Day 11

The smaller jetty we traveled on for the first leg of the cruise.

 We started our day from our Te Anua hotel then departed for the Real Journeys Visitor Centre Manapouri.  Here we went for a Doubtful Sound Wilderness Cruise that went from Pearl Harbour to the West Arm.  We boarded a smaller jetty to cross Lake Manapouri, which lasted about an hour.  It was a foggy morning, but as we were cruising around, the sun dissipated the fog to unveil the fresh snow covered mountain tops.  We noticed luscious green scrubs and trees flowing up and down the mountain tops, as well as springs flowing into majestic waterfalls.   

Sun dissipating the fog over Lake Manapouri

View of snow covered peaks from Lake Manapouri

A diagram of the West Arm power station.

We ended the first leg of the cruise near the West Arm Power Station site.  This station is capable of powering the entire south island of New Zealand.  There are two tunnels that are two kilometers long that pass through a mountain in the Southern Alpes that ran under the Wilmont Pass. It has an average annual output 4800 GW-h, with up to 510 cubic meters of water per second. From here, we hopped on a charter bus to travel over the Wilmont Pass to travel the final leg of our cruise starting in Deep Cove.  The road we traveled on was projected to take a year to build, but ended up taking two years, at a cost of five dollars per inch at 20 kilometers long.  In 2014, there were torrential rains that caused a large wash out that deposited massive boulders over the road that caused the pass to close until it could be cleaned-up.  

Stream crossed by bus on the way to the Doubtful sound

 After an hour long bus ride, we arrived at Deep Cove to board the cruise ship that would take us out on the Doubtful Sound.  We made our way to the Malaspina Reach and stopped to see a local fishing shack.  This shack was built by a couple fishermen that found a loop hole in the national park rules stating that there cannot be any building built on the grounds.  The loop was that they built under the low tide mark and the rule stated nothing could be built on the high tide mark.  

 

Catching the locals in their natural habitat: seal colony sunbathing on a brisk day

We made it out to Shelter Islands at the start of the inlet to the Tasman Sea.  Here we saw many seals sunbathing on the rocks.  As we made our way back to Deep Cove, we detoured down into the First Arm.  This is where we paused for 15 minutes, as the captain completely shut the engines and generators off making it completely silent, except for the sounds of nature.   

Enjoying the cruise 1 (Right to left; Peyton, Anthony, Andrew, Corey, Dani, Josie, Brooke, Kayla, Sidney)

Enjoying the cruise 2 (Left to Right; Matt, Corey, Collin, Jarid, Andrew, Adam, Peyton

Our first glimpse of the Doubtful sound from the scenic overlook along the Wilmont Pass Road.

We arrived back in Deep Cove where we boarded the bus and traveled back to the smaller jetty to make our way back to Pearl Harbour.  On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by Te Anau Bird Reserve to admire a few native bird species. 

One of the residents of the bird sanctuary in Te Anua.

  Then we finished the day with dinner in our hotel, and celebrated Corey’s birthday.

Happy Birthday, Corey !

Jarid and Josie