Jan. 3

Kayaking Doubtful Sound, then Te Anau to Queenstown

This is the real reason we're here - a chance to kayak the fiords.
The day starts early - 7:30 a.m. check in. We take a short van ride from the office to a lake, then a 45-minute boat ride to the end of the lake, where a bus waits. There's a gravel track across the mountain pass dividing lake and sound, put in to service a hydroelectric plant.
After the bus winds its way down to the Sound, we transfer to another boat. A short ride out, and we drop kayaks into the water and get out.
Again, the day is wet and cold and wet. The rain goes from light to heavy to light again, but it's always raining. We are provided with wet suits and three layers of rain gear for our exposed torsos, so the rain is easy enough to contend with once we are on the water.
Again, there are waterfalls everywhere you look. This water doesn't have a chance to wander to a stream bed to join with water from other areas. The water simply streams down off the cliffs, trying to get from summit to sea level as quickly as possible by falling down sheer rock.
The mountains get so much rain, trees grow on the bare rock, rooted in the thick carpet of ferns. As the trees grow, eventually they reach a weight which cannot be supported by the mat of vegetation, and they fall. Often, the fall creates an instability in the underlying mat which leads to surrounding trees losing their anchoring as well. An avalanche of vegetation results, creating bare paths along the green mountain side. Eventually, a few ferns attach themselves to the bare rock, and everything starts again.

More kayaking, then back on the boat, back on the bus, back to the lake and the next boat, back to the shuttle, back to the car. Wet day, but good day. Best scenery of a scenery-packed trip.