Day 12 - Doubtful Sound

Nov 7, 2008

Today was a day of total relaxation. We had booked ourselves on an overnight cruise on doubtful sound. These are the only 2 sounds out of a total of 14 that tourists can visit. Also sound as in Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound is incorrect, these are technically Fiords, a "sound" is created by a river while a fiord is created by the sea. Getting to Doubtful Sound is a little roundabout. You take a 20 km drive to Manapouri, then a 45 min boat ride on Lake Manapouri to the West Arm Power Station and then another 30 odd min bus ride to Doubtful Sound.

Doubtful Sound was given its name by Captain Cook, When he discovered the sound, he did not want to sail into the sound because he was "doubtful" that once inside the sound he would not be able to catch the winds to sail out of the sound. I believe in this sound, the winds mostly blows into the sound from the Tasman Sea, and winds blowing out of the sound happen only once a month sort of thing.

Needless to say the journey all the way to Doubtful Sound is dotted with beautiful scenery. You get the first view of the doubtful sound, while crossing over Wilmot Pass, where the bus stops for th mandatory photos. The road from doubtful sound to lake Manapouri was built, to carry all the heavy machinery for the west arm power station. I go kayaking, there is a video of me cutting doughnuts in the water with my kayak, I could never get my kayak to stay a straight course, early on it kept going left more than right and closer to the end, it keeping going right more than left. We were advised to stay with the group, when your kayak is rudderless, how do you stay with the group, so I was with the group, though we were separated by a few hundred feet. I enjoyed the time on my onw, the area that was selected for the kayaking activity was relatively calm, but when the speed boat passed close by, my kayak would rock, after one or two such crossings, i put my hand into the water to test the temperature just in case. After the kayaking I was ready to go swimming but did not hear the announcement and missed out on it. We see only penguins apart from humans on the boat, You do get to see dolphins I believe but cant tell for sure, since I spent a day there and did not see one, generally it is a very relaxing cruise. The dinner is very delicious and we get our first taste of a kiwi dessert pavlova, hmmmm, delicious.

The next morning the boat unfurls its sails for a photo op, I missed the photo op, and at one point, they request everyone to stay quiet and for about 5 mins they turn off all the engines. It is beautifully quiet, you can hear the birds chirping, and even though the boat feels quiet you realise during normal times, how much noise happens all around us. After the cruise we travel back to Queenstown, thus bringing an end to our stay in fiordland.