Doubtful Sound

Friends of Sun,

Here in Manapouri, the sun is shining brightly and I, a lazy soul, spent the whole of yesterday in the car in the rain and I could have actually used the weather today to go on another hike down here. However, I have to admit that my motivation is limited as the peaks here are already covered in snow. I am also enjoying doing nothing a little as the snow is clearly telling me that I don't have much time left here on the South Island. I also plan to be back in Christchurch on May 22nd and until then I want to drive or hike around the region around Queenstown, Wanaka and the west coast.

So much for the future and my lazy butt lying around here. More about the past or what I have experienced here in the Southlands. There are two different tours in the fjords to see the fjords and the water and to marvel at this incredibly beautiful landscape. One of these tours is in Milford Sound and the other in Doubtful Sound. The tour in Doubtful Sound is 5 hours longer and does not go directly through the fjord, as you have to take a boat ride and a bus ride beforehand to even get to this remote fjord. However, there are also far fewer tourists here as the tour is more expensive than the one in Milford Sound.

The tour to Doubtful Sound starts in Manapouri Harbour and from there it takes about 1 hour across Lake Manapouri.

After the lake, it's a 45-minute drive over Percy Pass. A road that is completely cut off from New Zealand's other road network and was only built to transport parts and all kinds of building materials from the sea to the remote power station at the end of Manapouri Lake. This power station supplies a large part of the South Island and is a truly impressive building and a great project for sustainability.

After there was already a lot to see before the actual start of the tour and I really enjoyed the views, we finally got on the boat and started the adventure through the fjord.

The pictures definitely speak for themselves and it was even more beautiful and impressive to see in real life. Simply WOW!

At first I thought I had brought way too many snacks and things with me, but I ate all of them and was glad of every layer I brought with me. My ski touring hardshell pants in particular are perfect for rainy days. After chugging through the fjord for 1.5 hours, we arrived at the sea and the weather was definitely getting worse. Here we were able to watch a colony of sea lions chilling. I was usually one of the few people standing outside on the boat and braving the wind and weather. And the views from here were just much, much nicer. When the explorer James Cook sailed through this fjord for the first time, he wasn't sure whether he would be able to get his sailing ship through the fjord safely - he had his doubts - hence the name of this wonderful piece of earth. The fjord is also often called the Fjord of Silence because it is so wonderfully quiet here.

A dream landscape and a really beautiful trip. I can't really say much more about this day, because it was one of the highlights of my travels so far. The landscape here reminds me a little of another world and if you have seen the first part of Avatar (The Journey to Pandora) and still remember the Hallelujah Mountains: That's more or less what it felt and looked like. As if I was traveling through another world on a ship.

Simply WOW!!!

Your still amazed Britta