Doubtful Sound
Door: Willem & Michelle
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Willem & Michelle
23 Januari 2014 | Nieuw Zeeland, Doubtful Island
Maybe we should have done that sundance after all …. It stopped raining, more or less, but it’s cold and overcast.
But we can see a few little pieces of mountains on the side of lake Te Anau. All are covered by snow, from a very low altitude…Welcome to summer in New Zealand!
We only have about 20 km to drive to the south, to Manapouri where we will board a boat which will lead us over lake Manapouri to the shore at the West Arm, then a bus will take us over Pass Wilcot and then an other ship will bring us into and through the Doubtful Sound. We will sleep one night on that ship.
Lake Manapouri is beautiful, surrounded by mountains now partly covered by snow.
On the other end of the lake there is New Zealand’s largest hydroelectric power station. To be able to transport material for the station a road was built between the Tasman sea (Doubtful Sound) and the lake. It took two years to build and is the most expensive road ever in New Zealand (the costs were NZ$ 2.00 per cm square).
It’s a private road only used for the power station and to bring people to and from the Doubtful Sound. It has no connection with any other road.
There should be a spectacular view when being on the top but with the present weather we only see fog. Hopefully tomorrow!
The driver (a woman again!) is also “nature guide” and tells us a lot about the surrounding nature and wildlife.
Down at Deep Cove a very friendly crew welcomes us on board.
And then a magnificent trip starts, one of the most beautiful landscapes we have ever seen. The steep hills covered by trees fall directly into the water. Because of the rain there are hundreds of waterfalls, some of them hundreds of meters high. Most of them are temporary and, as the rain is slowly stopping, it’s expected that we will not see them any more tomorrow.
There is a program for the afternoon but the weather is still bad in the beginning so the trip in the tenders and kayaks is postponed and we first are spoilt with a delicious soup (while still enjoying the magnificent view).
We then sail towards the entrance of the Doubtful Sound, at the Tasman Sea where a colony of New Zealand fur seals lives, but at first, because of the rough sea, the assistant of the skipper thinks we have to return because of the bad weather.
However the captain decides to give it a go but he only want us well secured with at least one hand on the rail when outside. And that proves to be very important! It’s quite a sensation to get at the same place where Captain Cook didn’t want to enter in 1770. We can very well understand why…
There are hundreds of seals on the Shelter Islands at the entrance of the sound. Our guide Carole can’t find the Yellow Eyed penguins but we do see little Blue Penguins in the water. They are the smallest penguins in the world and shy so they never stay long near the ship. They look like ducks in the water.
Normally there are also bottle nose dolphins but they haven’t been seen for a few days and also today we have no chance.
But the view is so magnificent that it doesn’t really matter.
We sail into an arm and in the mean time the weather has cleared and we make a trip in the tenders and kayaks. When getting so close to the shore it’s even more obvious how rough this nature is.
Because of the small layer of ground (on volcanic surface) there are many tree slides.
Fortunately I brought my anti-sandflies spray which is really necessary. The skipper/guide in the tender is a young guy who just started to work there and forgot to bring the spray. And he put shorts on…..he gets bitten by hundreds of sandflies!
The chef is a good one and after a wonderful diner and after a nice presentation by Carol about the wildlife In NZ we go to sleep in a very comfortable cabin. We have to get up early; breakfast is served between 7 and 8 (sharp)!
But we can see a few little pieces of mountains on the side of lake Te Anau. All are covered by snow, from a very low altitude…Welcome to summer in New Zealand!
We only have about 20 km to drive to the south, to Manapouri where we will board a boat which will lead us over lake Manapouri to the shore at the West Arm, then a bus will take us over Pass Wilcot and then an other ship will bring us into and through the Doubtful Sound. We will sleep one night on that ship.
Lake Manapouri is beautiful, surrounded by mountains now partly covered by snow.
On the other end of the lake there is New Zealand’s largest hydroelectric power station. To be able to transport material for the station a road was built between the Tasman sea (Doubtful Sound) and the lake. It took two years to build and is the most expensive road ever in New Zealand (the costs were NZ$ 2.00 per cm square).
It’s a private road only used for the power station and to bring people to and from the Doubtful Sound. It has no connection with any other road.
There should be a spectacular view when being on the top but with the present weather we only see fog. Hopefully tomorrow!
The driver (a woman again!) is also “nature guide” and tells us a lot about the surrounding nature and wildlife.
Down at Deep Cove a very friendly crew welcomes us on board.
And then a magnificent trip starts, one of the most beautiful landscapes we have ever seen. The steep hills covered by trees fall directly into the water. Because of the rain there are hundreds of waterfalls, some of them hundreds of meters high. Most of them are temporary and, as the rain is slowly stopping, it’s expected that we will not see them any more tomorrow.
There is a program for the afternoon but the weather is still bad in the beginning so the trip in the tenders and kayaks is postponed and we first are spoilt with a delicious soup (while still enjoying the magnificent view).
We then sail towards the entrance of the Doubtful Sound, at the Tasman Sea where a colony of New Zealand fur seals lives, but at first, because of the rough sea, the assistant of the skipper thinks we have to return because of the bad weather.
However the captain decides to give it a go but he only want us well secured with at least one hand on the rail when outside. And that proves to be very important! It’s quite a sensation to get at the same place where Captain Cook didn’t want to enter in 1770. We can very well understand why…
There are hundreds of seals on the Shelter Islands at the entrance of the sound. Our guide Carole can’t find the Yellow Eyed penguins but we do see little Blue Penguins in the water. They are the smallest penguins in the world and shy so they never stay long near the ship. They look like ducks in the water.
Normally there are also bottle nose dolphins but they haven’t been seen for a few days and also today we have no chance.
But the view is so magnificent that it doesn’t really matter.
We sail into an arm and in the mean time the weather has cleared and we make a trip in the tenders and kayaks. When getting so close to the shore it’s even more obvious how rough this nature is.
Because of the small layer of ground (on volcanic surface) there are many tree slides.
Fortunately I brought my anti-sandflies spray which is really necessary. The skipper/guide in the tender is a young guy who just started to work there and forgot to bring the spray. And he put shorts on…..he gets bitten by hundreds of sandflies!
The chef is a good one and after a wonderful diner and after a nice presentation by Carol about the wildlife In NZ we go to sleep in a very comfortable cabin. We have to get up early; breakfast is served between 7 and 8 (sharp)!
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