Doubtful Sound

Once again the alarm clock rings - 06:00 wake up, prepare a few sandwiches and get ready: at 07:15 the shuttle boat to Doubtful Sound with about 45 fellow travelers sets sail. We sail for an hour across Lake Manapouri to the power station built in the early 1960s. Here, so much electricity is generated through hydropower that it could supply the entire South Island of New Zealand. However, 85% is needed for an Australian aluminum smelter in Invercargil....A bus picks us up and we drive for 45 minutes on a gravel road over a small pass down to the fjord. Here we board a small ship again and sail out to Doubtful Sound for the next 2.5 hours, out to the Tasman Sea and back in a loop. The amazing impressions can hardly be captured in pictures... On a sunny day (it rains here on 200 days a year), clouds float through the fjord, get caught on the mountain peaks and then move on. Side fjords or entire valleys open up, the view wanders around trying to capture all the impressions. The landscape is as pristine as it was hundreds of years ago, and apart from the shipping traffic on the fjord, nothing happens here... A dolphin accompanies us briefly, a few birds can be seen... nothing else... just green mountains, dark water, and clouds rushing through... a truly impressive experience.

Time flies too quickly, we board the shuttle boat again, and by 14:00 I am back at the starting point of the trip. Full of images and thoughts, I head east again, and I will continue my tour of the South Island north of the Catlins. Actually, I wanted to go further northwest to Milford Sound, but unfortunately it is still closed after the devastating rains last week. Another blank spot on the map of New Zealand, for which I will have to come back...