First Arm

Our alarms went of at 5:30. We had a quick breakfast, drove to Manapouri, and checked in to our Doubtful Sound Tour. It was raining and the clouds were hanging low when we boarded the boat. Behind us some German girls were joking about New Zealand colors being the different shades of grey around us. The boat ride took about an hour. But this was only to cross the Manapouri lake. While still being rainy and cloudy, the further we got the higher and steeper the mountains around. A nice appetiser for the fjord. At the other side of the lake a bus ride through the jungle over a pass took us to the Doubtful Sound. We couldn't see the fjord from the pass though because the visibility was too poor. When we got on board and went up the deck for the view it still rained a little bit. But amazingly that soon got less and less and eventually stopped altogether. Most clouds moved up so we saw most mountain tops and the few that didn't were just adding to the picturesque view. We actually had almost 100 percent visibility. Way more than we had hoped for after the past days. Just like at the Milford Sound, there were many waterfalls. Although not as many but this time we could see them much better. Unlike the Milford Sound it didn't take long here until our boat was all that reminded of civilisation. We were surrounded by calm dark water, islands and steep mountains with thick temperate rain forest and waterfalls dropping from their tops. It was impossible to get tired of the view even if it was slightly cold. Handy that there was free coffee and tea on board.

After almost reaching the end of the fjord, our skipper moved the boat into a side arm. The water there was incredibly calm. The skipper turned the engine off and requested us all to stop talking and moving. The water was a mirror and all we could hear was the sound of waterfalls around. The Sound Of Silence.

It was time to return and when our boat reached its platform after this 2.5 hour cruise, the sun came out. On the way back to the lake, we had some spare time and our bus stopped at several viewpoints. So this time we could view the wonderful Doubtful Sound from the pass. Afterwards the boat took us across the Manapouri lake once more.Read more