Doubtful Sound, New Zealand

I personally love Doubtful Sound over Milford Sound. It is a full day trip and you should get up early in order to catch the earlier tour if you travel from Queenstown. Both Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound are within the Fiordland National Park. The Doubtful Sound was named 'Doubtful Harbour' by Captain Cook in 1770 when he was doubtful that if he entered the fiord he would be able to get out again.

The full day tour started with a boat journey across Lake Manapouri. It departed from Pearl Harbor to the West Arm before we continued a bus trip through Wilmot Pass and ended up on another boat to the destination - Doubtful Sound. Lake Manapouri is New Zealand's 5th largest lake; during the sailing we saw numerous small islands and mountains. Once we reached the West Arm, we noticed lots of power lines across the bay to the Manapouri Underground Power Station. With a short rest and learned some history of the power station construction inside the building, we boarded a bus to Deep Cove Wharf before catching another boat to enjoy the Doubtful Sound. This was the first time we could really see the Fiordland’s alpine rainforest. The weather was not so cooperative when we were on the Wilmot Pass, it was foggy and we could barely see the Lyvia River. After a brief break, we boarded another boat for a cruise to Doubtful Sound. The captain spotted some dolphins that sailed with us and they provided a fantastic show jumping out of the water and somersaulting back.

When we approached the Tasman Sea, we saw two rocks known as the Hares Ears. From certain angle, they looked just like Sydney Opera House. After the boat returned from Tasman Sea for about 15 minutes, the captain then turned off the engines allowing us to listen to the sound of the water only that some have called "The End of the World".

We disembarked the boat and rejoined the bus at Deep Cove; the driver told us the background of the Manapouri Underground Power Station. We drove through a 2 km long tunnel and stopped at the machine hall where the 7 generators located. This hydro power station has an output of approx. 133MW of clean power. After visiting the power station, we went the same way we came in the morning and back to the Pearl Harbor. It is a long journey but we all loved it and will be back if we visit South Island again.

More photos please click the photo below for larger picture

Copyright © 2012 James Huang - All rights reserved.

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