Doubtful Fiordland

Trip Start Sep 13, 2006
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Trip End May 08, 2008


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Friday, June 1, 2007

Doubtful sound is in Fiordland... All of the differnt Fiords are called Sounds and Doubtful sound is as remote as you can get.. there are no roads to it and a lot less people go there than Milford sound so off i went on a full day tour. I drove from Te Anau to Manapouri which is another small town that sits on the 4th largest lake in New Zealand.. lake Manapouri.. From here i took a boat 32km across the lake.. Ohh it was pissing rain and you could barely see your hand in front of your face with the cloud and rain. A huge Hydro electric power station is based at the end of the lake and part of the tour was a tour of the power station. You have to take a 2km long tunnel through the mountain decending 200m below ground. The electricty they produce is used in some aluminuium manufacture and the national grid. There is an off road track for another 22km that connects the power station to the ocean....Which is Doubtful sound... the rain really made the day because as you travel through these mountains and valleys there are literally thousands of waterfalls coming down.. (they get 7m of rainfall a year here) every corner you turn is just stunning.. Once we hit the Fiord it was onto another boat for a cruise through the sounds.. You get some spectacular views from here of the mountains and fiord.. the weather cleared up to which was sweet.. The whole area is full of wildlife too from peguins seals and bottle nose dolphins. Anyway 10 dolphins came up to our boat and they followed us which was brilliant and the faster the boat goes the faster the dolphins chase and jump out of the water..(see attached video clip) so that really made the day. We also came across more seal pups and they really are lazy little buggers just sitting up on the rocks sleeping. Our boat went out to the edge of the Tasmin sea which gets really rough and one or two of the other passengers were a tad ill.. From here it was a long trip back to Manapouri but totally worth it.. Afraid the photos just cant do this place justice..
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