Doubtful Sound, and Doubtful Drive
No Entry Yet, just enjoy the photos.
I woke up this morning in a foul mood. I had
ended up getting a decent room to stay for not much money at all. But for some
reason I really did not want to go on this Ferry Trip.
Yesterday morning I booked myself on a passage around doubtful sound. There are two main sounds (which are actually Fjords) that can be seen by boat, Doubtful the larger and more expensive, and Milford the more touristy. Milford also had a problem that every time it snowed or rained in the winter the road would be closed on fear of an avalanche trapping every one in the one horse town. I knew this this morning when I looked out the window and it was still snowing this would be one of the days that no one was getting out of or into Milford Sound. So after my little car incident the night before, and the fact that I was colder than I ever wanted to be, I really wasnt that excited about spending the day in the open water. I called the company that ran the tour. They had told me the eveing before that yesterday had to be closed because once it started snowing there was a fear that roads into Doubtful sound couldn't be graded for the snow. But this morning everything was green light for Doubtful.
Let me explain why doubtful sound is more expensive than Milford, and takes three times as long. On the Milford tour you leave from the town of Milford which is located right on the fjord. However with Doubtful sound you leave from Manapouri which is on Lake Manapouri. You take a boat across Lake Manapouri and then take a Bus over the pass and down to Doubtful Sound where you then spend a few hours on the sound. After that you have a hour tour of the Manapouri Power Station which is a hydroelectric power plant all built under ground, powered by water from Lake Manapouri and sent into Doubtful sound. So all in all Doubtful is eight hours while the cheaper tour was only maybe two.
Needless to say when I woke up to snow outside I didn't want to spend one minutes out on a boat in these conditions. I pictured the whole boat just sitting around drinking out complementary tea and coffee all day and not giving a damn about what was going by. But I paid good money for it, and drove the sleet, snow, and rain for it, I was going to go. After the hottest shower I could handle I emerged from my hostel ready to take on the world. But it sure was still cold out there.
I made my way to the bus, and once I convinced them to wait for (I was late), I went an parked my car and hoped on board. I was actually scheduled to drive from Te Anu where I spent the night down to Manapouri on my own but once I saw how much snow there still was on the ground I decided to take their bus service. For an extra $14 NZ I guessed it was worth the piece of mind. It was somewhere on out drive to Manapouri that the bus driver told us that Milford had been closed and that their tour would now be joining us. This only served to add to my disappointment in the day. The main reason that I had selected Doubtful Sound over Milford was due to secludedness of this trip. Now, according the driver, the boat would be quite full. Yeah!!!!
We arrived at the terminal and snow was no where to be found... it had all been replaced by rain. I can imagine only one thing worse than a boat ride in the snow, a boat ride in freezing rain. Well I was here and there was no turning back, so if all these tourists could handle it then so could I. You may have also noticed that when I am in a bad mood I don't take pictures.. sorry.
I was given my pre-packed lunch and we boarded the boat across Lake Manapouri. This was a very small, very uncomfortable boat ride. Seeing it was raining and cold, the windows fogged up, and were covered in rain, but there was not much to see anyway with the low clouds. The one thing I really got a kick out of on this journey was when the boat driver was discussing a pinnacle that could just be seen through the clouds about a half mile off the side of the boat. No one really paid that much attention to what he was saying. He was talking about how it was the point of introduction of deer to New Zealand, which now are quite the scourge of the country. However when he mentioned that the final scene of the first Lord of the Rings movie was filmed there, I thought the boat was going to tip over with everyone cramming to get a good look. Leave it up to Hollywood to make people pay attention to nature.
By this point my bad mood was beginning to lift, and luckily I had found a place to focus my anger on. The French!!! Sitting across from me was a young frenchman, about my age, reading the paper. His ponytale, and appearance made him look as if he had just stepped off the Rainbow Warrior. (which would be very funny.... I'll explain in a later journal, just remember France and the Rainbow Warrior) He was reading a story about how Iraq was loosing money due to all the saboteurs in the country followed up by the story about how a US soldier had shot an arab Reuters camera man. Ever few seconds or so, he would make some comment about the US, throwing in little words like imperialism, and power hungry, and George Bush didn't do to well either. So here I was across what to me was the worst combo I could image, a politically outspoken French hippie. I think I deserve a little self restrain for not saying anything to him. Maybe something like, "if 20 of your friends had been killed over the last 30 days by arab men with large objects on their shoulders that shot out missiles, you think you might understand why they might be a little trigger happy when an arab news men with big cameras on their shoulder that shows up in middle of a fire-fights." or maybe "are you upset that all that burning oil isn't going to France like the deal Saddam had worked out under the table with your French president" or maybe just a general, "you know Frenchie, for a country that claims to be a lover of democracy, you sure have a tough time helping other people fight for it!" Ok I feel better now! (Stepping down off the soapbox) I think I will go grab breakfast, maybe some "Freedom" Toast !!!! Ha Ha
So anyway back to the story. By the time we got to the other side of the lake, the rain had all but stopped. In fact the day was warming up a little bit. We waited in an information center for a little while, and then road a huge bus up the pass which separated Lake Manapouri from Doubtful Sound and the Tasman Sea. By this point the other boat full of Japanese people who had been headed to Milford Sound arrived and boarded another bus. On the bus, an woman sat down next to me who turned out to be an American. We talked for a little bit and she told me that she and her two kids lived in Irvine, CA, my old home. In fact she lived about a mile from where Mac and I lived.
As the bus progressed up the mountain site, we pulled over to look down up in Doubtful Sound. By this time we had driven back up into the snow, and on this side of the mountains the clouds were much higher and no rain was to be found.
(What a bus load of japanese tourist looks like)
(the view from the top)
We made out way down to the Fjord, and got on our boat. This boat was much larger and much more comfortable. I found a nice cosy seat and settled in, and warmed up with complementary cup of tea. A couple who sat across from me turned out to be American, and from San Diego. (Did I ever mention that apparently only Californian's travel, its not a rule, but in New Zealand it might as well be.) The husband was a chaplain for the Navy, and went to Duke Divinity school. He and his wife were also very proud of out US military, and I relayed my story to them about the Frenchman from earlier. I had a great discussion with him about my current search for spirituality, and also talked to him about John Eldredge's Wild at Heart, he was very interested an said he would buy it when he got back. It was a nice break from my usually conversations that I had over the length of the trip. It was also nice to talk to someone who didn't think American was imperialist country set on global domination.
By this point the sun was starting to come out, the temperature was warming up, and the sound was starting to show its true beauty. These fjords, which were created by Fjords as recently as a few thousand years ago. These mountains, while spectacular to see, hide much of their beauty underneath the surface. In fact over the hill in Milford sound sits the tallest mountain in the world. Well thats it you started counting underwater, but still from where the rock face touches the sea floor all the way up to the pinnacle, the fjord is taller than Mt. Everest, K2, or anything else. The intersting thing is that the water hold relatively little life under about 100 feet. I am told it is due to the darkness of the water. The water is however little fished and harvested for crayfish, so if you can make it out there the fishing is said to be quite good.
The tour took us through most of doubtful sound and our to the Tasman Sea where we watch a colony fur seals. Along the way back we stopped and turned off the engines near a small waterfall in order to appreciate the silence. Most of the waterfalls we showing little water, this was due primarily to the snow which had yet to melt, and lack of rain they had in the past few months. I can only image what the sound and pass look like in the spring.
Once we had returned back to the docks we boarded our bus and began the third and shortest part of out tour. The Manapouri power station is a hydroelectric dam that is built completely a half mile under ground. Built and engineered by an Bectal (spelling?) out of the US, the power plant is an amazing feat of human engineering. The water feeds out of Lake Manapouri, through the underground piping, powering the station then out into Doubtful Sound. Here is the part that I thought was crazy, that all that engineering, all that time, money, people, and more imporatanly power, is all for one plant in the south of New Zealand. All that!!! One aluminum smelting plant.... go figure.
But once you have seen the power plant, and marveled at the 2Km road through the mountain to get there, you have pretty much seen it all. So up back out of the mountain we went, and back on the boat across the lake. Because there is no road to the plant or Doubtful Sound we brought all the employees back with us. I sat next to a Maori man who told me all about things from the history of the area, to where Peter Jackson filmed parts of the Lord of the Rings around New Zealand.
Once back on shore, and back on the bus to Te Anu, I had to start thinking about getting back on the road. The roads had not melted, and the snow never went away. So i now had to decided would I drive through less the great conditions to get back to Cromwell so that I could get back to Christchurch in time to return the car. If I decided to wait and spend the night, I would have a ten hour drive ahead of me. Knowing I didn't want to do that, and knowing that I need to be in Christchurch the next day at 5pm, I set off.
Let me just tell you that I have never been so afraid driving in my life. The closest was maybe driving to St. Louis in tornado a couple months ago but other than that, nothing. I soon was driving, in the dark, on roads that had been plowed maybe that day, no cars around, and temperatures that had to be around freezing. When I left Te Anu it was 5 degrees Celsius, and I was headed up in altitude. I knew there was ice on the road I just needed to make sure that didn't hit it. So as the sun went down and the temperatures sank, I was a nervous wreck. Remember I was driving a 1992 Toyota Corolla, with I sure nothing heartier than summer tires.
Once dark, I was at the will of fate and god as to whether or no I would hit ice, because you sure couldn't see it. Just to make things worse, it started sleeting, i guessed that would up the chances of ice. Once the sleet had passed, the fog moved in. So when the fog was then joined by intermittent snow, the whole situation was getting somewhat comical. I am not sure that I blinked, on fear that I might miss a turn and hit ice. On occasions I would pass another car, which would blind me just enough to freak me out a little more. At this point I was more afraid that I might just snap and purposefully drive off into the sheep.
Eventually I made it to a stop where I had to take a left. I could just make out over the hill that something was coming. So rather than be the leader of this icecapaides, I waited. It turned out to be a fuel truck, a bus, and couple small cars. Once I filled in behind them, I felt much more confidant that they would take car of the surface ahead to make it drivable. And sure enough within an hour or so we were out of the snow and ice, and onto cliff side roads, with a much lower chance of ice. This was the same lake near queenstown that I drove by a few days before, but this time, I was on the edge side of the road. And while I couldn't see the water below I knew it was a long way down.
With another 20 minutes I made my way down to the heart of queenstown and I was exhausted. I stopped for gas where they told me the road to Cromwell should be ok , but watch out for ice. Ice!!!! by this point I was a master of ice, and within 50 minutes I was in Cromwell.
I decided I would go back to the park that I stayed last time, as long as I got there in time. Sure enough when I pulled up, they had just closed, seeing I knew the town was still booked solid with field hockey players, I knew I had to give it a try. When I rang the bell the man came to the door, and after looking at the computer let me know that there were no rooms available. Now to be honest, there was one room but I would have to shower in the public bathroom with all the teenage boy hockey players in the morning. no thanks. I decided to try the lodge where I got dinner the other night. I would rather pay extra for the room.
I arrived at the Lodge where, who should I find at the front desk, but CJ, the waitress from the other night. In a town the size of Cromwell its no surpise that people take on multiple resonsibilites at a place of employment. CJ remembered me and we got to talking about about how the day was, driving on ice, and my little wreck in Te Anu. And then she told me they didn't have any rooms. What was I going to do? Well thank god I had good relations with CJ becuase she told me about a room that they werent' renitng out, but it was fine. She said that they were working on the ceiling, and fixing a crack in the sink otherwise I would never know the differnce. She even said she would give it to me for $80, vs. the ussual $120. I'll take it.
I went back to my car, grabbed all my luggege, wine, food, and camera, and lugged my way up to my room. When I arrived, this is what I found, (and this was the good angle).
The bed was pulled away from the wall, the furniture was pilled on top of each other with a sheet over it all, and there were no sheets, no towels, no shampoo, no nothing. by this point I was so warn out, I calmly just put my stuff down and walked back to the front desk. I told CJ about it, to her horror, she apologized up and down but reminded me that it was the only room in the house. So if I wanted to stay I would have to make do with this.
CJ decided to come up to the room with me, and over the next 20 minutes, I made the bed with CJ, we searched through the closet to find the pillow, sheets, duvet, remote control to the TV, the teapot, the tea, and the cups, glasses, and cutlery. At one point we realized that their was no curtains on the windows. Windows that faced, the golf course. By the time we really assessed the room and its state I am pretty sure that we were in tears laughing.
Just another day on Mr. Pete's wild ride through New Zealand.
Yesterday morning I booked myself on a passage around doubtful sound. There are two main sounds (which are actually Fjords) that can be seen by boat, Doubtful the larger and more expensive, and Milford the more touristy. Milford also had a problem that every time it snowed or rained in the winter the road would be closed on fear of an avalanche trapping every one in the one horse town. I knew this this morning when I looked out the window and it was still snowing this would be one of the days that no one was getting out of or into Milford Sound. So after my little car incident the night before, and the fact that I was colder than I ever wanted to be, I really wasnt that excited about spending the day in the open water. I called the company that ran the tour. They had told me the eveing before that yesterday had to be closed because once it started snowing there was a fear that roads into Doubtful sound couldn't be graded for the snow. But this morning everything was green light for Doubtful.
Let me explain why doubtful sound is more expensive than Milford, and takes three times as long. On the Milford tour you leave from the town of Milford which is located right on the fjord. However with Doubtful sound you leave from Manapouri which is on Lake Manapouri. You take a boat across Lake Manapouri and then take a Bus over the pass and down to Doubtful Sound where you then spend a few hours on the sound. After that you have a hour tour of the Manapouri Power Station which is a hydroelectric power plant all built under ground, powered by water from Lake Manapouri and sent into Doubtful sound. So all in all Doubtful is eight hours while the cheaper tour was only maybe two.
Needless to say when I woke up to snow outside I didn't want to spend one minutes out on a boat in these conditions. I pictured the whole boat just sitting around drinking out complementary tea and coffee all day and not giving a damn about what was going by. But I paid good money for it, and drove the sleet, snow, and rain for it, I was going to go. After the hottest shower I could handle I emerged from my hostel ready to take on the world. But it sure was still cold out there.
I made my way to the bus, and once I convinced them to wait for (I was late), I went an parked my car and hoped on board. I was actually scheduled to drive from Te Anu where I spent the night down to Manapouri on my own but once I saw how much snow there still was on the ground I decided to take their bus service. For an extra $14 NZ I guessed it was worth the piece of mind. It was somewhere on out drive to Manapouri that the bus driver told us that Milford had been closed and that their tour would now be joining us. This only served to add to my disappointment in the day. The main reason that I had selected Doubtful Sound over Milford was due to secludedness of this trip. Now, according the driver, the boat would be quite full. Yeah!!!!
We arrived at the terminal and snow was no where to be found... it had all been replaced by rain. I can imagine only one thing worse than a boat ride in the snow, a boat ride in freezing rain. Well I was here and there was no turning back, so if all these tourists could handle it then so could I. You may have also noticed that when I am in a bad mood I don't take pictures.. sorry.
I was given my pre-packed lunch and we boarded the boat across Lake Manapouri. This was a very small, very uncomfortable boat ride. Seeing it was raining and cold, the windows fogged up, and were covered in rain, but there was not much to see anyway with the low clouds. The one thing I really got a kick out of on this journey was when the boat driver was discussing a pinnacle that could just be seen through the clouds about a half mile off the side of the boat. No one really paid that much attention to what he was saying. He was talking about how it was the point of introduction of deer to New Zealand, which now are quite the scourge of the country. However when he mentioned that the final scene of the first Lord of the Rings movie was filmed there, I thought the boat was going to tip over with everyone cramming to get a good look. Leave it up to Hollywood to make people pay attention to nature.
By this point my bad mood was beginning to lift, and luckily I had found a place to focus my anger on. The French!!! Sitting across from me was a young frenchman, about my age, reading the paper. His ponytale, and appearance made him look as if he had just stepped off the Rainbow Warrior. (which would be very funny.... I'll explain in a later journal, just remember France and the Rainbow Warrior) He was reading a story about how Iraq was loosing money due to all the saboteurs in the country followed up by the story about how a US soldier had shot an arab Reuters camera man. Ever few seconds or so, he would make some comment about the US, throwing in little words like imperialism, and power hungry, and George Bush didn't do to well either. So here I was across what to me was the worst combo I could image, a politically outspoken French hippie. I think I deserve a little self restrain for not saying anything to him. Maybe something like, "if 20 of your friends had been killed over the last 30 days by arab men with large objects on their shoulders that shot out missiles, you think you might understand why they might be a little trigger happy when an arab news men with big cameras on their shoulder that shows up in middle of a fire-fights." or maybe "are you upset that all that burning oil isn't going to France like the deal Saddam had worked out under the table with your French president" or maybe just a general, "you know Frenchie, for a country that claims to be a lover of democracy, you sure have a tough time helping other people fight for it!" Ok I feel better now! (Stepping down off the soapbox) I think I will go grab breakfast, maybe some "Freedom" Toast !!!! Ha Ha
So anyway back to the story. By the time we got to the other side of the lake, the rain had all but stopped. In fact the day was warming up a little bit. We waited in an information center for a little while, and then road a huge bus up the pass which separated Lake Manapouri from Doubtful Sound and the Tasman Sea. By this point the other boat full of Japanese people who had been headed to Milford Sound arrived and boarded another bus. On the bus, an woman sat down next to me who turned out to be an American. We talked for a little bit and she told me that she and her two kids lived in Irvine, CA, my old home. In fact she lived about a mile from where Mac and I lived.
As the bus progressed up the mountain site, we pulled over to look down up in Doubtful Sound. By this time we had driven back up into the snow, and on this side of the mountains the clouds were much higher and no rain was to be found.
(What a bus load of japanese tourist looks like)
(the view from the top)
We made out way down to the Fjord, and got on our boat. This boat was much larger and much more comfortable. I found a nice cosy seat and settled in, and warmed up with complementary cup of tea. A couple who sat across from me turned out to be American, and from San Diego. (Did I ever mention that apparently only Californian's travel, its not a rule, but in New Zealand it might as well be.) The husband was a chaplain for the Navy, and went to Duke Divinity school. He and his wife were also very proud of out US military, and I relayed my story to them about the Frenchman from earlier. I had a great discussion with him about my current search for spirituality, and also talked to him about John Eldredge's Wild at Heart, he was very interested an said he would buy it when he got back. It was a nice break from my usually conversations that I had over the length of the trip. It was also nice to talk to someone who didn't think American was imperialist country set on global domination.
By this point the sun was starting to come out, the temperature was warming up, and the sound was starting to show its true beauty. These fjords, which were created by Fjords as recently as a few thousand years ago. These mountains, while spectacular to see, hide much of their beauty underneath the surface. In fact over the hill in Milford sound sits the tallest mountain in the world. Well thats it you started counting underwater, but still from where the rock face touches the sea floor all the way up to the pinnacle, the fjord is taller than Mt. Everest, K2, or anything else. The intersting thing is that the water hold relatively little life under about 100 feet. I am told it is due to the darkness of the water. The water is however little fished and harvested for crayfish, so if you can make it out there the fishing is said to be quite good.
The tour took us through most of doubtful sound and our to the Tasman Sea where we watch a colony fur seals. Along the way back we stopped and turned off the engines near a small waterfall in order to appreciate the silence. Most of the waterfalls we showing little water, this was due primarily to the snow which had yet to melt, and lack of rain they had in the past few months. I can only image what the sound and pass look like in the spring.
Once we had returned back to the docks we boarded our bus and began the third and shortest part of out tour. The Manapouri power station is a hydroelectric dam that is built completely a half mile under ground. Built and engineered by an Bectal (spelling?) out of the US, the power plant is an amazing feat of human engineering. The water feeds out of Lake Manapouri, through the underground piping, powering the station then out into Doubtful Sound. Here is the part that I thought was crazy, that all that engineering, all that time, money, people, and more imporatanly power, is all for one plant in the south of New Zealand. All that!!! One aluminum smelting plant.... go figure.
But once you have seen the power plant, and marveled at the 2Km road through the mountain to get there, you have pretty much seen it all. So up back out of the mountain we went, and back on the boat across the lake. Because there is no road to the plant or Doubtful Sound we brought all the employees back with us. I sat next to a Maori man who told me all about things from the history of the area, to where Peter Jackson filmed parts of the Lord of the Rings around New Zealand.
Once back on shore, and back on the bus to Te Anu, I had to start thinking about getting back on the road. The roads had not melted, and the snow never went away. So i now had to decided would I drive through less the great conditions to get back to Cromwell so that I could get back to Christchurch in time to return the car. If I decided to wait and spend the night, I would have a ten hour drive ahead of me. Knowing I didn't want to do that, and knowing that I need to be in Christchurch the next day at 5pm, I set off.
Let me just tell you that I have never been so afraid driving in my life. The closest was maybe driving to St. Louis in tornado a couple months ago but other than that, nothing. I soon was driving, in the dark, on roads that had been plowed maybe that day, no cars around, and temperatures that had to be around freezing. When I left Te Anu it was 5 degrees Celsius, and I was headed up in altitude. I knew there was ice on the road I just needed to make sure that didn't hit it. So as the sun went down and the temperatures sank, I was a nervous wreck. Remember I was driving a 1992 Toyota Corolla, with I sure nothing heartier than summer tires.
Once dark, I was at the will of fate and god as to whether or no I would hit ice, because you sure couldn't see it. Just to make things worse, it started sleeting, i guessed that would up the chances of ice. Once the sleet had passed, the fog moved in. So when the fog was then joined by intermittent snow, the whole situation was getting somewhat comical. I am not sure that I blinked, on fear that I might miss a turn and hit ice. On occasions I would pass another car, which would blind me just enough to freak me out a little more. At this point I was more afraid that I might just snap and purposefully drive off into the sheep.
Eventually I made it to a stop where I had to take a left. I could just make out over the hill that something was coming. So rather than be the leader of this icecapaides, I waited. It turned out to be a fuel truck, a bus, and couple small cars. Once I filled in behind them, I felt much more confidant that they would take car of the surface ahead to make it drivable. And sure enough within an hour or so we were out of the snow and ice, and onto cliff side roads, with a much lower chance of ice. This was the same lake near queenstown that I drove by a few days before, but this time, I was on the edge side of the road. And while I couldn't see the water below I knew it was a long way down.
With another 20 minutes I made my way down to the heart of queenstown and I was exhausted. I stopped for gas where they told me the road to Cromwell should be ok , but watch out for ice. Ice!!!! by this point I was a master of ice, and within 50 minutes I was in Cromwell.
I decided I would go back to the park that I stayed last time, as long as I got there in time. Sure enough when I pulled up, they had just closed, seeing I knew the town was still booked solid with field hockey players, I knew I had to give it a try. When I rang the bell the man came to the door, and after looking at the computer let me know that there were no rooms available. Now to be honest, there was one room but I would have to shower in the public bathroom with all the teenage boy hockey players in the morning. no thanks. I decided to try the lodge where I got dinner the other night. I would rather pay extra for the room.
I arrived at the Lodge where, who should I find at the front desk, but CJ, the waitress from the other night. In a town the size of Cromwell its no surpise that people take on multiple resonsibilites at a place of employment. CJ remembered me and we got to talking about about how the day was, driving on ice, and my little wreck in Te Anu. And then she told me they didn't have any rooms. What was I going to do? Well thank god I had good relations with CJ becuase she told me about a room that they werent' renitng out, but it was fine. She said that they were working on the ceiling, and fixing a crack in the sink otherwise I would never know the differnce. She even said she would give it to me for $80, vs. the ussual $120. I'll take it.
I went back to my car, grabbed all my luggege, wine, food, and camera, and lugged my way up to my room. When I arrived, this is what I found, (and this was the good angle).
The bed was pulled away from the wall, the furniture was pilled on top of each other with a sheet over it all, and there were no sheets, no towels, no shampoo, no nothing. by this point I was so warn out, I calmly just put my stuff down and walked back to the front desk. I told CJ about it, to her horror, she apologized up and down but reminded me that it was the only room in the house. So if I wanted to stay I would have to make do with this.
CJ decided to come up to the room with me, and over the next 20 minutes, I made the bed with CJ, we searched through the closet to find the pillow, sheets, duvet, remote control to the TV, the teapot, the tea, and the cups, glasses, and cutlery. At one point we realized that their was no curtains on the windows. Windows that faced, the golf course. By the time we really assessed the room and its state I am pretty sure that we were in tears laughing.
Just another day on Mr. Pete's wild ride through New Zealand.
Posted: Wed - August 20, 2003 at 09:32 PM
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Published On: Aug 01, 2004 11:37 PM
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Published On: Aug 01, 2004 11:37 PM