Woke up at 6:30 after a full 8 hours of sleep. That's allot for me. Showered and started working on the blog.
Mike wanted to buy some sunscreen and bug spray at a store but by my look he guessed I wanted to keep working. So he headed off with our me. I barely noticed. He came back with the groceries and breakfast. He was also traumatized having to go through left hand drive-through without an extra pair of eyes. It was extra narrow and he was in a whaling boat of an SUV.
I was just grateful he did all the running around so I could keep adding photos to the Hobbiton blog. I really wanted to get another blog done and published. It's like those people who make lists just so they can have the joy of checking something off the list. I decided to do the blog, I decide it needs to be done close to real time, I decide how good it needs to be, and I decide to push myself, but hitting the publish button is a great relief and joy to me. I've done them for over 20 years now and I often refer back to them for specific memories. It one of my ways of leaving some personal history to my descendants.
So with great satisfaction, I push the publish button, then grab my stuff, Eat some breakfast and head for the door. We have a 2 hour drive out to Manapouri, a small town where our tour of Doubtful Sound will start.
The road starts out beside Lake Wakatipu, that's the lake here beside Queenstown. We had to drive about 30 miles South before we could cross the lake and head West. The road wound tightly between the lake and the canyon walls. We were on a highway but it felt more like a mountain road in Colorado.
We stopped about an hour and a half to put some diesel in the car and grab a drink. I also grabbed a tin of Pringles. I tried to find some plain peanuts, either salted or dry roasted but all they had were flavored. Salt and vinegar, curry, and some other odd flavor. Why does everything have to be flavored? But at least they had plain pringles.
We were ahead of schedule so we drove an extra 10K to a little town called Te Anau. It was pretty small so we didn't stay long and continued on to Manapouri. When we arrived, we went to the parking lot but it was packed full, so we searched for alternatives. The signs led us to a lot at the top of the hill. After we parked we headed to the trail down to the pier but a sign informed us that the trail was closed. Luckily for us, a van pulled up to give us a ride to the bottom. It was a long way around and would have sucked to walk it (foreshadowing).
We got checked in 40 minutes early so we went to the little bakery shop for a snack. I got a lemon bar and Mike got a caramel bar. They were both good and killed 5 minutes. Now we only have 35 minutes to wait so we sat at a picnic table and hoped the sun would come out from the clouds and warm us up.
Finally it was our turn to board.
To tour the Doubtful sound takes allot. We stared by driving 2 hours, then we board a ship and motor for 45 minutes across the lake, Then we disembark the boat and climb aboard a bus for another 45 minute drive up and over a mountain pass where we reach the sound. Nearly 4 hours to reach the sound. We'll be on the sound for 2 1/2 hours of cruise then another 4 hours to return, so lets get into it.
We followed the herd down the gang plank and onto the boat. We walked into the main room in the center of the ship and settled at a table to wait. The bow was closed off and we weren't allowed up there. The boat left and began motoring across the lake, going slowly at first because we were in a narrow river, then hit the gas and the nose rose up out of the water. It kind of felt like when I'd accelerate the ski boat trying to plane out on the surface, but the nose never came back down and pretty much ruined our view.
After a bit we decided to go up to the top deck and try to get some pictures. It was pretty windy but a great view of the area. I guess the sound will be prettier than the lake we're crossing, but I don't really see how. This is beautiful.
The captain of the boat was narrating the journey and training a new captain at the same time. They drive the ship from a raised chair with joysticks on the arm rests. Small casual pushes is all it takes to steer and the woman was sitting back and relaxed. The captain would narrate a bit, then stop and talk to the trainee, explaining why they stay one way or another, then narrate again. Much of the narration was the history of the area which I'll explain when we get on the busses. He also shared the same stories of Maori oppression. The South Island did not have many Maori on it because of the severe weather and geography.
The reason we were able to take a boat ride across Lake Manopouri to these busses is because the lake drives a hydro electric generating station. Normally we (humans) build a damn to back up water to drive our generators, but in this case, the lake is natural. So they dug a series of tunnels from this high elevation lake down to Doubtful Sound at sea level. The only sad part is that the generators don't go to power the homes of the South Island, instead it runs an Aluminum smelting station. The Aluminum ore is brought over from Australia, smelted with cheap New Zeland water/electricity, then sold around the world. It does benefit the country's economy but it's even better for big industry.
This road over a high pass from Manopouri to Doubtful sound was built to facilitate the construction of the power station. Once the construction was done, it was turned back over to the actual land owners who arrange these tours.
The road was really nice despite being dirt and gravel and only a single lane. It's well maintained and built wide enough to get large construction equipment over the pass. Our drive gave us more narrative about the area. These mountains are caused by plate tectonics and the mountains are on the edge where another plate is being forced down so they are forced up a few centimeters each year. The mountains are so new that there's no soil for anything to grow. Instead, the moss forms large mats where the tree roots and ferns are able to anchor themselves. But since it's such a fragile base to grow on, occasionally whole sections sluff off the hill side in almost an avalanche of trees and moss. I tried to poke a finger through a moss bed and couldn't reach the rock beneath. It's impressive.
At the top of the pass we got our first look at Doubtful Sound. It was named by Captain Cook who doubted he'd be able to turn his ship around if he sailed in. It was also called a sound because that's the only work they had for such features back then. In modern terms, it's a Fjord because it was formed by glaciers and has a rounded bottom with very steep sides. Sounds are generally more V shaped and created by erosion and shallower. But it remains Doubtful Sound in the Fjordland National Park.
Coming up the pass we had climbed a 1 in 6 steep road, but going down to the sound was a 1 in 5 steep road. These are really good and modern busses so we really couldn't tell, but the driver said he could tell it was working harder. Today was a dry day, but yesterday was very wet. The driver said that yesterday's runs they could see waterfalls all over the hills. But with no soil most of that was just instantly runs away so that today we had few waterfalls but we still had several flowing that are temporary.
At the bottom of the hill we left the buses and went straight onto the ship. There was already a large group of teenagers on board. They are a school group doing a few days of nature schooling. They stay in a hostel near the sound and this was their turn to ride on the boats. They provided great entertainment through the whole trip.
The trip was fantastic but unfortunately it's hard to write an interesting report that's nothing but "this was beautiful and that was beautiful" over and over. But it was. On the journey out, Mike and I headed straight for the bow. It was still pretty cloudy and a little chilly but improving constantly. After about 10 minutes they unleased the teenagers who also rushed to the bow. We decided to give them some time to horseplay and went inside to grab our lunch. We had a cheese tray with some crackers, salami, and hummus. One of the cheeses was a blue which became my favorite, just enough funkyness and great flavor. It filled in the cracks nicely.
We checked the top decks, there were a total of 3 decks and the very top was fully open. We went up and found it surprisingly calm and not blasted by a 22 knot wind to match our speed. Right as I thought that, the narrator said that we had a strong tailwind which was resulting in an especially calm passage. We stayed a while and took pictures, then headed back to the bow.
We spotted one odd vessel off down a side channel so I took a 10x zoom picture of it. It was kind of square but looked like it was rigged to sail. We thought maybe it was one of the overnight vessels run by this tour group. We had seen another group as we were leaving, but everyone on that group had a carry on size bag. It turned out they were staying overnight on a ship in the sound. We later learned it was a fishing charter boat, it did overnights but not with our tour company.
We continued gawking around the islands, mountains, waterfalls, birds, clouds, trees, and everything else we could see, it was almost overwhelming and the gentle breeze in our faces felt great with the sun on us. I applied some sun screen just in case which spurred a whole series of other people slathering up.
Finally we began to emerge from the fjord out toward the ocean. We began to feel some ocean swell and the farther we emerged, the bigger the swell became. Everyone started to whoop as we'd crest a wave and fall down the far side. It never got too big but to listen to the passengers, we were on the poseidon and about to roll over. The teenagers especially were playing it up to the hilt.
There were a couple of small islands near the mouth of the sound. There were waves crashing over them. The boat slowly approached one and the narrator introduced us to the local inhabitants, a rookery of fur seals. We had the wind at our back so we couldn't smell them, but from past experience I'm sure they stunk to high heaven.
We bobbed in the boat for a while, only 10 to 20 meters away to get a good look. They were totally uninterested in us. Meanwhile the ocean waves crashing on the far side and the silence of the engines was kind of peaceful. I wish I could have laid out on a rock in the sun to bask.
Eventually the boat turned back away from the ocean and picked up speed. Now, instead of the semi calm bliss of a following wind, we got the double blast of boat speed into a string wind. It was blowing so hard that it was hard to breath. We toughed it out for 10 minutes but finally we headed in for a break. Not far behind us the rest of the stalwarts eventually abandoned the bow as well and it was left empty for 20 minutes or so.
After a breather we headed to the captain's level and watched while he steered the boat with his feet up on the console and chair heavily reclined. He and our narrator were chatting away in between narration sessions. I don't know how the guides remember all that crap without note cards or web pages. Much better memory than me, or they just make it all up and tell a different bullshit story each trip. That's what I would do.
The guide told us we were ahead of schedule and were going to take a side channel to see more waterfalls, so Mike and I headed back for the bow. It was still blowing hard, but we could see the smooth water just into the channel so we waited and sure enough, just after we turned the wind dropped off. It was still air, but without the added wind it was nice . Sure enough we saw some beautiful waterfalls.
We motored about 10 minutes down to a slight widening in the channel. The guide asked everyone to find a place where they could sit or stand for an extended time without making allot of noise. He then asked the captain to turn off the ship and generators and we sat in silence admiring the nature around us for 5 minutes. Other than the sound of cell phone camera shutters, it was very quiet. I really liked it.
On some of my solo trips, I've often found a spot with a view and no people and just sat for 30 minutes to look and think. Or I've sat reading for a few hours if the temperature is right.
This quiet time felt much like that. I tried to ignore the people around me and look at the water falls, a bird in flight, the clouds roiling, trees swaying in the wind, or any number of beautiful things. It was awesome.
Then, of course, one of the teenagers had to poke someone and they had to poke back, and soon they were giggling and laughing and the mood was broken. In truth, they held it far longer than I thought they would. The captain started the engines and we motored back out. Just as soon as we cleared the walls, the savage wind was back and we headed for the top.
We did another short detour up a different canyon and yet more spectacular, oh my heck did you see that, waterfalls, then we were approaching the dock. We left the ship and got straight back onto the busses for the return journey. We switched busses so we could see what the other driver was like. She was also excellent and funny. Both bus rides were enjoyable.
Again, when we reached the end of the road is was very business like, exit the bus and march straight onto the boat and out onto the lake. We didn't even attempt to sight see for a bit. We did talk about how we'd arrive at 8:00 and there were no open restaurants or even convenience stores. These little towns shut down at 5:00. For dinner we decided just to get a couple of hot panini sandwiches on the boat. The smell of them cooking was the biggest deciding factor. They really hit the spot and because this is an America it wasn't craft singles and baloney, but real swiss cheese and high grade ham.
We went back up on top to take a few pictures but the sun was close to setting and most of the mountains are already in shadow. I got a few pictures with the Sun picking through the clouds but it was more about watching then documenting.
We got back to the dock and there's no sign of the shuttle bus to take us up to our car so we got to walk the quarter mile around and up the hill. I was paying pretty good by the time we got to the top.
We got in the car and started the drive home. Other than being dark it was a repeat of the morning. Took about 2 hours to drive straight back. We arrived so late there were no parking spots at the hotel so we have to pay for public parking behind the hotel.
I worked on the blog for about 30 minutes and then went to sleep. It's amazing how tired I got from just sitting on boats buses and in the car.
My steps were 5,800 or 2.5 miles
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