The Sound of Silence

A cursory glance at the south west corner of the South Island reveals that Fjordland is a true wilderness area. There are few roads and even fewer people living here. Its an inhospitable landscape covered by dense rain forest that cloaks mountains that fall almost vertically to the Tasman Sea in a myriad of inlets and large steep sided fjords.  We travelled to a small settlement of Manapouri, situated by a lake of the same name in order to get a little closer to this wild and remote area.

Early morning we set off as the sun was rising on the first stage of a journey that would take us to Doubtful Sound, one of the few fjords accessible to travellers. This first leg of the journey involved taking a boat across Lake Manapouri..a beautiful lake in its own right.

Early morning on Lake Manapouri

At the western arm is a small jetty and a coach was waiting for us to take us up and over the Wilmot Pass. This road is remarkable. It is reckoned to be the most expensive road built in New Zealand and its only accessible by boat either from Lake Manapouri or Doubtful Sound. Built to facilitate the construction of a hydro electric power station (buried deep underground) and 13 miles long, it took 2 years to complete and rises to 670 meters. Our trip included a brief visit to the Manapouri power station down 2 kilometers of tunnel, to something of an engineering masterpiece. Using 7 giant turbines this hydro electric plant produces around 10% of the South Islands electricity..and powers an aluminium smelting plant at Bluff. But for the outflow on Lake Manapouri you would have no idea it existed.

Deep underground..the Manapouri Power Station

The drive over the Wilmot Pass opened up a vista of Doubtful Sound far below and our coach negoiated the steep twisting descent to deposit us by another small jetty for our next boat trip.

First view of Doubtful Sound from the Wilmot Pass

The next 3 hours involved a cruise up Doubtful Sound out to the Tasman Sea. It was an overcast day and this made for a dramatic journey passing silent rain forest cloaked valleys that appeared to resemble lost worlds. Waterfalls and cascades plunged from great heights. 

The magnificent Doubtful Sound

We passed close to an 800 meter high cascade that appeared to drop almost vertically. One of the most striking qualities was the silence.  Sadly there is little bird life in these vast forests. Early European settlers introduced stoats and weasels to try and control the rabbit population (that they brought to New Zealand in the first place) and these efficient predators largely wiped out the native birdlife. Efforts are now being made to eliminate these predators and slowly some native birds are returning to the forests. Doubtful Sound isn't without life though. We saw yellow eyed penguins fishtailing through the water - a rare behaviour - and little blue penguins diving for fish. We also saw a large fur seal colony and delighted in watching young seals dive and play off the rocks.

All too soon we arrived back at the jetty for a return journey by coach and then boat. The whole trip lasted 8 hours and was a very special day.

Our next base was Te Anau, a nice lakeside town and we stopped for a couple of nights in order to make a return journey to Milford Sound (a 140 mile round trip). Milford Sound is world famous but the journey there along the Milford Highway is equally spectacular. Lots of unplanned stops and detours were made! On the outward leg we stopped by the 'Mirror Lakes' and drove 15 miles along a bumpy gravel road to do a walk to see the Humboldt Falls.

The 250 meter high Humboldt Falls

Finally we arrived at Milford Sound itself. I expected it to be overrun with coach parties but it seemed quiet...or maybe the scale of the mountains and scenery absorb the masses. It was overcast on arrival but patience was rewarded as, after a picnic lunch and a walk, the cloud cover lifted and Mitre Peak revealed itself. We also saw wonderful views of the Bowen Falls, lots of little silver eye birds by the shoreline and it was hard to tear ourselves away. Returning via the 1.2 kilometer long Homer Tunnel which is single lane but traffic light controlled, we saw more kea waiting by the traffic lights....no doubt planning some mischief. 

Mrs B. ...and Mitre Peak

The Bowen Falls, Milford Sound

We stopped again to walk to see 'The Chasm' a spectacular cascade that pours water with frightening velocity through rock arches and hollows. Finally after another 'grand day out' we arrived tired but happy back in Te Anau and rewarded ourselves with a delicious crepe from a little creperie called La Roulette operating out of a caravan.

Fjordland had been billed as a spectacular place to visit and it hadn't disappointed.