Doubtful Sound Kayak Adventure on Paddy's Day!

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17th March 2009 - KAYAK TOUR & THE LITTLE GREEN MEN!!!
For the first time in ages I was actually woken up by my alarm. 5.45am though so not a normal get up time!! The bus was picking us up at 7am….far too early to function but no choice in the matter. I got up and walked around like a zombie somehow managing to get myself dressed and ready for the day. I was so tired and I would have loved to have stayed in bed for the day. This travelling malarkey is sometimes tough!!

The bus arrived at 7am and took us to the Manapouri Office - the meeting point. An American couple were on the bus with us and were your typical Americans….way over the top about everything! At the hut we checked in and waited for the rest of the group to arrive. We were alone in flying the English flag as we were joined by another American couple and 2 Aussie couples. We were the youngest once again but this time the average age of the bus was around 40 rather than 60 so we were doing a little better. Once we were all checked in our tour guide (Marcus) drove us to the boat at Manapouri Lake. The sky turned an amazing red colour as we drove…nice to see though I hoped it wasn’t a shepherd’s warning! Once at the lake we boarded the boat ‘Adventurer 1’ and set off across the lake to West Arm. I was still in zombie mode on the boat though watching the sun rise helped me wake up and the scenery was tip top as usual too!

Once off the boat at West Arm we were given a short briefing from Marcus about what would happen for the day and then given wetsuits and thermals to put on. The wetsuit was the first one to actually fit and if anything it was a little too snug…I almost had to get shoe horned into it and I couldn’t even blame the ice creams as I haven’t eaten one since pancake day. Still doing well on the lent front…no chocolate or ice cream so far though I have nearly caved a couple of times.

Once changed we got on another bus and were driven 22km over Wilmot Pass towards Deep Cove. Very scenic along the way and it would have been a nice ride had the bus not been infested with sand flies. The wetsuit proved useful as the sandflies couldn’t get through that though it did mean they targeted my face more. I managed to swat them before they bit me but I wasn’t happy……who on earth would have invented such a creature?! Baffles me! Once at Deep Cove Marcus made us all a brew before giving us a full safety briefing and getting on yet another boat. So many modes of transport to get to Doubtful Sound…I hoped it was worth it!

Once on the boat we were kitted out further with jackets, hats with earmuffs (so cool), life jackets and spray decks. I felt so bulky with it all on but at least I wouldn’t get cold. Once kitted out we got into the Kayaks off the back of the boat. They were 2 man Kayaks and the boat driver (Rory) helped us into them. Rory was a very grumpy man…all he needed was a pick axe and a little hat and he could have gone to live with Snow White! Apparently he gets grumpy when the sun shines…weird!! I sat at the back to steer and Nat in the front. I was impressed as the back seat had pedals to help steer. Never been in a kayak with pedals before…you certainly don’t get them at pugneys!! Once we were all in our kayaks we were ready for off and followed Marcus in his Kayak to explore Doubtful Sound.

The paddling was very relaxed. Marcus kept stopping to show us things and tell us about the history of the place. Once again after 10 minutes of speaking about the wilderness and how one tree differs from another I had switched off. He even spoke about different tree barks at one point…..I mean come on…..have a word!! It was so peaceful out on the water. It felt like there was only us out there unlike at Milford Sound where there was no shortage of boats on the water. Maybe it was because of the difficulty getting to Doubtful but in any event it was definitely less explored. Doubtful was a very remote fiord and the views were awesome with towering mountains, ice carved valleys and rainforests clinging on steep sides. We saw a few waterfalls though they were pretty small as rain hadn’t fallen in 6 days…that is classed as a drought in Doubtful Sound. Lovely place!

At lunch we hooked up with Rory’s boat again and climbed on board where there was some hot soup waiting. I used my spare time after lunch to re-spray myself with the insect repellant to hopefully stop the sandflies feasting upon my flesh. Maori legend has it that when Doubtful Sound was created it was thought such a beautiful place that people would want to stay and so the sand fly was created to stop deter people from setting up home there. It certainly worked but surely there could have been another way…a less painful way!!

After eating we got back in the Kayaks and paddles for another 3 hours or so. It was so damn hot…the thermals were a bad choice! We explored Hall Arm - the most scenic and sheltered part of Doubtful and it was beautiful. We didn’t see any penguins, dolphins or seals though which was a bit disappointing! The flora and forna chat continued but Nat and I paddled along and made our own fun as there really is only so much we could take. We loved the paddling though and Doubtful really was an amazing place (apart from the sandflies). Apparently we paddled 12km over the course of the day and I could feel that my stomach muscles had been worked….always a good thing! A top days paddling!

At around 3ish we got out of our Kayaks and back onto Rory’s boat. He drove us to deep Cove and we re-traced our steps of the morning to get back to Manapouri lake. We were very lucky with the weather a s the sun shone all day….long may it continue!

Back at the hostel we cooked a huge rice tea as we were both very hungry . We then headed to the only pub in Te Anau (the Moose) to have a Guinness and celebrate St Patrick’s Day. They had a live band on called ‘The Little Green Men’. Very deceiving name as the band members were neither little or green and only one was a man! They weren’t bad though and even played a few songs I knew such as Irish rover. No Guinness on tap though and I had to have a can. I was surprised to read the back though and see that a pint only had 165 calories in. I thought 1 pint had 2000 calories in so the surprise was a pleasant one and I didn’t feel too guilty. Still tasted like a whole meal though…I needn’t have had such a big dinner! We stayed for an hour or 2 watching the band and then headed back to the Hostel for our last night in Te Anau before we left for Queenstown. I was very sleepy and fell to sleep straight away!

18th March 2009 - SNORING NIGHTMARE & LEAVING TE ANAU!
Oh my word! The guy in the bed below me was a snorer and a bloody loud one at that! I woke up and lay there for around 15 minutes willing him to stop but no such luck. It wasn’t even near morning time as it was only 1am. I tried banging on the bed to wake him but no such luck…he kept on snoring! As time ticked on I was not impressed but there was no stopping this guy! I eventually gave up my quest to wake him, put my ipod in my ears and played my music loud enough to drown him out. Not sure how I was going to sleep with music blaring in my ears but anything was better than a pneumatic drill sound! I heard Nat wriggling about too so knew he must have woken her too. Even so I had found some sore of happy place with my music and shut my eyes. Around 10 minutes later I heard the guy get up and walk out of the room. Bonus. I knew this was my chance. I turned my music off and willed myself to get to sleep before he returned. Thankfully I managed it and the next t6hing I knew was my alarm going off at 6.30am. 1 hour until the bus arrived to take us to Queenstown.

We both got up, showered, dressed and went for breakfast. I asked Nat about the snorer. Turns out he had woken her too and she had got so mad she had pulled his pillow out from under him and then jumped back into bed as he woke up with a start. Not sure if he knew it was her but it stopped him snoring anyway and he had left the room for a while and given us the chance to get back to sleep. Funny in hind sight but not at the time. Snorers are up there with sandflies and mosquitos as one of the worst things about travelling!!

The bus came at 7.30am…on time again! We loaded all our stuff on and headed off towards Queenstown….the Adventure Capital of the world! So excited!!

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Comments

[vinc]

thanks
thanks for that.. helps me a lot with getting an idea of the whole place. on the map there's a road going to deep cove. do you by chance know if that's any good? or is the boat across lake manapouri the only way to doubtful sound? cheers