, so you'll have to check it out when I put it on!

In the morning, we were up nice and early and I got out on deck pretty early to watch the morning mist rise as well as the sun. . . . The day turned out to be beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. The guys said that it was more than above average for the time of year and that we had been lucky! We visited A few more spots and some of the guys went out on the sit on kayaks that were on board. I opted to keep fishing, as I had planned to do a full day kayaking in the week. The fishing was great fun again and I managed to pull in 2 pretty big blue cod (and I just ate some of it about an hour ago - Gorgeous!). We headed back the same way we had come around 3 to 4 hours behind schedule (as agreed by all of us) and then had a group photo and got dropped off back in town. . . . . What a great trip. . . ! Loved it. . . . !

So here I am now, in another very quiet, cozy place near Te Anau. I have eaten my fish, sank a couple of beers and am gonna have an early night, very tired after all that excitement! I am being picked up early in the morning for my next adventure. Quad biking again! Yippee, can't wait. . . . Oh yeah, then a crazy drive up to the Milford Sounds in the afternoon ready for Kayaking on Tuesday morning. . . ! Hard life, I know, you must be worried for me. . . . . Please don't, I am managing to cope, honest. . . !

Will let you know how it all goes on. . . See ya x x x