Wednesday, February 8th, 2023 - Doubtful Sound

 Knowing of the popularity of tourism in New Zealand's Fiordland, we prepared and booked our activities ahead of time. We knew we were facing a hectic schedule with a cruise on Doubtful Sound, an overnight cruise on Milford Sound the following day and as a last 'Hurrah', a trip on Lake Te Anau to a glowworm cave the night before we left.

The Boat Dock on Lake Manapouri

Doubtful Sound is not as well known as Milford Sound, but I had read that because it is much larger and wider than Milford Sound, there is a higher chance of seeing wildlife, as the sides are not as steep. So Wednesday morning found us in amongst many others at Lake Manapouri, about twenty minutes from Te Anau, where we were staying. In order to get to this sound, one must cross Lake Manapouri, about an hour on the boat, then take a 30 minute bus ride across Wilmot Pass to get to the Sound itself.

Our Sleek Boat

The lake boat was sleek and had plenty of viewing decks - although nothing to the fore, so side and back shots were the only choices. Seating was comfortable, toilets and drink/snack service were available. We all fitted in quite nicely.

Snow Covered Mountain - Possibly Mt. Titiroa?

It had rained overnight, so we were pleased to see a dusting of snow over the highest of the peaks to the south of us. I have been a little surprised at the lack of snow, as the mountains reach into the clouds often and the temperatures at our level, 650 ft, had us in our woollies. Nadine and I debated whether or not this really was snow. There is a mountain in the area called Mt. Titiroa, whose granite top is often mistaken for snow - but I'm happy to stick with our theory that it is, indeed, fresh snow.

An Auspicious Rainbow 

It was a little drizzly - I had to wipe my camera lenses quite often to remove the drops! One benefit of the variable conditions ('cos sometimes the sun peeked through) was a lovely rainbow that kept chasing us as we moved across the lake. You can see it faintly in the panoramic photo above.

Here You See it Better

You can see the rainbow better in this shot. You can imagine I made many attempts to get the whole thing. While our hearts may have been dampened by the grey weather, we had read that these fiords are also beautiful in the rain, as they become abundant with waterfalls.

The Sun Peeks Through the Clouds

Yet, every now and then one could see the sun behind, peeking through the clouds - could it be that we'll get the best of both worlds?

White Scars Everywhere!

As we travelled through his glacial valley, we were intrigued by the long white scars on many of the hillsides. You might imagine that I had done something awful to my lens, or that the rain had made a mess of it - but no - these scars were the rocks underneath the forest.

Manapouri Power Station

This lake was a beauty in and of itself, but we're here to see Doubtful Sound, so must move on. At West Arm, we were rather surprised to see a power station. It is the largest hydroelectric power station in New Zealand,  built to power an aluminum smelter about 100 miles southeast. It aroused environmental ire in the early 1970's when the builders proposed raising the level of the lake by 150 feet. It is said that it birthed the environmental movement here in New Zealand and the lake was not raised. Its pipes run underground from here to Deep Cove on Doubtful Sound, a drop of 750 feet and 6.2 miles distant. The generating units are housed in a cavern that was carved out of rock 600 yards below the surface and they create enough power to sustain 619,000 homes, but until 2024 it will continue to power the smelter.   

Bus at West Arm of Lake Manapouri

At the western end of the Lake, we disembarked to transfer to buses that took us over Wilmot Pass, which is 2,201 ft high. The gravel road was built for the construction of the power station and although only 13 miles long, took at least half an hour to navigate. No speeding on this road! The buses were brought here on a huge barge as there are no other roads leading in or out of the area.

Road Over Wilmot Pass

This road was also in beautiful country, with lots of waterfalls. It looked like a tropical rainforest, but all the cold-weather clothing on my back told me this was not the tropics!

Our Driver From South Africa 

Our driver had a lovely South African accent and told us all about the history and named the waterfalls for us. We stopped a few time so people could get out for photos. He had to concentrate to navigate the road, especially on the section that were a six in one gradient - this means that every five feet of horizontal distance led to a drop of one foot. In other words, it was quite steep going downhill.

Doubtful Sound Overlook - Morning

He said there was a lovely scenic spot that looks over Doubtful Sound. Oops - it was 'doubtful' that we would see anything in the fog! At least I got a photo of one of the most frequently photographed trees in New Zealand, according to our driver!

The 'Mariner' on Doubtful Sound - RealNZ'ds Overnight Boat

It would have been good of me to get a photo of our boat, but I was keen to get up to the top viewing deck for the best views, so instead you get this one of the boat the RealNZ company uses for their overnight cruises. 

Our Boat From the Foredeck

I did manage a 'close-up' from the foredeck. You can see it is very sleek and modern.

Top Deck on Our Boat

The top viewing deck was a very pleasing space - tables for eating one's packed lunch and good clear glass to see the sights.

The Bridge of Our Doubtful Sound Boat

But within a short time, things were looking a bit 'doubtful' again! However, we were repeatedly informed that they don't measure rain here in millimeters, they measure it in meters - with an average of ten meters per year - that's nearly 400 inches, folks! It rains 200 days per year so this is normal.

Map of Doubtful Sound

Pretty quickly, the 'naturalist' on board oriented us to this place. The people who discovered it were English and had never heard the Scandinavian name for this geographic phenomenon. We learned that the correct term for it is actually a 'fiord', which is a glacial valley that has been backfilled by the ocean. The only difference between here and Lake Manapouri is that this is open to the ocean and contains salt water, whereas Lake Manapouri is all fresh water, and is land bound. Technically, a 'sound' is a river mouth with steep sides that offers a shelter from the rough ocean. The English 'namers' didn't have glaciers, hence no word in their vocabulary, other than 'sound', for this type of valley.

Doubtful Sound - Probably Secretary Island, Mt. Grono

It's a big place. It is 25 miles from the point we boarded - Deep Cove - to the ocean. It is the second largest sound in Fiordland and the deepest at 1,381ft. The highest point is Mt. Grono, at 3,924 feet. and many of the other rock walls run to 2,000 feet or more. I got out on deck and did my best in the gloom. You can see the rain drops on my lens! 

New Zealand's Maritime Flag - Notice the Brown Color of the Wake

It was wonderful being on the water. We learned why he ocean water does not appear blue. The abundance of fresh water flowing down the sides results in a 30 foot layer of fresh water on top of the salt. The vegetation colors this layer brown with tannins, so there is no blue coloring - instead it looks like a nice cup of black tea!

Gradually The Sun Appeared

We were very fortunate that the sun started to appear - sometimes only for a moment, but gradually becoming more sustained.

Blanket Bay Hotel

Fiordland National Park is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so we were surprised to see a 'hotel' here. It's actually a 'pub with no beer'. The builders snuck around the rules prohibiting construction above the high tide mark, by using stilts. The innovative creator was a fisherman and it was used until the 1990's as a bait shop, a refueling depot and a freezer plant to store lobster tails (called crayfish here) that were flown out to the United States - two planes per day when flight was possible. The 'powers that be' changed the rules after this, so that it could not be repeated elsewhere. At this time, it seems as if it is used as a resort.

Nadine Steps Away From the extra Holds on the Foredeck

There were some nice rails on the foredeck that one could hold on to - you can see them in the photo above, with Nadine standing in front of them in her mauve coat. I held on tight as we neared the open sea.

The Tasman Sea

Once we got to the end of the fiord, we could see the breakers crashing in the distance. This cruise often goes to an offshore island to look at a seal colony, but today's water was too turbulent. The boat was pitching dramatically. When you realize that if we kept going east, the next land we run into is Argentina, you can appreciate why we were told this is the second roughest ocean on the planet. (Of course we had to ask what's the first - it's the Drake Passage - South of Cape Horn.) However, Google acknowledges that the Tasman Sea is a rough ocean, but has many others ranked higher. Oh well!

Orange Crayfish Pots Near the Mouth of the Sound

That this place had been discovered in 1770 by then Lieutenant James Cook, on his ship the Endeavor. He named it Doubtful Harbor, as he 'doubted' that it was navigable and so did not enter. Sealers and whalers who followed gave it the name Doubtful Sound. The Maori name is Patea. The crayfish (lobster) pots you see n the photo are used by fishermen to store the delicacy fresh, until market prices are good, At that time they pull them up and have them flown around the world within 72 hours for us to eat! Amazing world we live in!

Hall Arm

As we turned west to back Deep Cove, we travelled down some of the arms. I thought Hall Arm, to the south, was the most beautiful and this 'hanging valley' was a text book example of the geographic feature I had learned about in school. It takes no imagination to see that there had once been a small glacier that would have been moving toward you out of the screen of your device (tablet, computer etc), which joined the larger glacier that would have been moving from left to right. Once the ice melted, the smaller valley is left 'hanging' in the air.

Hall Arm Again

I mean, what can you say ...... click, click, click went the camera, which is part of the reason that it's taken me so long to get this post out to you! the confluence of cloud, water, rock, lush vegetation is intensely engaging - always something happening...and changing in the light.

A Wall of Water!

The captain brought the boat close to the steep walls so that we could see the mass of water falling down the slopes. There is no soil, so moss and lichen cling to the rock. It's amazing that they are able to hang on with the frequent flows of water rushing past.

Tree Avalanche Scars

We learned that the long white streaks and patches on the slopes are due to tree avalanches! Because there is no soil, the tree roots are very lightly attached to the rock, using the thin layer of peat and moss on the surface as soil. If an anchor tree falls during heavy rain, is smashes into the ones below and the entire face of the rock is denuded of trees - leaving the white granite shining through. We were told the logs floating around in the sound can be a hazard to shipping and that the event is very loud. I'm sure that's the reason I saw so many trees strewn on Haast Beach earlier. It takes many hundreds of years for the vegetation to regrow.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

It had been a magical day! But it was time to return to Deep Cove.

Doubtful Sound Overlook - Afternoon (Photo by Nadine Hood)

As we headed back toward Wilmot Pass, we stopped at the overlook again and it was quite a different sight. I hope you probably recognize the tree! I had taken so many photos already, so I had the driver store my bag in the bus bay! Thanks to Nadine, we can see how different this body of water looked in the afternoon compared to the morning. We had been incredibly fortunate to experience such a range of weather.

Canyoning Supplies

On the way back to West Arm of Lake Manapouri, the bus picked up a hiker. He said he was with friends who had planned to do some canyoning in the area, but the weather had been too bad, so they were hiking out.

Happy to Have a Ride Out

Later I saw the owner of the backpack was perched in a corner, happy to know there might be a hot shower at the end of the day. I think he didn't want to come in to the cabin, as he was dirty and most likely smelly from his adventures. I envied him the ability to carry a heavy pack and enjoy adventures in the wild. We chatted a bit and I told him of my own accomplishments 'in the day' and brought him a cup of tea, which he was quite pleased with. He was happy to let me take his photograph.

Our Captain was a Woman

As if the day couldn't get any better, myself and a couple of other female passengers were quite pleased to discover that our captain across Lake Manapouri was a woman.............

Reversing Into Dock

......... as was her Chief Mate, who brought us into dock with great finesse. You can see that the weather had turned again, but we were now truly ready for anything the elements could throw at us. Although we had not had the wildlife encounters I had read about, it had been an amazing day.