Doubtful Sound

Luckily Bruce and I reached Te Anau, after traveling the distance at a much slower speed than normal because of the tyre situation. Thankfully the roads were really quiet and we did not hold anyone up. We reached Te Anau in plenty of time to go for a walk and have a quick look around, including finding where we had to report to in the morning.

The weather was drizzly and we hoped it would be OK for the Doubtful Sound trip. We got up early the next morning, but before we went to check in, we both did RAT tests and were thankful they were both negative.

The first part of the trip was a van ride to Lake Manapouri, where we climbed aboard the larger ferry, with many others, for a trip to the end of the lake.

From the end of the lake here we could get a good view of the Manapouri Power Station.

90% of it’s power is sent to run the Bluff Aluminium Smelter, but this can go as high as 100%. It is because of the power available that the smelter (which gets its bauxite from northern Australia) can produce very high quality aluminium that is used for the building of aircraft. As the aircraft industry has been in decline, and also because they are looking at different materials for the building of aircraft, the demand for this high quality aluminium is in decline, which places the future of the smelter in doubt.

We were collected at the end of the trip by a guy called David, and loaded into yet another van for our ride over the Wilmott Pass. This road was especially built (at great expense) for the transportation of all the heavy machinery that was needed to build the Manapouri Power Station. It cost $2 to build an area the size of a $2 coin!. It is an unsealed road, full of corrugations and potholes, and very steep in places, but offers a magnificent view of Doubtful Sound near the top.

There were 11 of us going on the boat, along with David, who was not only our van driver, but our captain as well, and Jenny who was our hostess and cook. One elderly couple were from Picton; one couple from Australia; one couple from England; and a couple and their 21 year old daughter from Georgia, USA.

We were no sooner on board than David had got us on our way. We were assigned our cabins (each with their own ensuite) and lunch was set out about half an hour later. What a lunch it was – fresh crayfish that had been caught by the boat, and various salads.

Doubtful Sound is very beautiful. The sound, or more correctly, the fiord, was carved out by glaciers many millions of years ago. The sides are very steep, and that includes down below the waters edge. The sound reaches depths of close to 700m.

The afternoon activities included some kayaking for those who wanted to; some swimming for those who wanted to (no takers on that one as the sea temperature was only 15 degrees C), and some fishing. I was lucky enough to catch two terakihi, and a parrot fish. Someone else caught a large blue cod, and there were two undersize cod and a shark caught as well.

We also lifted some cray pots,

We made our was slowly out towards the Tasman Sea and near the entrance was a group of islands called the Shelter Islands, and a couple of them were home to a seal colony.

As we were making our way back in to the sound, we were followed by a Royal Albatross. This bird was magnificent, flying close by the boat on several occasions, giving us a good view.

We also had a couple of dolphin encounters. The Bottle Nose Dolphins seen in Doubtful Sound are said to be the largest in the world, and they certainly were big. They enjoyed swimming along with the boat before going back to their hunting for dinner.

Dinner for us was a magnificent meal of the fish we had caught, roast lamb and all the veges, followed by an ice cream sundae for dessert. We were not late to bed as roll call in the morning was 6am – that was when the motors started up, the noisy water pumps started working, and the boat started moving again.

The next day saw more clearing of the crayfish pots, and another dolphin encounter before exploring another arm of the Sound and then heading back to base. Once we got there and loaded our stuff into the van, David encouraged us to start walking, saying he would pick us up in about 20m. We did, but the walk ended up being a bit longer than that. Nevertheless, it was still pleasant.

Both David and Jenny impressed me with their professionalism and the way they worked together. They would have had no time to themselves all trip except when we were sleeping, and as soon as they drop us off, they start again with a new set of visitors. Therefore, they work about 18 hours a day, for 7 continuous days, and then they get 7 off. I am not sure how I would fare in their position. What a wonderful advert they are for their company!