Click to see options for using the image
When I turned 50 last year, my lovely sister gave me a kayaking trip for my birthday. The boyf organised it at a time that no one had heard of Covid-19. When we travelled south all the bars and cafes were still open and things were relatively normal.
It was a beautiful, still morning when the ferry dropped us on the other side of Lake Manapouri.
Only when we were out on Doubtful Sound, did our guide tells us that his company had decided our group was to be the last that went on an overnight kayaking trip for the season.
Fiordland is beautiful. I had been to Milford Sound in a time of drought in 1996 when the waterfalls weren't running. We had no problem seeing waterfalls on this paddle and the scenery was spectacular.
I was only disappointed by the lack of wildlife. The dolphins didn't show up and there seemed to be fewer birds than I find in my garden. A worker on the ferry told me that it is common to see stoats or weasels and we heard possums at night in the campground. It is very hard terrain to trap pests in and it seems that introduced predators are decimating native birds.
A second day of wind and rain made me happy to get off the water and have a hot shower before we took the bus back to the ferry. We were going to be the only ones heading back across the lake until an announcement was made that the country had moved to Level 3 (shutting all bars and cafes) and would be at Level 4 (everyone but non-essential workers to stay home) in two days.
We drove home, stopping in Omarama overnight and happy that we had a home we could get to. Unlike the German and Swiss tourists who were on our kayaking trip.
