Day 16, 17 – Te Anau and Doubtful Sound

So, on we go. A fairly uneventful trip through to Te Anau through pleasant and productive farmlands in a valley that just kept opening out before us. We stopped for lunch where it happened a farmer moved a flock of 4200 sheep across the road. Norma was very impressed so she shot about 30 photos of them:

Stopped at Te Anau and did our laundry and some shopping and updated the blog – hope you’re enjoying it. Then down to Manapouri where we camped at a POP.

Friday we did an all day trip to Doubtful Sound –

Boat trip across Lake Manapouri to where the biggest Hydro Electric power station in NZ is which supplies power of the Aluminium works at Bluff.

Then it was a bus over Willmot Pass to Doubtful sound. This road was put in to transport the equipment up to the power station when it was being built. We’re talking really remote and rugged country here – cost of the 22klm road was $2 cm back in 1967.

Doubtful sound was glorious, it was raining and the clouds were low which is how you want to see it because all the waterfalls are in full flow which is really what you go for, the clouds also giving it an amazing atmosphere, and the stupendous scenery – take your pick.

     

This all in the largest Scenic Reserve in NZ which means no private dwellings above high water. An intrepid cray fisherman had beaten that rule 30 years ago by building this out on poles from this glorious little island. That’s a helipad behind the boat and all on tanelized pine poles. They’ve closed that loophole now but this is now heritaged I think.

 

It really was a great day and finished off with a tour of the power station down a 2klm tunnel to the turbine room.

So that was a great day. The Map shows were are/stayed.

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