An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
We awoke just before our wake-up call from Lawrence at the Queenstown Airport letting us know that though it was a bit windy, the weather was clear enough for us to fly to Te Anau this morning. At 8am, our day of the many modes of travel commenced: we took a taxi, a plane, a minivan, a boat, a bus, a boat, a bus, a boat, a bus, and a taxi - in that order. The first taxi dropped us at the airport, where we climbed into the tiny Cessna 4-seater and had the bumpiest flight either of us could remember. It was, though, absolutely, spectacularly, amazingly beautiful scenery, as we flew right alongside the mountains and in front of us and to the side we could see high snow-capped peaks, green valleys, lakes and the wooded mountains of Fjordland. We did hit a few lose-your-breath air pockets and yawed to and fro, but landed before anyone had to hurl. We then took a quick minivan ride to Manipouri where we boarded the boat for the ride across.
The ride was actually smooth, and took about 45 minutes to cross the deep glacial lake. We docked, and boarded a large bus for the 30 minute crossing of the Wilmot pass to get to Deep Cove. Though only 1/2 hour, we climbed steeply to get to the pass and it was foggy and raining at the top, but clear and almost sunny back at the bottom a few minutes later. Along the drive, we were in a thick tropical rainforest and saw several towering waterfalls. The western side of the mountains on the South Island receives as much as 7 to 10 meters (270 to 390 inches) of rainfall per year (!), so the rain and clouds weren’t too unusual. At Deep Cove, we boarded a similar boat which took us out into Doubtful Sound (named by, of course, Captain James Cook who thought it was doubtful (too rocky) whether it could be sailed into from the Tasman Sea).
For the next three hours we were in Doubtful Sound, one of the most beautiful places in this most beautiful of countries. It is basically a fjord, enclosed by towering, wooded hillsides with channels of water branching off in different directions. We turned off into one of these channels and stopped underneath an enormous sheer towering cliff of the ubiquitous black granite. There were a few small waterfalls cascading down, and we were able to see how the persistent vegitation establishes itself. First, the algae and mosses (which were different shades of green, yellow and red) grow atop the stone, then over the years, small plants and eventually larger plants and trees take root in the smaller base of plants. Thus a thick forest grows on top of rocks and sheer stone. As we got near the mouth of the Sound, it became a bit too choppy, so we turned around. During this part of the cruise, we enjoyed the delicious picnic lunches packed by Nugget Point, which included a ham & cheese bagel, some great cheeses, a pate-like filled pastry, and some lobster salad.
For most of this time, we chatted (when we weren’t running outside and upstairs to peer around in wonderment and take ever more pictures) with a Dutch family - Jan, Frederique, and Iris - with quite an interesting story. Iris is Frederique’s 9-year-old daughter from her second husband (who himself has three grown children from a previous marriage), is in her late 40s and has two grown children from her first marriage. Jan is her current husband, is in his early 60s and he has two grown children from an earlier marriage. The interesting part, though, is that the three of them are traveling the world for a year and home- (so to speak) schooling Iris along the way. We enjoyed sharing travel stories with them and found Iris to be quite an entertaining storyteller. (Jan did have an intriguing idea: that everyone should be forced to visit a hospital every six months and spend 1/2 a day or so walking all around seeing what everyone is suffering from, so then they could truly appreciate their lives!)
On our way back through the Sound, we came upon a school of dolphins. First, we stopped to watch them swim all around the boat (happily, it had become mostly sunny then, as opposed to the cloudy drizzle that had been the norm). Then, as we took off, they all followed as they love to swim in the large wake since they get a free ride. As we all stood and snapped away, the large bottle-nose dolphins swam swiftly right behind us - leaping and arcing high out of the water. Some sprang up so near the boat that we thought they were looking for a kiss! Now, that was a cool experience!
We got back to the dock and boarded the bus for the trip back across the pass. Again, it was reasonably clear where we got on, thick fog and rain at the pass, and clear at the other side. We stayed on the bus as it headed down the tunnel to the Manipouri Power Station. This is a hydro-electric plant built into the granite mountain and making use of the fact that Lake Manipouri is 187 meters higher than nearby Deep Cove, which is the beginning of Doubtful Sound as it empties into the sea.
The huge plant is located around 800 feet underground, and was constructed from 1963 to 1971. We drove down the 2km tunnel (feeling like we were heading into the Batcave), and went into the plant to the viewing platform, where we could look down upon the seven turbines cranking out their 700+ MW of electricity. There are, in fact, 30 hydroelectric generating facilities in NZ, of which this is the largest.
We then took the boat back across the lake, which was lovely in the late afternoon setting sun, and got on the bus back to Q’town. (One teeny plane flight was enough for today) The ride back was idyllic, as we gazed out the window at the New Zealand South Island of storybooks — lush farmlands, countless sheep (with a few deer and cattle thrown in), and dark mountains backlit by the beautiful dusty roses and oranges from the setting sun.
We arrived in town at the Fjordland Travel office, where we got a cab back to our apartment. We then ordered some veggies, mussel chowder, and chicken from room service for dinner. The veggies were good, the others were ok, but we were just happy to not be moving. We then just relaxed for the evening.