Te Anau & Doubtful Sound

Our drive on Wednesday from Invercargill to Te Anau was mostly uneventful except for when I jumped up onto a rock at Howells Point and surprised a sleeping sea lion. I managed to get a couple of snapshots before safely retreating back to the beach but even now, I’m still not sure who was more surprised…the sea lion or me.

Once we arrived in Te Anau we found the Antler Lodge, met our lovely hostess Helen, and then it was off to do some laundry at the local Laundromat/internet surfing station. Since we were going to spend the next evening on a usually cold body of water, we needed to wash the clothing that we’d basically been wearing to stay warm the prior few days. Laundry duties were followed by a nice dinner at one of the many local eateries and then it was off to bed.

Thursday morning we were picked up by the touring company in front of the Antler Lodge and driven to the town of Manapouri, about 20 kilometers down the road. At Manapouri we were loaded onto a catamaran that would whisk us across Lake Manapouri to the hydropower station on the other side of the lake. Once there, we were loaded onto buses that would take us through the Wilmot Past and down to Deep Cove which is the deepest point inland of Doubtful Sound (it’s actually a fiord misnamed by the early European settlers) and where our ship was waiting to take us on our overnight tour.

Our first afternoon and early evening on the fiord was cloudy and somewhat hazy but there was no rain involved. We went out as far as the Tasman Sea before turning back and setting anchor in one of the arms of the fiord where we were sheltered from any major wind or weather that might roll in from the sea. At that point, all those who were willing either got into a kayak or a tender craft for a leisurely tour around the shores of the cove. Tasha was one of those kayakers while Schmoose and I stayed on board since neither of us much like the water. There was also the opportunity for the brave and hardy to swim in the cove and Tasha was one of those as well. And yes I have the proof but I’ll not show those here.

We also met some nice people while we were on board the ship. One woman, Dorthe is from Denmark and spending a year in New Zealand mostly on a working visa. She had been to Milford Sound the day before and was quick to point out that the tour personnel on this trip were using the same jokes as the crew from the day before. Still, we all had fun capping on the Christmas lights and the stunted Christmas tree on the ship.

Of course I’ve yet to say anything about the scenery. I suppose I could sum it up in one word adjectives like, awesome, beautiful, stunning, amazing, but none of those really fit because they are simply not powerful enough. While Milford Sound gets most of the publicity and is more well known, Doubtful Sound is much larger and just as impressive, if not more so. (The picture I’ve included here is from a stopping point along the Wilmot Pass that shows just part of Doubtful Sound.)

On Friday morning we awoke early, had breakfast and cruised the sound some more…in the rain…till 10 am when we returned to Deep Cove to board the buses back to the power station, across Lake Manapouri and eventually back to Antler Lodge. It ended up raining the rest of the day but we still took a trip up the Milford Highway so I could see about getting another picture of the Eglinton Valley, one of my favorite photo shots from two years ago. But the stormy weather prevailed and we returned to Te Anau for a nap and a late dinner.

As I write now, we are staying at Capt. Eadys, a B & B on the Otago Peninsula which is sort of across from Dunedin. We got here this afternoon and spent some time walking and driving around Dunedin before coming over to Otago for lodging and more nature sightseeing tomorrow. One place of significance that we visited in Dunedin was a whiskey bar and restaurant known as Scotia. Scotia has on hand at any one time around 350 different varieties of Scotch whiskey. I’ve included a picture of the bar here. I know if I lived here, this would be a place that I would certainly frequent.

One last note: Yesterday in Dunedin it got up to about 22 centigrade (about 72 degrees) and today it hit maybe 18. Tomorrows high is supposed to be about 13 and Monday about 10. Go figure. I guess we’ll be doing laundry again soon.

Cheers!