Doubtful Sound

There are just four bedrooms at our B&B here in Te Anau. We had breakfast with two other couples - one had done the trip to Milford Sound and the other to Doubtful Sound yesterday. They had enjoyed the trips despite the rain! Fortunately for us today was looking fine.
We were collected at 9:30 and driven over to Manapouri which unsurprisingly is on a lake, Lake Manapouri. It is a bit of a trek to reach Doubfful Sound for we had to take a boat across the lake which took about an hour then a bus up and over Wilmot Pass on a very gravelly road down to our boat to take us on Doubtful Sound. Whilst it took a while the journey was worth it. The captain of our ship across Manapouri asked us all to look straight ahead at the “big blue thing” meaning the blue sky which is rare in these parts for allegedly the Fiordland is one of the wettest places on earth!
This was evident on our drive over Wilmot Pass where we made a couple of stops to admire the views but also to see up close the moss that grows everywhere for it is so damp. It was also interesting to see the scars on the steep hills all around caused by waterfalls and tree avalanches. Trees manage to grow on the rocks and all their roots become entwined so if a tree becomes unsteady and blows over it comes down the side of the hill bringing many other trees with it. This happened recently and closed the road over the pass cutting off the tourists on the trip that day who had to be helicoptered off.
Doubtful Sound is quite stunning particularly on a clear day like today. We had hoped to see seals, dolphins, penguins and potentially whales but in fact only saw NZ fur seals . Whilst the weather was clear and bright sitting out on deck it was very blowy and quite cold but exhilarating. A very good but long day as we didn’t return until around 6.
A quick change and we walked into town for dinner at the Fat Duck, no not Heston’s place.
We leave Te Anau in the morning for Queenstown and our final three nights in New Zealand.Read more