Another early start, as we had to catch the coach to Doubtful Sound at 08.15. After a tiring day yesterday, it was deemed prudent to set an alarm this morning for 07.00, just in case this is the one morning we oversleep. It was quite a few degrees warmer this morning than yesterday, but that was probably due to the layer of grey cloud sitting over us. But hey – no rain, so we were most grateful. With all morning activities completed, we headed for reception to catch the coach. As 08.15 approached there was no sign of the coach, so a quick chat with reception and we realised we should be waiting out in the street. After just a couple of minutes, what looked like a redundant public transport bus pulled up and the lady driver questioned whether we were for Doubtful Sound. We were reluctant to admit that we were going there for fear that this may be our transport. It was!! Perhaps it was an appropriate mode of transport as we must have picked up at almost every hotel and bordello in Te Anau. Eventually we were on our way to Manapouri to pick up the next link to take us across Lake Manapouri. It was only about 20 Kms from Te Anau to Manapouri, so being in an old bus was not too painful. When we reached the quayside there were 2 boats waiting, both looking as though they had plied the lake for a good while. We were ushered onto the smaller of the boats, which had obviously been used to ferry things other than passengers, but had the advantage that it was fast. Once we were underway and out of the quay area, the skipper opened up the engines and we left the other boat in our wake. Even at high speed, it took us 40 minutes to cross the lake to the end of West Arm and Manapouri Hydro electric power station.
The trip took us 2Kms along a spiral tunnel down into the bowels of the generator hall.
Work on construction of the power station started in 1964 and the first power was generated in 1969, which is quite amazing considering it’s mostly dug out of granite and the first tunnel to take the water away from the generators and in to Doubtful Sound is 10 Kms long! Regrettably, the initial design was not quite right and the maximum power output was not as predicted. This was due to higher than expected friction between the water and the walls of the outlet tunnel. The solution was to build a second outlet tunnel, which was started in 1993 and the power station achieved full power in 2002. Water passes through the turbines at a rate of 500 tonnes per second – that’s a lot of water!!
Being very deep underground in an earthquake area makes you very glad to return to the surface. Perhaps they should market this as one of the Queenstown adrenaline rides. They could charge NZ$150 a time and help reduce electric bills.
Once back on the ground instead of under it, we hopped into another old bus for the ride up and over Wilmot Pass and down into Deep Cove, where the water exits from the power station and Doubtful Sound starts. The last part of the journey is down a 1 in 5 hill from a viewpoint down to Deep Cove. Interesting in an old coach!
We then boarded a relatively new boat for the journey up Doubtful Sound. The weather was still somewhat dull, but the sun was trying hard to burn off the cloud. The Sound is 40Kms long – over twice the length of Milford Sound and different geographically in that it has a number of arms leading from the Sound, some of which are longer than Milford. Most of the ‘walls’ are completely clad in bush and trees, which is amazing as they are all growing directly onto rock. There are ‘scars’ on the sides of the Sound where there have been tree avalanches and they completely strip the cliff walls of any vegetation. These avalanches are caused by earthquakes, of which there are quite a few in this area, or by something as simple as a single tree losing its footing and taking out a whole swathe of vegetation below it. They reckon it takes around 150 years for the moss, then the shrubs, then the trees to grow back to their original condition. The walls are also not generally as high as Milford, but equally impressive.
On the way up the Sound, we saw bottlenosed dolphins and the very rare Crested Penguins as well as the now obligatory New Zealand fur seals. As the day progressed, the sun burned through the cloud and made the scenery even more spectacular. Everything seems to come alive when the sun comes out. Once out into the Tasman Sea, we turned around and cruised back down Doubtful Sound in blazing sunshine – absolutely spectacular. Once back at Deep Cove, the only downer on the day was the proliferation of sand flies that come out in the sunshine. These little buggers are only a couple of mm long, but their bite leaves a hard itchy spot that lasts for days, just like a mosquito bite. We had not encountered than until we reached Wanaka, where we both got bitten a few times, but today I think they have returned with vengeance.
Back into the coach again for the return journey up that 1 in 5 hill along Willmot Pass and on to the West Arm of Lake Manapouri. Once loaded onto the fast boat, we headed off for the 40 minute journey back to Manapouri and then we boarded the bus onto Te Anau, returning around 7.00pm.
In all, a great day, but having visited Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound it’s a difficult call as to deciding which is best. They both have attributes that are exclusive to each other and the journey to each is very different, so for now, we’ll call it a draw.
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