Taking on the South - Doubtful Sound

Boats on the Sound
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To save myself a 12 hour car trip to Queenstown, I booked a flight to meet up with Mark in Queenstown and do our tour of the Southern Scenic Route.  Mark was coming off of the Kepler Track and I was meeting him in Queenstown and driving back to Manapouri.  Original flight to Queenstown was canceled, but we would be flying to Invercargill and then bussed to Queenstown.  So the 50 minute flight, turned into a 1 1/2 hour flight with a 2 1/2 hour bus trip and then a 2 hour car trip back to Manapouri.  No worries though.  The bus was plush and comfy, with some slight trouble involving the air conditioning (it didn't work at all and them couldn't be shut off).  Once I directed the freezing air onto the neck of the woman sitting in front of me, all was well.

Off the back of the boat
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Doubtful Sound is the second largest of the 14 fiords in Fiordland National Park. It is about 430 metres deep at it deepest point with the waters subject to tides albeit moderate ones. It is a wildlife reserve with bottlenose dolphins, fur seals, Fiordland Crested Penguins, and blue penguins.  This list is part of the mythology of the place, because we didn't see any of these, however a pod of whales has swum up one of the arms of the Sound and we did see their spumes (the boat couldn't really get close enough to see the actual animals).  Note to self and others:  TAKE BINOCULARS!

Note to self and others: TAKE BINOCULARS!

What you see from the visitor centre at power station.
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Manapouri is the largest hydro power station in New Zealand located on the edge of Lake Manapouri's West Arm.  It is an underground power station with its generating units housed in a cavern 200 metres below the surface of the lake. The power station was constructed to power an aluminium smelter in Bluff. It took 8 years to complete with the first power delivered in 1969. I believe the most interesting information on the plant is found in the 3 short films available for viewing in the visitors centre at the plant. Some history on the region, an overview of the building of the plant, and the how the plant does its work. Done and dusted.

The takahe once thought to be extinct.
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The day was gloriously sunny and warm with fantastic views of the sound from the windows and out on the deck of the boat.  We ate the frozen meat sandwiches we had so carefully packed (yea, like we planned on the meat being frozen. The refrigerator in our cabin had an amazing ability to freeze things), and just enjoyed the trip.  Oh wait we did see some seals and the cruise ship, the Princess Diamond.