Paradox. Part 2. Doubtful Sound. Nature at it's best.

Friday had some similarities in that it was an organized tour but, also hugely different in character. Hence the paradox. I really enjoyed one (today) but not the other, but both were organized tours,

It would be difficult to screw up a day like Friday, but some would succeed. I think I enjoyed it because of what it was, and my disappointment in the previous day was because it was not “real” Doubtful Sound was real and the tour company did a creditable job of making that happen.  I have only posted a few photos and have more. The well known tour is Milford Sound and I chose not to do that. I believe I made a good choice.

I went to Doubtful Sound in Fjordland, and it is one of the most beautiful and magical places I have ever been. It was another well-organized tour that left early and returned late. It is about 200km to Manapouri, and then a 45 minute crossing of Lake Manapouri to the West Arm. 

A NZ built Volvo bus. Note the "Kiwi" shape of the cooling intakes!!

At West Arm there is a hydroelectric power station, which is completely underground except the power lines and the switching and control station that is visible on the surface. Later in the day we did a tour of the underground facility. Basically they take water out of the lake drop it down four shafts for 200 meters (approx 700 ft) through the turbines and out in to Doubtful Sound. It was built in the late 60s and updated with a second outflow tunnel in the late 90s.

It supplies power to some of the community but principally to a large aluminum smelter in Bluff near Invercargill, some 200 km away.

It would be interesting to see if such a project would be approved in today’s environmental climate. On the one hand it is a very sustainable “green” source of power, but there would be a very significant carbon load to construct, particularly as cement is a high carbon user to manufacture. Another issues is building the power plant in a National Park or forest would without doubt create a lot of controversy today.

We then boarded yet another bus for the 22km ride through the mountains and down to Doubtful Sound. The bus stopped briefly at Wilmot Pass, which is 670 meters above sea level (about 2000 ft) but less than 5km from the sea. 

The bus drivers have some very good commentary and knowledge of the wildlife and also the farming along the way to Manapouri.

From Manapouri onwards is all a part of a vast National Forest and is pristine rain forest with rainfall of up to 8 meters per year (about 25 feet!). The Dept of Conservation take great care of their resources and tightly control what can and cannot be done in the forest.

The Sound is 23 km long from where we started out to the Tasman Sea and it was into here that James Cook (not yet Capt Cook) sailed on his voyage of discovery. He called it Doubtful Sound as the prevailing winds are from the south (think Antarctica) and the west, and he believed that once in the sound it would be difficult for a sailing ship to get back out into open sea. It is amazing that he found it at all as it is well protected by treacherous rocks.

Not long after we set out towards the mouth we met up with a school of dolphins who were happy to play close to the boat and display their skills to everyone’s delight.

The crew slowed the boat and we watched for a while and then once safely past we spooled up the engines (Cat C32s, two of them) and for those on the rear we got an extra treat as about five dolphins started to swim in the wake.

The other notable moment was on the return when we navigated into one of the smaller arms on the lake and then shut down the engines, generators and everyone stood still and enjoyed total silence for about 5 minutes. 

We go back to Queenstown around 8 pm after about 14 hours of travel and seeing an incredible piece of our planet that is essentially as nature designed it. Good job nature!

I met a couple from Austin Texas who were celebrating their 25^th wedding anniversary with their first trip outside of the US, Mexico and Canada. They are having a great time and will; I am convinced continue to stretch their boundaries. We talked a lot about travel and the opportunities and I would like to think they will call or email for ideas and shared experiences.

It was my last night in Queenstown. I am renting a car and driving back north on Saturday morning. It will be the first time I have driven a car since I left home on January 11^th.

A Paradox. Two very different days and experiences. Part 1

It is actually Saturday night and I have been thinking about this post a lot and wondering what to say. I had two very different days on Thursday and Friday with some similarities, and some huge differences.

I took Thursday as a “tourist day” and did the things that lots of people do when they are in Queenstown. The first was a ride on a steam powered ship up the lake (that I flew over the day before) to Walter Peak High Country Station.

It is about a 45-minute ride on the boat and the engine room and most all of the other parts of the ship are available to view. That was quite interesting, particularly watching the maneuvering and communication between the bridge and the engine room. 

The managers house. The property is now accessible by the lake, about 10km, or by gravel road about 150km

The road was built in the last 20 years. Not all properties have roads even now.

Frankly the “Farm visit” was a huge disappointment to me as it was way too basic and superficial. Having said that there were clearly people on the tour who had little knowledge of what happens on a working farm. (As in where do steaks come from if you have to kill that precious looking animal). The farm location and history were interesting, but the whole thing could have been much better.

They raise a lot of deer commercially. This fellow was quite shy but would have been in some people's sights!

I will say that it was very well organized and integrated.

After we returned to Queenstown I decided to take a jet boat ride, as this is one of the “extreme ”experiences”. The boat travels at speeds up to 80 kph (50mph) up some quite shallow rivers and is very maneuverable. 

Close to the wall at about 45mph!! Water is less than a foot deep.

Overall at the end of the day I was under whelmed and maybe this was because they were carefully crafted experiences and my preference is for more real life events. I equate the experience with my experiences on a Caribbean cruise where it was well organized, but on a tight schedule and designed to get as many through the “experience” as possible in the shortest time.

I will be the first to say that this was one of the very few days that I have not enjoyed on the whole trip.

I was going to do this as one post but have decided to split it so the information and photos of Doubtful Sound are easy to find.