Day 23 – Wednesday 29th November – Doubtful Sound

So our second shot at the cherry on the cake. Wednesday was glorious day throughout. Weather was as good as i expect you can get around these parts.

A quick walk down to Real NZ shop on the quay, and picked up for a boat to manapouri and to lake Manipouri for the first boat to across the lake

Boat from Manipouri to a bit across other side of lake manipouri and 23 islands was great. Manipouri is a large fresh water lake the lake reaches to a depth of 1,455 feet (444 m). It drains a basin of 1,785 square miles (4,623 square km) so its huge.

You can read a little about it here https://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/lake-manapouri/

With the 23 lakes – and fight not to raise the level of the waters 30m ( see notes below) the lake is fabulous as you cross on the boat to the head end by the hydro electric station

getting ready to get on the boat

And then starting up the channel into the lake proper

These little islands givee the lake a lot of character as you go

You do eventually get to the hydroelctric station where you pick up your next bus. This is the most expensive road that connects to nothing. I t was built to get materials from the sound across the mountains an into Lake Manipouri on the other side. Built with gravel chips blown and hacked out of the rock, originally back in the the 1960 this was also the most expensive road ever built at $3 per cm, and doing that today would way more about $27 per cm – theres inflation for you.

Tony was our coach guide for this next section.  Great bloke worked in firebrigade and was now retiring by driving the bus over the divide.  1 in 6 on the way up and 1 in 5.

Learnt a lot of stuff about how not to introduce animals.  Including deer and elk.  Back in the 60s it was so bad that they had choppers shooting other choppers to get each others deers, despite there being tons on the hoof below. ( piracy in the air )

Sir Tim Wallace was early part of parts of trying to put some of the wild deer back into farms for the mkts in far East. 

Doggers used jump off the helicopter rails on the deers back put a bag on there heads and wrestle em to the ground.  Bind the legs and then air lift the deer out under the helicopters.

Tim Wallace also started the net gun approach to capture the animals.

Possum and rabbits both ran amok so the stout and weasels were put in to sort that but decide d the liked the ground nesting birds better.

So now they are trying to trap stouts and weasels

What they have done, is clear some of the lslands, and now have some breeding bird populations on those.

The dam was built in the 60s at the same time as the Aluminium Smelter in bluff.  But the government contracted to supply the electric to run the plant.  However the guy building the channel figured he didnt need to did need it smooth. However when they ran the station it produced no where enough electricty due to friction losses on the tunnel. One lot wanted to raise the lake manipouri 30m to drive extra pressure, but this was fought all over NZ and the incumbent party was voted out, and the competition said they would never permit that, and got that passed into law. You can see the generator towers as we get off the first boat for the coach over to Doubtful sound.

It took 30 years before they fixed the water supply issie to the dam and got a tunnel borer in to the pass and cut a second channel (all smooth) and fixed the water problem. However, not before they had chopped up tons of eels in the turbines.  So they now have baffles to get them off before the chop. 

So at last they have a sustainable 100 free electricity with no carbon.

Wilmot pass view to doubtful sound at the peak is amazing

As you cross the top of the Wilmot pass you get to see Doubtful Sound

And then down to the sound

Cook wasn’t sure he could get his boat in and out against the prevailing wind.  So named in doubtful sound.

Tasmin sea can be very rough because of the roaring 40s.  It was good enough for us to get out and have look at the seals. But still rough

Also saw a pod of about 60 dolphins who wanted to play in the wake. Amazing

Didn’t see the penguins but we heard them on there island.

You do go into one of the water arms and you can see the actual fault line between the two continental plates, and the stop the engines so you can hear all the sounds in this inlet

and just amazing bluffs stright out of the water