Doubtful Sound

Today was the day of my long-planned, rather expensive day cruise to Doubtful Sound in the Fiordland National Park. I didn't really know what to expect, other than I'd probably be surrounded my middle-class, middle-aged English, American and German couples.

After catching the bus at 6.30am, and a ferry a couple hours later, and then another bus after that, we boarded the Patea Explorer which was to be our transport down the sound. Having done boat trips before that state 'dolphins and x other exciting animals frequent the area' and rarely having seen them, I was a bit dubious about the possibilites of seeing dolphins and the two types of penguins that live in the sound. However, only minutes into the trip the very kindly English guide (who I kind of want to be my uncle) had spotted some Fiordland crested penguins paddling about in the water and everyone piled over to the starboard side, DSLRs at poised and ready. So that was a pretty good start, and I probably could have settled that credit card bill happy enough with some native wildlife being spotted, especially as it was penguins and I wasn't having to endure subzero temperatures.

Softly spoken Neil then told us that the route the boat goes isn't actually planned and it depends on the weather and what wildlife is spotted. He then took us into an arm of the sound where the previous cruise had spotted some little blue penguins. And again, the crowds almost capsized the boats with the rush to one O'clock where the little fellas were splashing about. Little blue penguins are tiny, blueish grey and very, very cute. They used to be called fairy penguins but that name is no longer (meant to be) used due to the negative connotations of homosexuality. So that's TWO types of penguin. In fresh water! Awesome.

On we sailed, with Neil telling us that the conditions we were experiencing were "remarkable" and perfect for sailing. We went down another arm of the fiord, as Captain Ben had spotted an 'area of disturbance' in the waters ahead. This, of course, turned out to be a pod of bottlenose dolphins. The engines were killed and we sat floating about watching their steamy airspouts come closer and closer. One came right near the boat and I had a pretty good view, but in the excitement my camera wouldn't focus. And a second or two after that one particularly playful dolphin jumped out and pulled some crazy flips in the air. Again, I wasn't quick enough with the camera. Can't have everything I guess...

After we got over our luck in the wildlife department, we continued on down the sound towards the Tasman Sea. Neil told us that about 5 trips a year (and they go out every single day) make it out to the Tasman Sea as far as we do. And this afforded us the same view as Captain James Cook had 242 years ago to the day, when he first encountered the natural harbour and deemed in "doubtful harbour" (in the respect that given the prevalence of the westerly winds, it was 'doubtful' that once in, sufficient wind power would allow the ship to make its way back to sea). So that was also pretty damned awesome.

We turned around the rocks, furnished with arctic terns and fur seals (misnamed, as they are actually in the sealion family) and an albatross (this I failed to see, unfortunately) and made out way back up the sound. I'm not sure there was any wildlife in the area that we didn't spot, really.

At this point I was pretty worn out from being chuffed that I retired into the cabin to enjoy some complementary tea (yet another fantastic aspect of this trip) and headed out now and again for more photos.

On the way back, we headed into the Manapouri Power Station, a hydroelectric power station located at sea level, 182m under Lake Manapouri. It was probably quite impressive, given the fact that they had to blast our all the space with TNT in the 1960s, but after all the animal excitement and insanely beautiful scenery, I wasn't that fussed about underground power stations.

Wee bit of a snooze on the bus home, interspersed with photos of what I'm sure was Minas Tirith in LOTR, The Remarkables near Queenstown.

All in all a hugely satisfying day. And, bearing in mind I paid by Mastercard and haven't really been affected financially by it yet, probably at least almost worth the NZ$298 cost, and definitely recommended. Just pray to the weather and wildlife gods profusely beforehand.