Queenstown, Te Anau and Doubtful Sound

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It was always going to a long day on the bus….Christchurch to Queenstown via Tekapo and Twizel. 8 hours in total but the Intercity buses in New Zealand are very comfortable and there are coffee stops every couple of hours.... and we try and convince ourselves that it’s much more relaxing than driving yourself. It was a beautiful drive and we learned lots about the amazing water and power engineers who dared to link natural lakes with artificial canals to generate massive amounts of power without coal, oil or nuclear means. Brilliant.

“Mum and Dad you will definitely HATE Queenstown”, said all our young people who claim to know about these things. It seems that we must have been determined to show that are deffo down with the youth by somehow booking to stay in the trendiest and loudest hostel in town (Nomads, if you have to ask) on (wait for it) St Patrick’s day. It seems that if you are not bungy jumping off a bridge or flying upside down in a helicopter or jet boating backwards off a cliff, the only way to enjoy Queenstown is to dress up as a leprechaun, tuck a shamrock behind your ear and get totally and utterly wasted before teatime. We did our very best to fit in but our 8pm hot chocolate just didn’t do it and we were very pleased that we were heading off to Te Anau the following day.

What a lovely place Te Anau is! Not a jet boat, a bungy or a leprechaun in sight. A lovely hostel with lovely people staying…..simply LOVELY!

We were heading off to Doubtful Sound the following day. It's quite a trek to get there….The boat leaves Manapouri Pearl Harbour (30 minutes from Te Anau) at 0700hrs to take you to the far end of Lake Manapouri. Then there is an hour on the bus across the Wilmot pass to the start of Doubtful Sound and then a boat trip down the sound and into the Tasman Sea. Doubtful Sound receives an average of 7m of rain every year, yes 7m! (Great Missenden gets about 800mm). So the misty and damp conditions were no surprise and made the whole experience more moody and atmospheric. As we approached the Tasman Sea we came across a group of seals on the rocks as the water changed from fresh to salty.

Captain Cook sailed past Doubtful Sound twice and never entered it as he was doubtful he would be able to get out again. The wind in the sound is predominantly from the west and he would need a wind from the east in order to get out again. Even our boat with all its power had to try hard to get out!

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