Doubtful Sound - Quiet. Incredible.

Still overwhelmed by my experience yesterday (I. Saw. A. Kea.), my day started very early today. At 7 o'clock I was on a bus that would take me to Doubtful Sound. The route led along the Southern Scenic Route to Manapouri first.

The journey itself took a good two hours, plenty of time to admire the landscape. The weather was on our side, but it was getting cloudy. The trip alone took a good 2 hours.
In addition to sheep and cow pastures, you could also see many herds of rowers. In fact, the commercial farming of deer in the region originated here. In the last century, there were also crazy things like 'Heli Hunting': hunters jumping out of a helicopter to catch deer alive. Well, different times, different customs....?

To give you an idea of how long this journey already lasted, this is the perfect time to sprinkle in some information:
Fiordland is the southern end of the South Island and is considered the 8th wonder of the world. A large part of the spectacular images of New Zealand comes from this region.

The most famous is Milford Sound.
Countless tours are aimed at this fjord: day tours, half-day tours, on the boat, in a kayak, overnight, from Queenstown, Wanaka, Te Anau, by helicopter, bus, car - everything is possible.
This wide range of options already suggests that there will be one thing above all else, and that is tourists.
I don't want to reveal much more about Milford Sound at this point, because I will also get there later.

Doubtful Sound is located slightly further south of Milford Sound and promises equally spectacular views. I suspect that everything in Fiordland is spectacular in general.
Nevertheless, the fjord is somewhat less known and I hoped for slightly fewer tourists when I booked the tour.
The way there is more complicated:
After arriving in Manapouri, you have to take a ferry across Lake Manapouri (another 45 minutes). The lake is the second largest in Fiordland, reaching depths of up to 400m. There are a total of 33 islands scattered in the lake (which is a record) and the largest of them is a bird sanctuary.

In the morning, the mountains were still shrouded in clouds, which gave the whole landscape a certain atmosphere. And at least it didn't rain - with around 280 rainy days a year, Fiordland is one of the wettest regions in all of New Zealand.

After the ferry, another bus waits for the tourists, which drives for another hour to Deep Cove, the eastern end of Doubtful Sound.
The way there leads over a winding, steep gravel road and the bus had quite a struggle. But you already get first glimpses of the actual sound.

After a total of 4 hours of travel, you finally reach the sound. By the way, it is actually not a sound (river valley), but a fjord (formed by ice), but the first settlers had given the fjords the name sound and that stuck. But that's beside the point...

A total of 3 hours boat ride was included in our tour and I enjoyed every single minute.
The beauty of Doubtful Sound was not stunning like Milford Sound might be, but it slowly crept into our hearts.
Gradually, we sailed towards the Tasman Sea and the mountains on the sides became higher and more rugged. The sky also cleared slowly, so that on the way back we could experience the fjord in sunshine. You couldn't hope for anything better.
Spectacular views, wonder, and perfect moments.
I had a lot of fun with photo sessions and posing with two other girls. But the landscape also invited to take photos.
There was also a coffee machine on board, which offered various coffee specialties and hot chocolate. For free!
So I basically drank hot chocolate the whole time while being driven through this amazing landscape. I can imagine worse ways to spend an afternoon.

Especially because of the good weather (and the chocolate), it was a bit sad when we docked again after three hours.
Exhausted from all the emotions and impressions, the long journey back now awaited us: the bus ride to the lake, then the ferry, and finally the drive back to Queenstown.
The weather was unbeatable, but somehow no one could really appreciate it anymore; we all somehow just wanted to go back.
When we finally arrived in Queenstown in the evening, my day was not over yet.

Because I decided to forgive the city and it wouldn't benefit anyone if I was resentful about this bad first impression.
But that's a story for another blog post, because what I did afterwards doesn't really fit with a fjordland, if you know what I mean ;)
Let's just say I simply enjoyed Queenstown...