Doubtful Sound is only accessible by boat tour. We were booked on the Fiordland Navigator, a flat-bottomed boat with four decks, custom-built for cruising in the Sounds.
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| From NZ Developed |
Just to get to the ship, though, we took an hour boat trip across Lake Manapouri, one of NZ’s deepest lake and also it’s seventh largest.
At the far end of the lake is the West Arm Power Station, a hydroelectric power station whose contentious construction led to one of New Zealand’s most successful environmental advocacy campaigns. The original plan for the power station called for the forced rising of the lake by more than thirty meters, decimating the dense forest along the shore. A gigantic petition signed by more than twenty percent of New Zealand’s entire population forced a compromise between the power company and environmentalists: the power station could stay, but it could not affect the natural rise and fall of the water level. The hippies have a victory, our kind of place.
We rode a bus over the Wilmot Pass, NZ’s most remote road. It’s not connected to any other road in the country and is only accessible by sea.
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| From NZ Developed |
Shortly after launch, we went downstairs with the rest of the quad-shares and didn’t hear our name assigned to a bunk. After a bit of a panic, we found we had our own cabin, what a nice surprise! The boat cruised for a while, and we learned about Doubful Sound and it’s unique geography: the gneis and granite rock, and the dozen or so ice ages that shaped the fiords.
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| From NZ Developed |
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| From NZ Developed |
Soon, it was time for sea kayaking on the sounds, very different than the kayaking we did on the open ocean at Abel Tasman park earlier in the trip. We consider it cheating kayaking. The boat dropped us off upwind, and we kayaked along the shoreline, examining the rock and native forest before being picked up by the boat downwind, the best kind of kayaking there is.
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| From NZ Developed |
Then it was soup time. We met a group of folks from the Sierra Club of Kentucky, probably that state’s entire population of liberals. The Navigator smoothly cruised along the sounds, and we took in the scenery, appreciative for not having to drive ourselves around for once.
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| From NZ Developed |
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| From NZ Developed |
The ship went out to the Tasman Sea, stopping briefly to view more New Zealand fur seals before turning around and heading back in the fiord for dinner, during which we met another honeymooning couple from the US, this time from Minnesota. We exchanged stories and shoved our faces full.
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| From NZ Developed |
Wattie, the on-staff biologists, gave an interesting power point about the various native New Zealand species that are currently under threat, mostly from introduced predators like possums and weasels. Afterwards, it was up to the top deck to view the full moon and do some star gazing before heading to bed, slightly bobbing in the smooth sounds waters.
We woke up at 615am, on the dot, to the sound of the big twin diesel engines starting up -- just like the crew warned us. Today the sounds were rainy and foggy, a much different mood than the sunny day before. But no matter what the weather, the sounds are interesting. Rainy weather meant more waterfalls, and we oohed and ahhhed at the spontaneous eruption of water falls as they crested over stream beds and spilled over the tall cliffs of the fiords.
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| From NZ Developed |
The best part about the morning was the quietest part. The skipper turned the boat all the way off, leaving no human noise and requesting the crew and passengers to make no noise. We stood on the deck, listening to the bird calls and the pattering of rain -- no highway sounds, no construction, no TVs, radios or keyboards clacking. Just Mother Nature’s soundtrack.
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| From NZ Developed |
We docked just before noon, and were exhausted. We tried to nap on the return bus and boat trip. We still had a lot more to do for the day.
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