So we opted for Doubtful Sounds over Milford Sounds. Milford is the better known of the sounds, and the drive there is supposed to be spectacular – the road passes through a mountain, and when you enter the tunnel you leave behind glorious sunshine, and when you emerge the other side, there is torrential rain!!
We did contemplate the drive to Milford, stopping for lunch, then driving back, but decided that the 4-5 hour round trip was too much, so we stuck with Doubtful. Of the two, Doubtful is supposed to be the more amazing, and less touristy. And at these prices, you can see why the tourists go elsewhere ;)
The Sounds themselves are fiords, where the ocean meets the river/lake and the erosion of rocks has formed a network of lagoons surrounded by vertical cliffs and temporal rain forest. The rain and cliffs create quite a few dramatic waterfalls.
We arrived the night before our trip, as it was an early start, and as we still weren’t 100% we needed our rest. It’s a two-hour drive from Queenstown to Lake Manapouri. The place we stayed at was like stepping back in time. There are Morris Minors all over the place, and the TV is a push button, with a manual dial tuner!! The American lady running the place is really nice, and after about 10 minutes chat we checked into our log cabin, which was basic but adequate. We went to find somewhere for dinner, and lucky the hotel next door was still open, though they only served roadside café kind of meals. We were just in time for our favourite TV series - CSI, but we couldn’t get the TV tuned. The old man can down with a screwdriver to try and help tune the TV, but by the time he came down, the main TV room became free, then it took about 5 minutes to explain that the problem was solved ;) So we sat down on the sofa and had our take-away whilst watching the telly.
We had an early night as Marc was beginning to feel ill again - Ev has to mention that with Marc having a cold since just before New Years, it’s been really difficult for him to get to sleep. This is when Ev finds herself in a bit of a dilemma. She too needs her sleep and knows how important it is for Marc to get his rest too in order to get better. But with Marc snoring so LOUD she doesn’t want to wake him but she also can’t get to sleep herself!!
Next morning, with a bit of a groggy wakeup, we made our way to the pick up point for the first boat. This turned out to be an amazing day - however, we didn’t realise how wet we would get and would have been better off wearing quick dry clothes rather than our “warm” jeans!! We couldn’t get quite as involved as we would have liked, but it was still great fun watching everyone else though, especially the mad crew!!
The first leg of the trip was 1-2 hours on a ferry over to the main land between the 1st lake and Doubtful Sounds itself. We stopped at a few caves, islands and waterfalls en route. Once we got to the main land - a few cups of tea and about 100 photos later we bordered a bus.
We did contemplate the drive to Milford, stopping for lunch, then driving back, but decided that the 4-5 hour round trip was too much, so we stuck with Doubtful. Of the two, Doubtful is supposed to be the more amazing, and less touristy. And at these prices, you can see why the tourists go elsewhere ;)
The Sounds themselves are fiords, where the ocean meets the river/lake and the erosion of rocks has formed a network of lagoons surrounded by vertical cliffs and temporal rain forest. The rain and cliffs create quite a few dramatic waterfalls.
We arrived the night before our trip, as it was an early start, and as we still weren’t 100% we needed our rest. It’s a two-hour drive from Queenstown to Lake Manapouri. The place we stayed at was like stepping back in time. There are Morris Minors all over the place, and the TV is a push button, with a manual dial tuner!! The American lady running the place is really nice, and after about 10 minutes chat we checked into our log cabin, which was basic but adequate. We went to find somewhere for dinner, and lucky the hotel next door was still open, though they only served roadside café kind of meals. We were just in time for our favourite TV series - CSI, but we couldn’t get the TV tuned. The old man can down with a screwdriver to try and help tune the TV, but by the time he came down, the main TV room became free, then it took about 5 minutes to explain that the problem was solved ;) So we sat down on the sofa and had our take-away whilst watching the telly.
We had an early night as Marc was beginning to feel ill again - Ev has to mention that with Marc having a cold since just before New Years, it’s been really difficult for him to get to sleep. This is when Ev finds herself in a bit of a dilemma. She too needs her sleep and knows how important it is for Marc to get his rest too in order to get better. But with Marc snoring so LOUD she doesn’t want to wake him but she also can’t get to sleep herself!!
Next morning, with a bit of a groggy wakeup, we made our way to the pick up point for the first boat. This turned out to be an amazing day - however, we didn’t realise how wet we would get and would have been better off wearing quick dry clothes rather than our “warm” jeans!! We couldn’t get quite as involved as we would have liked, but it was still great fun watching everyone else though, especially the mad crew!!
The first leg of the trip was 1-2 hours on a ferry over to the main land between the 1st lake and Doubtful Sounds itself. We stopped at a few caves, islands and waterfalls en route. Once we got to the main land - a few cups of tea and about 100 photos later we bordered a bus.
The bus took us to the power station, which produces quite a lot of the South islands energy taken from the lake water. The tunnel leading to it is a very narrow single lane, and at the bottom of the tunnel, Stephen, our driver had to make a very, very tight 3-point turn. He mentioned whilst doing this that the bus was relatively new and was apparently worth about $750k, so any damage to this baby was not taken lightly! Once the scary u-turn was done, we had a chance to go into the power station and look at all the turbines pumping the water. All the figures and stats are long forgotten now and we would have to check the many leaflets that we picked up ;)
We then got back on the bus and got on with business. The views were spectacular, and the sun came out for a while. We enjoyed seeing the many waterfalls that Stephen pointed out for us and along the way he quizzed us to see how clever we all were. Unfortunately it was the loud Auzzies that beat everyone to the answers and the last tally was Auz 3, NZ 1, UK 1.
We then got back on the bus and got on with business. The views were spectacular, and the sun came out for a while. We enjoyed seeing the many waterfalls that Stephen pointed out for us and along the way he quizzed us to see how clever we all were. Unfortunately it was the loud Auzzies that beat everyone to the answers and the last tally was Auz 3, NZ 1, UK 1.
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The rain started and then we saw the area in its prime. We were told that the scenery here changes everyday and new waterfalls appear within minutes of there not being one – some just breath taking. By the time we arrived at our boat, Pateu Explorer, the torrential rains had began and we just about made it onto the boat without being totally drenched.
As the weather was so bad we couldn’t really enjoy the outer decks as much… but this didn’t stop the crew. Stephen and John (the guide for the boat) kept going onto the front deck and getting soaked by the rain – at least this kept the tourists happy to see them enjoying themselves (or the tourists just thought that they were absolutely mad)
Along the way the captain was able to manoeuvre the boat quite close to the cliff face, as the water was really deep in all areas of the lake. He was also able to stick the bow of the boat into the little cracks along the way so we could see the little wonderful waterfalls and mossy cliffs surrounding it. At times the captain would even go directly under the waterfalls that were cascading off the cliffs higher up.
Sneak peak into a crack in the mountain
It was at one of the largest waterfalls that Stephen gave Evelyn a glass and told her to go fill it up from the waterfall… now this was a once in a lifetime opportunity so she went out onto the deck and ran forward to fill the glass – unfortunately for her the boat was also moving in the same direction so by misjudging how far to run she ended up directly under the waterfall! Getting absolutely drenched – and we all know how quickly jeans dry!!
Evelyn not realising that the boats still moving forwards ;)
Thirsty?
When we got close to the mouth, where the river meets the ocean, it became really choppy and soon people started to feel a little seasick. Thankfully the captain didn’t stop here long and just wanted to show us a colony of smelly seals on the rocks.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to see any dolphins, which sometimes play around the boat, but with the view so hazy there might have been some that we didn’t even see.
As we had reached the furtherest point we turned around and headed back to the bus, along the way seeing so many waterfalls we lost count. It was so spectacular to see what nature can create and even though we were soaked to the bone, and sniffling from our colds, we thoroughly enjoyed this experience.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to see any dolphins, which sometimes play around the boat, but with the view so hazy there might have been some that we didn’t even see.
As we had reached the furtherest point we turned around and headed back to the bus, along the way seeing so many waterfalls we lost count. It was so spectacular to see what nature can create and even though we were soaked to the bone, and sniffling from our colds, we thoroughly enjoyed this experience.
When we got to the bus we had to make haste as Stephen mentioned that it would be likely that one of the bridges could be under water as the rains had been really bad today. Along the way he mentioned that John was really fascinated by one of the upcoming waterfalls and that could someone pass forward an empty water bottle so that he could fill it up. John however looked a little confused.
We rounded a corner and the doors opened; John was sat right in front by the door & had no idea as to what Stephen was about to do. He then manoeuvred the bus right up to the cliff face and right into a full flowing waterfall, drenching John, and the dash of the bus with water! Everyone was laughing and John didn’t look impressed!!
We rounded a corner and the doors opened; John was sat right in front by the door & had no idea as to what Stephen was about to do. He then manoeuvred the bus right up to the cliff face and right into a full flowing waterfall, drenching John, and the dash of the bus with water! Everyone was laughing and John didn’t look impressed!!
The boys then hurriedly tried to wipe clean the inside of the bus and it was at this point that Ev thought to ask Stephen how much the bus was worth ;D
We then caught the ferry back over the lake, and into a much warmer climate.
When we got back to the car we managed to change into some dryer clothes – Ev’s being her PJ’s :) and then made the 2 hour drive back to Dave’s for our final night in Queenstown.
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