2nd December 2009
Pearl Harbour in Manapouri was our start point this morning, where we need to catch the boat to Doubtful Sound. We had to check in at 9am and we were there in good time - it was only a couple of minutes drive from the campsite we had stayed at.
Doubtful Sound is so called because allegedly Captain Cook looked at it as he came by in his ship and decided that if they were to enter the Sound, it was “doubtful” that there would be sufficient wind to blow the ship back out again.
The morning was overcast with a bitterly cold wind blowing across the water. Despite our many layers we were both still feeling the cold - that Merino wool wasn’t working. Never mind, we were soon loaded into the small catermeran with 17 other people and Mike our tour guide. We had decided to go with a company called Fiordland Explorer Charters Ltd, which offer tours for smaller groups of up to 20 people as opposed to the one other company operating on Doubtful Sound where the groups are up to 150 - not really our cup of tea.
Once we were all on the boat we made our way across Manapouri Lake, to the dock at West Arm, some 30km and 45 minutes away. Despite the smallness of the boat the crossing was smooth and speedy. We disembarked at West Arm and had 15 minutes in the Department of Conservation Visitor Center there whilst Mike went and moored the boat and picked up the bus that was to take us across the pass and into Deep Cove where the actual Doubtful Sounds cruise would begin.
Once Mike had collected the bus, our first stop was the underground powerstation.
Lake Manapouri is well known in New Zealand as it is the site of a controversial underground powerstation. The lake is some 120 metres or so above sea level, and Deep Cove is only 10km away as the crow flies. Initially the goverment wanted to raise the level of the lake by 30m to create one massive dam from Lake Manapouri and Lake Te-anau, but fortunately they listened to much protest from the New Zealand people and this plan was abandoned. Instead they created an underground powerstation, the only sign of which on the service is a water intake on the side of the lake, and the power cables strung across the lake and up the side of the wooded hill.
Once the water has entered the water intake, it falls 120 meters into the power station itself where it spins the turbines and generates the power. From here, it rushes through a tunnel right through the center of the mountain where it exits into Deep Cove.
This massive undertaking was built in the 1960’s and was no mean feat. In order to get the equipment in for the powerstation, they had to build a road across the pass from Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound, a project which made it the most expensive road to be built in New Zealand, as they had to blast their way through the mountain. The underground powerstation itself was all tunneled using pneumatic drills and dynamite - no fancy tunnelling machines in those days!
As part of the trip we were able to go into the power station - or at least part of it. This means driving into a tunnel in the side of the mountain and descending on a 1 in 10 gradient in a downward spiral of 2km, which brings you to the main workings of the power station.
We were led onto a visitor platform which allows you to overlook the very top level of the power station, and the very tops of the generators within it. The cavern itself is massive, which really drives home the sheer size of the task involved in creating such a space underground - at the cost of the lives of 16 men.
Once we’d all had our fill of the power station it was back to the surface to continue the journey across the pass to Deep Cove. As we drove up the pass and reached the top the clouds over Doubtful Sound had cleared offering us a perfect view over the area. Normally the pass is shrouded in cloud, so we were very lucky to get this view.
We continued on down to Deep Cove and 40 minutes after leaving the powerstation we arrived at Deep Cove. Mike parked up the boat and left us for 15 minutes whilst he jumped in a little dinghy and motored across the harbour to the main boat’s mooring which he soon brought over to the dock and we all boarded.
From here it was a stunning 3 hour trip on the Sound. The weather had cleared and whilst the wind was still cold, we had clear blue skies and glorious sunshine. This boat was bigger than the little one we had used to cross Lake Manapouri, and there was enough seating inside for everyone as well as plenty of space on the front and rear decks for everyone to get outside and enjoy the views.
Our first treat soon after we left Deep Cove was to be escorted by some Bottlenose dolphins. These easily kept pace with our boat and were jumping around in the wash created by it. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why, but these seemed different to the dolphins we’d seen in the Bay of Islands - more inquisitive somehow, and more playful, perhaps because there are far fewer boats on Doubtful Sound. No pictures unfortunately - they were too quick!
We continued making our way out towards the Tasman Sea, stopping in a sheltered cove where Mike killed the engines and we just soaked up the quiet and calm of the place. Doubtful Sound is not as heavily trafficked as Milford Sound, which was our main reason for going there - in fact we only saw one other cruise boat all day. So with the engines off it was really peaceful, just the noise of the wind in the trees and the birds singing. We must have had a good ten minutes drifting along like this, getting within feet of the rock edges before Mike started the boat up again and we headed on out to the Tasman. Things got a bit choppier out here, and we were able to see a big colony of Southern Fur Seals on a large rocky outcrop.
It was then time to turn around and start to make our way back up the Sound, now going against the weather so there was a lot more spray and wind to contend with. Mike tried to find some rare Fiordland Crested Penguins for us, and we did hear one squeaking, but the things are still being elusive so no luck - I suppose they are rare for a reason!
When we got someway back up Doubtful Sound towards Deep Cove, Mike took us down one of the tributries called Crooked Arm. There were spectacular waterfalls falling hundreds of feet of the rock faces down here. With the vegetation growing straight out from it. Apparentley in the rain pretty much the whole area becomes one big waterfall, but today there were just a handfall, nonetheless very nice to look at. It was very sheltered once again round here, so Mike killed the engines and we drifted along right next to sheer rock cliffs with the spray from the waterfalls drifting around us. The cliffs continue plunging beneath the waterline, so depite being less than 2 feet from the rock edge, we were still in 120 metres of water. Quite stunning.
Since we were getting a bit too close to the rocks for comfort, the engines were started up again and it was back to Deep Cove. Mike left us to go and put the boat away for the night, and we started walking the track back towards West Arm. Stopping to look for the outlet from the power station. Once Mike was done with the boat he jumped back in the bus and picked us up from where we’d got to on the track. It was then a 40 minute ride back across the pass with a quick stop-off at the top for a final look back down at Doubtful Cove.
At West Arm Mike put away the bus and collected the boat and it was time for the journey back to Manapouri. By now the wind had really got up and we were once again sailing into the weather so the lake was rather choppy, consequently it was a rather rough journey back across the water, but we made it back with no problems. We jumped in the campervan and headed the short distance up the road back to Te Anau to the campersite we had pre-booked yesterday and collapsed for the night. An excellent trip to Doubtful Sound, well worth the effort to find such a quiet and spectacular place.