We got up bright and early Easter Sunday morning to head out on our cruise of Doubtful Sound. Many Kiwis had told us that Doubtful was the more stunning of the two 'tourable' sounds (the other being Milford Sound). Getting to and touring Doubtful Sound is an all day experience and includes a tour of....a power station!!! Happiness for all members of the Barrantes-Humora family.
The shuttle picked us up at our hotel and drove us to Manapouri to grab our boat. From there, it was a 50 minute ride across Lake Manapouri, the lake neighboring Lake Te Anau, to West Arm. At that time, it was a stunningly sunny day...no shadowlands in sight.
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| A tree slide in the shape of a giraffe. |
One of the really interesting things about Fiordland is that all the hills/mountains are rock - there's not a speck of dirt or topsoil on them. Moss and lichens start the whole process by attaching themselves to the rocks and growing. From there. ferns and other plants start growing using the lichens and moss as their base. Finally, trees start growing on top of/intertwined with everything else. It all works swimmingly until for some reason (rain or snow) causes a few trees to lose their grip. Since everything is connected, they take lots of other vegetation with them in their descent, leaving a gray scar of bare rock on the side of the hill.
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| A recent tree slide on the left, a tree slide from 10 yrs ago on the right |
By the time we got to West Arm, the rain and clouds had rolled in. Fiordland gets anywhere from 5 meters to 16 meters of rain per year depending on where you are, so honestly, rain and clouds just made the whole thing a more authentic, more
Fiordland experience. At West Arm, we took a bus deep down into the
Manapouri Hydro Power Station. It's the largest hydro power station in New Zealand and sits 200 meters below Lake Manapouri in an excavated rock cavern. The ride down the tunnel was cool and somewhat creepy but totally worth it.
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| Spooky tunnel |
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| Weka |
After the power station tour, we took a 40 minute bus ride over the
Wilmott Pass, a road built specifically to aid in the construction of the power station. On that journey, we saw gorgeous views and
wekas (yet another of New Zealand's rare flightless birds).
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| First view of Doubtful Sound |
At the end of Wilmott Pass, we had finally arrived in
Doubtful Sound and set out on a leisurely four hour cruise of the sound. It was here that the the Maori name for Fiordland - Ata Whenua meaning shadowlands - made perfect sense. Although the rain prevented us from spending too much time outside on the upper deck of the boat, we still saw a lot...well, as much as you could see in the mist, but I think that just made it even cooler.
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| the Blanket Bay Hotel...really a fishing shack for the locals with satellite tv |
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| Waterfalls that we were about to get much closer to. |
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| Closer... |
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| ...closer... |
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| ...closest!! Boats can do this because the hills are just as steep underwater. |
This picture shows a 'hanging valley.' They are all over the place. From what I understand, a hanging valley is the result of a small glacier that couldn't cut as big a valley as a big glacier and hence hangs above the level of the water (which is where the big glacier cut a valley).
Click here for a much better explanation with pictures.
Thus ended our damp but beautiful day on Doubtful Sound, a living ata whenua.
This picture shows a 'hanging valley.' They are all over the place. From what I understand, a hanging valley is the result of a small glacier that couldn't cut as big a valley as a big glacier and hence hangs above the level of the water (which is where the big glacier cut a valley). Click here for a much better explanation with pictures.
Thus ended our damp but beautiful day on Doubtful Sound, a living ata whenua.
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