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.

More Queenstown and St Patrick’s Day

Tuesday was cool and cloudy with some rain and so was a day to catch up with posting blog notes and email as well as some much needed laundry.

The weather improved in the late afternoon and I met some people at the Irish pub while sitting outside with a nice cold Guinness. A couple of the guys were from Wellington, and I got some good hints for great places to eat if I make it back there, and a girl from Market Bosworth which is very close to my sister Allie’s town. She has been traveling for a couple of months and is one of the first people who has decided that it is not for her. I think it is great that she has done it and now knows what she wants, but most people I have met very much enjoy this somewhat nomadic lifestyle.

I was going to try the paragliding but discovered that for a little more money I could rent a Cessna 172 at the Queenstown airport for a 45 minute flight with an instructor. Overall better value.

What an experience!

The airport sits in a valley very close to “The Remarkables” a mountain range that is about 8000 ft and several other high terrain areas. It is challenging for the scheduled flights and no less so for light aircraft. After some discussion with Alex the instructor (he is from Morpeth in Northumberland UK) we decided on a route that flew us up a canyon towards a place called Lunar Lake and then beyond where you come around the corner and there is the big lake that Queenstown is located on. 

We climbed to 4000 ft and still had mountains on both sides of the plane. The views were magical (another superlative) and I was pleased that I was able to fly and hold altitude as well as I did. 

Queenstown airport is almost in the center of the picture

We came back down the lake and the airport is straight in front of you. There was a Qantas 737 backtracking on the paved runway so we were instructed to circle and land on the dirt runway that basically intersects the paved runway. The weather was excellent and the whole experience was really good fun.

I had been out for a walk in the morning over to the city park, and am impressed by how well all of the parks are kept. I think I commented on the one in Masterton and of course Christchurch. It really adds to the overall impression people have of the place.

Someone had also told me that there was a yacht moored on that side of the bay that had belonged to Winston Churchill back during WW2 and had been used for some War Cabinet meetings. A local businessman bought it about 20 years ago and shipped it here and did extensive restoration work.

Anita on the way to Pog Mahones for St Patrick's Day

On the way back I met Anita who works on the front desk at the hotel and she is from Dublin and was off to the pub for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations. All of the staff are very friendly but also a little sad as the hotel will close at the end of March as the lease is up and the landlord will not renew.

Anita invited me to join the celebrations with her friends, which I did after the flying.

By the time I got there they were well in to it and the whole place was hopping. There was Irish music inside, with a Japanese girl that plays bouhran and fiddle. Very well I might add.

Throughout the evening I met and had interesting conversations with lots of people. There was a US Army medic on R&R from Afghanistan, and lots and lots of genuine Irish, as well as some honorary Irish just for the day.

Everyone had a lot of fun and nobody I saw was too wild with the possible exception of Adam who is a large Aussie guy who would randomly take off around the pub in his “mankini” Quite a sight but harmless enough. 

The West coast and Queenstown

I arrived in Queenstown on Sunday evening after a 7 hour bus ride down the remote west coast and over a couple of mountain passes. I have decided that I will rent a car and retrace my route when I head back north at the end of the week and take some time to stop and enjoy the various places we saw on the way down. I have purposely chosen to travel on the now iconic Atomic Shuttle bus system as this allows me to look around instead of at the road, and to meet people along the way. It has worked well.

I have found that I am coming across the same people in different places. Yesterday I met the French guy who was one of the passengers on the glacier helicopter trip at the top of the mountain in Queenstown. There have been several other “repeat meetings”

There are lots of Americans in Queenstown, but they have been few and far between on the road so far. I met a lady from Oregon who is traveling with her daughter and a guy from Colorado but that is about it. Lots and lots of young people from all over the world some of whom have been traveling for a couple of years. It is possible, and I believe quite easy to get a temporary wor permit for a year both here and for Australia and it can be extended for a second year with no big issues. Most of the jobs are in the service industry or fruit picking. Some places offer a room and food in exchange for 3-4 hours work a day. 

The old fella is sleeping...I hope!!

We stopped several times on the way down including a lunch stop at a salmon fish farm that looks out over a large wetland, and at a little remote café with a grass airstrip opposite.

There was an elderly gentleman on the bust from Australia (I estimate mid 80s) who had been left behind by his tour bus and was having to play catch-up. He had a walking frame and we had to help him on and off the bus. The driver was most accommodating and was going to deliver him to his hotel after we were dropped off. Better service than his tour company evidently!

I think I have mentioned that I am concerned about my seeming over usage of superlatives when describing the places and things I am experiencing.

Queenstown will again test the use of superlatives. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Period. The scenery is stunning and the whole town is clean (very little litter anywhere in NZ) and there is lots of variety of places to eat and things to do.

Based on advice from Jen Grant who was here a couple of weeks ago I booked in to Thomas’s Hotel which is an upgrade in creature comforts from most of the places I have been in, but certainly not the lap of luxury. It is however right on the lakefront with superb views and easy access to everything. 

 Above two pics are from my room

I was originally staying two nights and then moving to Te Anau but will base myself here for the next few days as Wednesday is St Patrick’s Day and likely to be a load of fun.

I am going to Doubtful Sound on a day trip Friday and that includes a trip to a hydroelectric power station.

There are lots of “adventure” tours here all the way from Bungee jumping from a bridge with a six second fall (no thanks) to jetboats on the river to parasailing. There are lake cruises and loads of other activities.

There is a good Irish pub close by called Pog Mahones which is a misspelling of a Gaelic saying. 

It is a lively place and should be a good base for St Paddys Day. I met a girl and her Dad from Dublin who were traveling together and she is staying on to work, and another couple who have just finished working for Cirque du Soleil with one of their traveling shows. They have a house her as their base. Not a bad gig.

The Glacier experience

There are many glaciers in this region, but the two most famous are Fox and Franz Josef. Franz Josef is about 20km from the sea and right now is moving rapidly (in glacial terms) at approx a meter a day. Most move only centimeters in a year. It is dependent on the snowfall over the preceding 10 years or snow that packs new snow on the top and pushes down on the base. The other unusual aspect is that the glacier is plowing through a rain forest. I took a walk this afternoon to the base of the glacier, or as close as they will let you go unescorted. There is a car park and then a short walk in the rain forest and the path winds around and then suddenly you make a right turn and you are looking at the glacier about 2 km away. The weather changes rapidly and the valley is steep sided so you can feel the cold air coming off the ice the closer you get. Basically you walk up the riverbed that is very rocky but with a decent path and markers and you get within about 500meters of the base. There is a constant danger of icefalls and some of rock falls and slides. 

So called "Victoria Falls" The water coming out of the base of the glacier

They have full day and half day guided tours and also helitours where you are taken on to the glacier in a helicopter and hike for about 2 hours and then taken back down. There are also aerial tours with a glacier landing, which is what I chose after some deliberation. I actually did this first based on the availability of seats. I think it was a Bell Jet Ranger and seated 6 plus the pilot. The heliport is about 300 meters from the hostel (as is everything else in town) and you can hear them going and coming constantly. When we landed on the glacier there were five others there at the same time from different operators.

The ride up is dramatic as you pass close to the sides of the valley and then fly over the ice field, and then over the ridge where it becomes Fox Glacier rather than Franz Josef. 

Banking  through the valley following the glacier

The decent is a series of dramatic turns following the sides of the valley and then over the village of Fox Glacier and on back to the heliport. It was all over too quickly but was a great experience. I had hoped to do it in a fixed wing 185 but I was the only one wanting to go and it is a minimum of two!