After a night of thunderous snoring only just suppressed by the wonderous invention known as "The Ear Plug" we were awoken just before first light by the engines of our boat starting up at 6:45am. We ascended to the top deck to have a look around and enjoy the calm and solitude of the Doubtful Sound at dawn. What a remarkable place it is: we were surrounded by massive mountains on all sides and not a sign of human activity anywhere. There was no light polution, no buildings, no power lines, no aircraft jetstreams, no helicopters, no roads, no farmland, no rubbish, no other boats - only ourselves in this magical place.

As the light developed we moved inside for breakfast with our room-mates, Jane and Sam who we got on with really well. Not wanting to waste time we rushed back outside with our hot drinks, only for mine to be blown all over my face by the wind!

We turned out of our sheltered side arm of the sound and hit the main channel again, putting up the furling sails (not that they could do much!) Claire spotted a dolphin breaching just off the starboard side and soon everyone was peering over the side watching them. They were bottlenose dolphins and were playing in the waves at the side of the boat. Our Dutch photographer/journalist friend, John, told me the dolphin was rising every 17 seconds: obviously a trick of the trade, but he was spot on and it made taking some pictures much easier!

The dolphins seemed to move on so Claire and I moved to the very front of the boat where another dolphin appeared and started playing in the bow-wave! We were really lucky to watch him for several minutes. He was swimming upside down much of the time and jumping sometimes to breath and twice he jumped completely clear of the water, twisting in the air and landing on his back! What a great moment!

Feeling completely elated at this close nature experience the boat moved on to the deep and very secluded Hall Arm. This was surrounded by massive cliffs and didn't catch any sunlight at all so was very cold. At the end the water provided fantastic reflections of the scenery. The water looked like oil it was so black and was only disturbed in beautiful geometric patterns by the boats gentle wake as it turned.

On the way back out of Hall Arm we stopped in the sunshine (there was some in one corner!) while the crew turned off all the engines and electronics. The silence was fantastic. We were in the middle of nowhere listening to a mass of birds singing in the middle of the forest. Our nature guides stomach made a few noises and got three girls and a lady giggling! The whole boat was smiling as they tried to control themselves.

The boat then meandered back to the harbour at Deep Cove. This water here is so deep next to the sheer cliffs that the wharf had to be supported by canter-levered concrete pylons driven into the cliff!

The trip was brilliant. The catering and staff were just first rate and we had a fantastic time meeting lots of interesting and fun people.

Upon our return to Te Anau we took up the offer of a half price viewing of the excellent Ata Whenua. We'd already watched this once but for $5 a go we thought we'd watch it again! Our friend Ben watched it too and was so inspired that he booked on a helicopter trip for the next day!

Back at the hostel we checked in and were put in a separate building this time, sharing with three "grey gappers" who were friendly but went to bed at about 8pm! We spent the evening sorting out all our food and kit for the Kepler Track. We really feel that we've got the equipment we need and food to take spot on. It's taken a few attempts but we can now eat completely rehydrated (no unnecessary water carrying) meals that are pretty tasty!