25.12.18 To Christmas in Doubtful Sound

Tuesday 25.12.2018

At 6 a.m. my alarm goes off, shortly after 7 a.m. I start walking and call my family at home, who are now sitting down for Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. I have to wait in front of the excursion boat until about 7:45 a.m. The sun is shining, there is still morning mist over the water, it's simply fantastic weather with a bright blue sky and a radiant sun - although it's only 11°C. The journey across Lake Manapouri is breathtakingly beautiful. After about an hour, we reach the Visitor Center in the West Arm of the lake, and from here we continue by bus over the Wilmot Pass. The gravel road is the only one in New Zealand that can be reached by ship and not by car. The beauty of this region was already discovered in the late 19th century and there were some huts and hiking trails. However, the road was built in the early 1960s to facilitate the delivery of materials for the construction of a dam for the Manapouri Power Station. Components that were too heavy to be transported by ferries across the lake were brought in by sea and the Doubtful Sound with large freighters that do not exist on Lake Manapouri. Today, this power station mainly supplies the aluminum smelter in Bluff, which I saw a few days ago. Therefore, this aluminum production is also criticized because it is a huge energy consumer. Regardless of this, the construction of this power plant did not go without protests, as it initially seemed planned to raise the water level of Lake Manapouri in order to increase the gradient between the lake and the Doubtful Sound on the other side and thus increase energy production.

The bus needs half an hour for the approximately 20km long route over the Wilmot Pass. Because we are not only following the most expensive (!) road in New Zealand, but also the steepest one that can be used by buses. The drivers are already challenged by this, and more than once I feel uncomfortable in my window seat when a precipice opens up right next to me. The price of about 1$ per centimeter of road was unbelievably expensive in the 1960s, even though it is still a narrow sand and gravel track today.

A quite modern, motorized catamaran is waiting for us tourists at the pier (there are about 90 people on board) and I secure a place on the upper deck. There are really few seats here. The sun is shining, but I know it will soon be freezing cold and I am amazed at fellow travelers in crop tops, shorts, and sandals. Oh well... Immediately after departure, I put on my sweatpants over my hiking pants and my legs immediately feel nice and warm. I also put on my padded jacket over my fleece jacket, under which I wear a long-sleeved t-shirt and a thick jacket. I also wear a scarf around my neck and sunglasses on my nose. The wind is icy cold and the breeze adds to it. The Doubtful Sound is often considered more beautiful than the easily accessible Milford Sound, where I have been on the last two trips. Both are actually fjords formed by glacier formation. It is definitely different, with more side arms. It is about 40km long and measures around 420m at its deepest point. A special feature here are so-called "hanging valleys", valleys that can be seen at high altitudes. Overall, this fjord is not as impressive to me as I had expected. Even compared to Norway, it is beautiful here, but not breathtakingly spectacular. I actually preferred the Milford Sound because of the height and steepness of the slopes. Of course, there are fewer people here and the nature seems more pristine to me when I see the forests on the slopes. There are also scars caused by landslides where several meters wide areas along with the trees rush into the sea when the rain becomes too heavy and the adhesion is no longer sufficient. Up to 6 meters of precipitation fall here per year - so this cloudless day is something special.

After a detour to the end of the fjord and a view of the wild Tasman Sea and then into a completely quiet side arm and a wonderful view of some hanging valleys and waterfalls, we return to the pier and take the bus back over the Wilmot Pass. On the way, there is a stop at a viewpoint from which you can see the Doubtful Sound very well.

At 2:45 p.m. after the second trip across Lake Manapouri, I am back at the pier where it started this morning. At the campground, I start a machine wash since I still need more of my warm clothes and while the short-sleeved items remain unused, the others need to be refreshed from time to time. After the 40-minute wash, I manage to find a bit of clothesline and hang the rest on the three hangers that belong to the camper and place them in front of me on the grass. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing - after an hour, most of the clothes are dry. I have the rest of the day off today! I sit in the sun at my table next to the camper, sort pictures, finally read a bit, eat the rest of my potato salad and cheesecake, and go to bed relatively early.