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slip materials so there is no fording necessary. If we could have had longer on the island, there
were several more trails we could have ambled, but time constraints and the need to share with
our fellow passengers constrained us. However, we break out from the forested areas onto
Boulder Beach and Sydney Cove where we spotted fairy (blue) penguin footprints and saw a
weka pair with their fluffy gray chick. Since the parents are a brown color, we surmised that
somewhere along life’s way, the little weka chick will become that same hue. And because Ulva
is such a protected habitat, there is no reason to fear that he or she will not grow up and help
continue the rise of the weka population here!

We were all a little regretful as we left Stewart Island to sail for Dusky Sound and Milford Sound
on the Southwest coast of the South Island. But we should have anticipated that there would be
some treats in store for us there too. What we did not bargain for was the gushing downpours of
rain and heavy clouds that would change the views of these two famous sounds.

Chapter 15. Dusky Sound

We entered the long fjord which creates Dusky Sound in early morning and the rain was already
misting down from the low-hanging clouds. The tops of the walls forming the fjord were
enveloped in the white and gray shawls of cloud, but the beauty was not obscured. The high
mountain walls were slick and black and the whole view became a striking black and white scene
with the clouds, the dark waters, the grey-white sky, and jet-black granite surrounding the whole
scene. The ship cruised slowly through the narrow passage and we all were struck by the quiet
beauty around us. As we tooled around the Sound, some of the passengers were lucky enough to
see NZ fur seals and crested fjordland penguins on the shoreline and in the water. These animals
are under the protection of DOC too. However, Kay and I were not on a Zodiac where these
creatures were spotted. We were so thoroughly and heavily rained on that we saw a virtual white-
out between the rain and the clouds. Just as we had accepted this limited palette in the scene, we
were told to get ready for an unexpected disembarkation!

Astronomer Point

Now the world became infused with wet and shiny greens. We were landing on shore among
huge trees and low bushes, all of them drip, drip, dripping. This is another DOC site associated
with Capt. Cook. During the first of his voyages to the South Seas, he was interested in the
Transit of Venus and had been sent to observe it from Tahiti. Observations were also being made
at the time at other points on the globe. A Transit of Venus occurs when the planet Venus passes
between Earth and the Sun, obscuring a small portion of the solar disk. A transit usually lasts
around 6 hours or so and before the space age these observations were very important in aiding
scientists in determining the distance between Earth and the Sun exactly. Transits are among the
rarest of predictable astronomical events, occurring approximately every 243 years. Capt. Cook
was aboard the Resolute during this voyage and he stopped in Dusky Sound to make astronomical
observations connected with the Transit of Venus responsibility. He found good anchorage here
with fresh water, greens, and timber for ship’s repairs.

From his ship logs, modern historians and scientists know that this is very spot he stopped and
took his measurements during June 1769. DOC has built a walkway and ramp up to this point so
that modern visitors can see what Capt. Cook saw. For the non-astronomer, the value of the site
is realizing that you are standing where Capt. Cook and his men stood in 1769. It is even
postulated that some of the downed tree trunks are remnants of those his crew cut to make ship
repairs. There is of course historic significance in this site, but on the day we were there no

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