The tourist option is either Doubtful Sound or Milford Sound. We decided on DS as it did not involve a long drive up to MS, the sound is bigger and there would be less people as it was more inaccessible.

We were on the boat at 0800 having opted for that boat rather than the later 1030 on the basis that we should have clearer skies. The sky was blue and we set off across to the other side of Lake Manapouri on a fifty minute boat trip.

We arrived at the hydro electric station

The power station was built in the 1970’s and then enlarged later. They had wanted to raise the level of the water in the lake by about 20 metres but there was enormous opposition and it never happened. Instead they had to increase power in 2002 when technology improved. The water is 'dropped' out of Lake Manapouri, this fall of water drives the turbines to create the electricity (14% of NZ requirement) and the water is then taken in two large pipes about 10 km long through the mountains and out into Doubtful Sound.

The idea was good, the construction more difficult. They tried to bring the turbines by road to Manapouri and then by barge across the lake but the bridges were not strong enough and the barges could not take the weight. In the end they bought the equipment and materials in by sea into Doubtful Sound and then built an unsealed road, the Wilmot Pass, over the mountains to the site. This pass is maintained to a high standard in the very challenging conditions of very high rainfall, snow and ice. 

The Wilmot Pass is also used by the travel company to transport their passengers over the mountain to Doubtful Sound. 

Into the coach and up over the mountain we went—fortunately no snow chains required.

We stopped at the top and looked down into Doubtful Sound

Down the 1 in 5 slope the other side and onto the boat for a 3 hour cruise 

We went out to the entrance to the sound where we just touched the Tasman Sea (not been there before!)

Captain Cook came up this coast with a crew on the Endeavour who were keen to go ashore. He encountered a bay just to the north but it was dusk and he couldn’t risk sailing into uncharted waters ——Dusky Bay. He sailed on and arrived at the next sound where the wind was blowing from an unusual easterly direction and he thought that once in the sound it would be ‘doubtful' if he could sail out—hence Doubtful Sound—and a very disappointed crew!

We took a lot of photographs and it was a wonderful ‘cruise' with a nature guide giving a commentary. A pair of albatross even flew by.