Category: New Zealand

DOUBTFUL SOUND

To experience Doubtful Sound, you have to be willing to put up with several stages to get there. It’s located on the coast of southwest New Zealand, and you first have to get yourself to Pearl Harbor in Manapouri. Lake Manapouri is another of the very very deep (1400+ feet at its deepest) glacial lakes here on the edge of Fiordland National Park and about 20 minutes’ drive from Te Anau. We reported to the Real Journeys ticket office around 11:30 and exchanged our voucher for boarding passes and then went downstairs to the café for a bite to eat. Not many options, but a few calories before we boarded a boat to take us across the lake to West Arm. Lake crossing very smooth.

At West Arm, site of the massive hydroelectric power plant that made these excursions possible, we got on a bus for the drive through Wilmot Pass. The decision in the 1960’s to build a power plant here required the creation of a road that would enable heavy equipment to be brought in to construct the plant. Hence the road that leads from West Arm to Deep Cove.

It was an interesting drive on a narrow road with commentary by Keith, our bus driver.  He described the alpine vegetation, heavily evergreen and beech trees that stay green all year; noted that the area gets between 6 and 9 meters of rain a year (that’s between 18 and 27 feet of rain, folks!) resulting in many thread-like waterfalls; and pointed out the occasional native bird, one being the waka. The trip through the pass took 45 minutes or so with stops for photos. 

We then arrived at the wharf at Deep Cove where we boarded Real Journeys Navigator, the vessel on which we would spend the rest of the afternoon and overnight.

The Navigator was purpose built for these waters and can accommodate up to 70 people, some in staterooms with bath, some in bunk bed quads with a shared facility.  We were fortunate that our group was less than 40 people which made for a less crowded experience.  We had cabin #12 which consisted of a double bed, one night stand, and a very tiny bathroom. You weren’t meant to spend any time there!  But, amazingly, the little shower actually worked and delivered an adequate supply of warm to hot water to get clean while not spraying the rest of that space!

Doubtful Sound’s name is attributed to Capt. James Cook who, when he saw Doubtful Sound, “doubted” that his sailing vessel would be able to get enough wind to sail through it and so he never did. Doubtful Sound is really a fiord, meaning that this finger of water was created by the action of a glacier, but the term “fiord” was not as much in use then.  Many visitors to New Zealand choose to go to Milford Sound which is more accessible, but it’s much much smaller in area than Doubtful and a lot less deep.

We boarded the Navigator just before 2:30 pm and after the required safety briefing, introductions to the crew members, and assignment of our cabins, we were offered hot soup—a choice between mushroom or gluten free (yes, that is a menu option here) curried vegetable. We opted for the vegetable soup and it was delicious!  About two hours into the cruise, anyone who wished to could go exploring in a kayak or see more in a tender that held up to 18 people. It was cloudy, cold, and raw outside; hence we and several others stayed on board during this pause. Overall, the cruise was quite smooth except for one 20-30 minute stretch when we made it out to the Tasman Sea. My head didn’t really like that rocky, rolling and sideways motion!  Once we turned back into the sound, it became calm again.    

Carol, the nature guide on board, made frequent comments on the islands we passed, the waterfalls, and any sightings of wildlife. We did stop to view a seal colony and, for the very sharp-eyed, there were sightings of dolphins and the occasional penguin.

Food on board was plentiful (brownies and jelly cakes after the on-the-water excursion) and the dinner buffet tasty—everything from four different salads to several hot vegetables and rice, chicken, carved lamb and beef roasts and desserts and cheese. Wine and beer were on you, and I had a glass of an excellent Chardonnay from Martinborough, a town we had planned to stop in, but didn’t when it was raining hard. We anchored for the night and all was peaceful making for a quite a good sleep. We were the first arrivals for breakfast at 7:00 am.

The remainder of the voyage included several other stops to view more penguins and, something I really appreciated, an interlude of quiet. The ship’s engines were turned off, and everyone was requested to stand quietly on deck with no talking and no camera clicking and to just listen to the sounds of nature. I heard the rush of waterfalls and the occasional bird tweeting, but that was it. Just Mother Nature in all her beauty.  

Doubtful Sound is made up of muted colors—dark, almost black water, looming dark mountains, lots of mist, gray clouds, ribbon-like waterfalls, and here and there shades of green on the lower elevations. We had mostly heavy cloud cover until, several hours after sunrise, we got a bit of sun which enhanced the greens. The mist and the gray add an element of mystery to this remote place.  There are no people living here and no boats; it’s just nature.

Back at Deep Cove at 10:00 am, we disembarked, boarded the bus and retraced our path back across the pass to West Arm where we got on the smaller boat to cross Lake Manapouri back to Pearl Harbor. 

We collected our car and then had delicious hamburgers for lunch at The Church, an old church, now a pub complete with pool table.  We then drove east, through a landscape empty except for sheep, toward Queenstown and Arrowtown, our destination. The last half hour in the rain was another winding, twisting, up and down road with many roundabouts around Queenstown.

Note:  All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved)