{"id":6783,"date":"2024-03-13T21:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T08:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/?p=6783"},"modified":"2024-03-17T23:16:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-17T10:16:20","slug":"a-sight-to-behold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/13\/a-sight-to-behold\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sight to Behold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

March 13<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a night of pouring rain in Te Anau, we awoke to some sun peaking through the clouds and set off on our short drive to the Port of Manapouri<\/a> for the start of our overnight cruise with Real NZ to the remote waters of Doubtful Sound<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Manapouri dock, we boarded a boat that took us to the West Arm of Lake Manapouri, about an hour\u2019s journey, where there was also an enormous power station built in the 1960s that supplies most of the region\u2019s electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
West Arm Power Station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Lake Manapouri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Barge carrying fuel and supplies to the West Arm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Wow it\u2019s windy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lake crossing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there we tried to swat the sandflies as we hopped on a coach for an hour-long bus ride on a gravel road that took us through a rainforest and up across the Wilmot Pass<\/a>, where we had our first glimpse of Doubtful Sound and Stella Falls before our driver dropped us off at Deep Cove, population 0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Doubtful Sound from Wilmot Pass Summit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Stella Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our bus driver Tony shared a wealth of information about the area. He was a former fire fighter of 39 years and had so much passion for his job and this part of NZ. He loved sharing it all with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We learned that the road we were driving on was a 13-mile gravel road that was the most expensive to build in NZ at $55-60 per cm. We drove through beech forests and rain forests covered with vivid green moss and ferns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We finally reached our ship, the Fiordland Navigator, our floating home for the next 24 hours along with 70 other passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sorry, your luggage is overweight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We boarded, had our safety briefing and we were shown to our outside cabin, a small comfy room with a tiny en suite bathroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We joined the other passengers on deck as the boat pulled away from shore into the fjord. It was a rare sunny day, unusual for Doubtful Sound, where it\u2019s considered one of the wettest places on the planet with more than 21 ft of rainfall annually or rain on about 200 days a year. In 1983, Doubtful Sound set the record with over 51 ft of rainfall that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bon Voyage!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doubtful Sound is located in the southwest of the South Island in the Fiordland National Park<\/a>. Not technically a Sound but a fjord, in 1770 Captain Cook did not enter the inlet as he was doubtful it was navigable by sail due to the strong prevailing westerly winds and that\u2019s how it got its name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Doubtful Sound Fjord highlighted<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whalers and sealers who discovered the area didn\u2019t have a word for a fjord, which they also misspelled with an \u201ci\u201d later on, not a \u201cj,\u201d and so they called it what they knew back home – a Sound. Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island are the only true Sounds in NZ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doubtful Sound is the deepest fjord in NZ at a depth of 1,381 ft and is 25 miles long. The fiord has three main arms, three marine reserves and is covered in thick rainforest where native plants thrive along with countless birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we learned along our trip, a Sound is carved by a river and a fjord is created and carved by a glacier. When the glacier retreats, sea water fills, creating new bodies of water called a fjord. The other key difference is that a fjord drops off from the edge of the shoreline and quickly gets very deep. Essentially, the mountains you see above can be as deep as the valleys below the water. A Sound has shallow shelfs along the shorelines and they are not as deep as fjords. For these reasons, both the Sounds and the fjords are so spectacular to witness as the topography is breathtaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The captain steered the boat towards the Tasman Sea for us to see the fur seal colony on the Shelter Islands and they were there lounging on the rocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Choppy water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Shelter Islands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n