Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
An earlyish start, we need to be at Manapouri Harbour for 08.00 with pack lunch etc. After following a slow school bus for almost half the 20 km we arrived with 5 minutes to spare to find all our fellow passengers already on the catamaran. The sun was already shining although the mountains around Te Anau had been shrouded in cloud at Manapouri we had clear blue skies. As soon as we boarded we set off across beautiful Lake Manapouri on the first part of our journey to Doubtful Sound and were soon travelling at 25 knots for the 45 minute crossing to West Arm at the far side of the lake which is the site of the country's largest hydro electricity generating station although little of this was visible above ground. We had been scheduled to visit the power station as part of our trip but unfortunately planned maintenance work had run over and the station was not open to visitors. At West Arm we were met by a coach to take us across Wilmot Pass, one of the most expensive roads in the country because all the equipment and materials had to be ferried across Lake Manakouri. After a 40 minute very scenic journey over the pass we dropped down towards Deep Cove and were given our first glimpse of the amazing Doubtful Sound and the catamaran Patea Explorer on which we were to sail. Once everyone was boarded we set of down the Sound with towering tree covered mountains either side and the occasional waterfall where water was falling hundreds of feet into the Sound - quite spectacular! There were not as many waterfalls as there would have been had it been raining but the sunshine was preferable, the captain described the conditions as 'perfect'. The highlight of the trip however was the wildlife we encountered. We first saw Fiordland Yellow Crested Penguins, bigger than the Blue penguins we had seen previously and a pod of Bottle Nose Dolphins which played alongside the boat. As we headed out to the Tasman Sea we saw New Zealand Fur Seals basking on the rocks on an island at the edge of the Sound. We then headed back into the Sound and explored different Arms before arriving back at Deep Cove for the return journey via coach and boat and got back to Manapouri at 15.00 after an incredible adventure.
Back in Te Anau we were planning a walk however it was evident that is was raining in the nearby mountains so we returned to our site just before it started to pour and it was still raining when we went to bed. We do however manage a game of Rummikub before getting there. One up to Barry!
Distance travelled 45km
- comments