NEW ZEALAND
2008

albums

SOUTH ISLAND
New Zealand 1
New Zealand 2
New Zealand 3
New Zealand 4
 
NORTH ISLAND
New Zealand 5
New Zealand 6
New Zealand 7

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ALBUMS

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RELATED
LINKS


ATTRACTIONS

Te Anau
Cinema
Fiordland

Milford Sound
Red Boats

Doubtful Sound
Real Journeys

B&B
Dunluce B&B

EATING
Fat Duck and
Redcliffe Cafe


TRAVEL
Air New Zealand
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photo library New Zealand - April 2008
album 3 of 7 - South Island (Te Anau, Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound)

Te Anau - Milford Sound

Te Anau - Milford Sound

Te Anau - Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Red Boats Endeavour

Falls

Steven

Falls

Milford Terminal

Milford - Crusing

Milford - Seal

Milford Sea Entrance

Falls

Lake Manapouri

Doubtful Sound Cruise

Lake Manapouri

Doubtful Sound

Navigator Bridge

Doubtful Sound Cruising

Doubtful Fiord

Steven

Kyaking

Navigator Sails

Sunset

Fishermans Lodge

Chilly Start

Water Colours

Click on the appropriate thumbnail to open an enlarged image, then use the navigation buttons to move between images.

Milford Sound
The 119km journey along Highway 94 from Te Anau took just over 2.5 hours on a relatively quiet April day as we arrived in Milford Sound about 30 minutes before leaving at 1.15pm for our Red Boats Nature Cruise. Along the way we stopped off at Mirror Lakes and other places of photographic interest. By the time we reached 'The Divide' the early morning low cloud had given way to bright blue skies. Homer Tunnel was interesting, rapidly descending over it's 1.24km distance once inside the 'no frills' tunnel. The Chasm was so-so as you could not see too much when there are hordes of tourists around.

Although we didn't see much in the way of wildlife except for the occasional seal, cruising Milford Sound was a pleasure that day as there was perfect visibility to see the steep sides mountains, forests and the few permanent waterfalls whilst lazily making our way towards the sea entrance. One can only imagine that the area must look spectacular just after a sustained rainfall.

The cruise included a short period of time in the sea as our boat 'Endeavour' made it's way through the narrow passage before returning via the Underwater Observatory where we stopped off and caught a later boat back to Milford Terminal. However, the timetable that day meant we could only spend around 15-20 minutes, which gave little time to view the different species of fish.

Overall impression; worth visiting the Sound. Travel by car was preferred to coach and in the early stages from Te Anau the road is wide enough to permit overtaking in places. However, with the number of coaches seen that day, I could only surmise that this would not be a pleasant journey in the height of summer. At Homer Tunnel, there is a one-way system on a 15 minute cycle, which could mean having to allow more time in periods of heavy traffic.

Doubtful Sound
A 'must do' trip whilst in the South Island was the Real Journeys overnight cruise along Doubtful Sound. Not starting until noon enabled a leisurely start to the day if like us you were staying in Te Anau, as the journey to the RJ Lake Manapouri Terminal was only 20 minutes or so along Highway 95.

The day we travelled, the weather was fantastic as we approached the small town of Manapouri, surrounded by mountains, very warm and sunny with wisps of cloud against the deep blue sky. The first part of our trip took us across the surprisingly smooth Lake Manapouri towards the Manapouri Hyro Power Station in a fast motor cruiser, which reached around 25 knots. From there we transferred to a coach for a 22km ride through the rain forest to Doubtful Sound. The road had been constructed for the hydro power scheme from 1963-68 and was blasted out of the granite mountain. At the time it cost NZ$4.4m. The scenic journey through dense forest obscured much of the view as we lost considerable height during our descent to the Sound.

We joined our ship, named the Navigator around 2.30pm and quickly set sail. It soon became clear from the dominant mountains, deep gullies, rain forest and ever changing colours from the intense mid-afternoon sun and deep blue sky that Doubtful Sound was far more impressive in scale, beauty and stark scenery to that seen in Milford Sound.

Our cabin was nicely situated on the top deck affording a reasonable nights sleep compared to the lower decks who either had shared accommodation, or were close to the permanently running generators. The boat was near to it's 70 person capacity that night, with a crew complement of around 10. It was great to mix with the many nationalities, whilst chatting on deck, over dinner or in the run-up to the bar closing at 10.30.

The highlight of the afternoon was Navigator sailing into a quiet fiord and releasing around 30 kayaks. The one hour or so was absolute heaven as I paddled away from the others and headed into the centre of the fiord. Later as we sailed out of the Sound a short way into the Tasman Sea to watch the sunset, we saw a number of sea lions, seals, an albatross skimming the water looking for fish and what may have been a dolphin. During the afternoon it had been fairly warm, but the sun setting soon became too chilly to stay outside whilst the boat was moving.

The evening meal was excellent given the restricted size of kitchen, suitably washed down with NZ beer and wine. By then it was pitch black outside and the southern sky was a wonder to see, thousands of stars and clarity that you just don't see in the UK.
 
Up early the following morning at 6.30 takes some doing after touring for a while taking in lots of fine food and drink along the way. However, we were soon out on deck in the chilly air to look at the fiord where we had berthed for the night, steep sided mountains on three sides. Around 9am and still cold Navigator moved into another closed fiord with steep high sides forest mountains and switched off the engines and generators. For around 10 minutes there was total peace. Even though I suffer from tinnitus ringing in my ears, the sounds of distant bird song, numerous rushing waterfalls, water gently lapping against the hull and the occasional splash by unknown fish was nice to hear. In the hustle and bustle of modern day life, it is an eerie sight to see so many people just standing silently.

At 10am we left Navigator, boarded the coach then cruiser and arrived back at Manapouri around midday. This was an excellent trip, well worth the money and undoubtedly one of the main features of our NZ holiday.

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