Doubtful Sound
Leonie and I, along with our friends Carol and Don, went to Doubtful Sound (via Queenstown, and back via Tekapo).
And we had weather. Oh did we have weather. 180kmh (85kt) wind gusts, around 200mm of rain in a morning (on top of the 300+mm they got before that)... it was spectacular.
For once, the intense weather didn't spoil anything. It just... was.
It did spoil the rest of Southland tho. No power (for more than a week) from Queenstown down. We mostly avoided that - we managed to get to Queenstown (and power!) with about 50km on the guess-o-meter in the car.
We swam (6º), we eat great food, we kayak'ed, we bantered, we had a wonderful time. Thanks RealNZ and the boat crew.
Not sure I can add a lot of words, to be honest. I took the same photo a lot - steel grey, water coloured cliffs descending into fjords of cold, still water. And rain.
It was a fantastic, epic, stunning trip, and we want to go again.
The before.
The after
When we got to Tekapo, having tried to go back to Nelson via the West Coast, only to find all the roads to be closed, it was... crystal clear, blue skys. Once back in Nelson, we went to see Tama Iti talk about his new book, via The Eddyline Brewery's taproom.
I took a bit of video, as really, the stills only so it so much justice. It's my first proper trip out with the iPhone 16, so first time I can properly use 4k/60 and a wide lens.
The hall arm, before the storm
Looking off the back of the boat
But of a pano off the side of the boat
We had a bit of rain on the way back. And wind. Don't open the door.
... and the resulting waterfalls, this is roughly the same place as the first video
Spectacular, with brutal weather which added to the experience, rather than spoiling it.
