Doubtful Sound & Manapouri Power Station- Part2

Continuing on from Part 1

After poking our nose out into the ocean our boat then followed the south side of the fiord back towards the wharf turning down the long and narrow Crooked Arm quietly inching it’s way across the still water and tucking up in a small narrow cove near the end where the boat turned off its motors & we were all asked to hold still & quiet for a minute or two to listen to the sounds of nature. No camera clicks, no walking, no talking, no movement……wait, who is that stomping up the deck!

No it wasn’t David but he did have something to do with it. David was having a very expensive conversation. Instead of looking at the beautiful scenery of Doubtful Sound he was inside, engrossed in a discussion with an American couple, John & Diane,who we had sat near when we first boarded the boat. John was an ex-fighter pilot and David was in his element talking planes. David & John had been so focused on talking that they had failed to hear the announcement to be quiet & still. And then when they had noticed the quite they wondered what was going on…wondered in loud voices. They were suitably told to shsssh by the captain. Then John, not realising that he was meant to be still too, stomped off up the deck to find Diane & was frowned at by staff all the way. John & David had a little giggle about that, John said he felt like a naughty schoolboy!

The reflections on this part of the fiord were wonderful.

Leaving our “quiet" spot I overheard a few people saying how amazing they found that experience and it was, the bird noise from the bush surrounding us was of constant singing & chattering, something like I imagine the bush used to be before introduced predators decimated our native birds. Nearby a small waterfall gurgled as it entered the fiord and that was it, the rest was the sound of silence. 

This is known as a tree avalanche. The rainforest mostly cannot get a good root hold in the thin layer of soil & leaf mould & hangs precariously to the steep granite rock of the mountains. Tree avalanches are usually triggered by high rainfall or snow.

The Fiordland fiords are famous for their waterfalls but with no substantial rain for weeks a lot of them had dried up. Manapouri village receives 1 metre of rain a year but over at West Arm the rainfall rises to 4 metres and at Deep Cove it reaches 9 metres. As this rain makes its way into the fiord via streams, rivers & waterfalls it becomes the colour of weak tea, stained by the tanin and other matter from the forest floor. The tanin stained water is less dense than sea water & forms a layer on the surface that floats and only partially mixes with the salt. This gives the fiord its dark inky appearance and it’s where one of the largest colonies of black coral in the world live. The coral, which is usually found at depths of 60 metres or more grows at just 8-10 metres, it is tricked into thinking it’s deep water by the thick layer of freshwater which filters out the light.

Passing a small bush clad island on our way back to the wharf.

There were a few private launches visiting the fiord and  a number of fishing boats that are based in Doubtful tied up at the wharf.

 

The buses await our return.

 

We were taken on a small detour to check where the two 10km long tail-race tunnels from the power station that exit from under the mountain and into Doubtful Sound.

As promised, with the cloud now lifted, the bus stopped at the top of the pass so we could see the Sound in all it’s glory.

Back down at West Arm we took a side road up to the entrance of the power station tunnel, a 9 metre wide tunnel that spirals its way 2 kilometres underground to the Machine Hall.

The seven huge blue machines on the hall floor are exciters. The exciter stimulates the rotor of the main generator below it to produce electricity. It’s hard to get a sense of the size of these, it would have been great to have someone in the picture but have a look at trolley forklift to the left. The room is 18 metres wide & 39 metres high. The exciters are huge but below them on the stator floor are even larger generators & transformers. And below that floor is the turbine floor, the turbine shaft spins at 250 revolutions per minute. This is where the water comes in from the penstocks(the blue tubes in the station mock up) to drive the turbines. Above the turbine shaft is the generator. Water travels through the penstocks at a combined rate of approx, 500 cubic metres per second (500 tonnes per second)

Up on the surface the bus took us back to the terminal & our waiting boat, David & John still chatting away!

So what else could we do but invite them back for drinks which then turned into dinner. We had a lovely evening and quite a few laughs. It was great meeting you Diane & John, until next time, cheers!

Doubtful Sound- Part 1

One of our “must-dos’'’ before leaving Manapouri was to take a cruise on Doubtful Sound, David also wanted to visit the Manapouri underground Hydro Power Station. Doubtful Sound is reached by taking a boat across Lake Manapouri to West Arm where the power station is located and then being transported by bus over the Wilmot Pass and down into the Doubtful Sound deep in heart of the Fiordland National Park.

After a relaxing week at the Manapouri Motorhome Park with brilliant hot & sunny weather, we finally decided we’d better do the Doubtful Sound trip before it was time to leave for Milford. And wouldn’t you know it, the weather turned & it became overcast and cool with low cloud & passing showers. The beauty of not having a fixed itinerary is that we were able to hold off booking the cruise over the next three days while we waited for the weather to clear. Finally it looked like we had a small window of opportunity where the forecast was for fine weather followed by rain again the next day.

It rained heavy overnight but the day broke crisp & clear. We only had to drive a couple of kilometres down the road to the Real Journeys Visitor Centre located at Pearl Harbour on the lower Waiau River just below it’s outlet from Lake Manapouri. We were booked on the 8am sailing and were first in the queue (surprise, surprise) as we waited for the bus to arrive from Te Anau with the remainder of the passengers. The mid morning & early afternoon sailings are always busier as buses arrive in from Queenstown loaded with day-trippers. Our sailing was about half full so we had plenty of space to move about.

The lake was flat and calm, the water like thick oil smoothly parting as the boat glided through. Low cloud clung onto the Hunter Mountain Range with the unusual Monument spike clearly visible. A full moon was on its way west & soon dropped behind the range.

Just as the sun rose above the eastern horizon and fog settled over the village of Manapouri.

Before long we were cruising down West Arm to the wharf beside the hydro power station. Cables carrying 220,000 volts taking the power away from the switchyard were clearly visible as we approached.

We disembark and make our way into the information area and then onto the waiting buses that will transport us over the pass and into Doubtful Sound. The Wilmot Pass is New Zealand’s most expensive road at $80 per square metre & is also one of the remotest roads in NZ. The Pass is 22km long and was built in the 1960s to provide heavy equipment access for the construction of the power station. It passes through rainforest, waterfalls & towering cliffs and deep canyons. We get our first glimpse of the Sound just over the top as we start to wind our way down a very steep section of the road. The cloud hangs low but our bus driver tells us they’ll stop for a clearer view on the way back later in the morning.

We arrive on the tiny cantilevered wharf at Deep Cove (too deep for anything else) where our next boat is waiting and file on board. For such an isolated and not so easily accessible area there are a surprising amount of people about, including 40 or so children that are on a school camp at an education centre located near the wharf.

Across from the wharf at anchor is another Real Journeys boat, this is the yacht on which guests stay overnight in the Sound.

One of the staff members on board our boat was a nature guide who obviously had the experience and knowledge to locate any wildlife ahead of us as we quietly cruised down the sound. And as luck would have it one of the first birds he located was the rare & endangered Fiordland Crested Penguin. He was a very long way in front of the boat, just a ripple on the water and disappeared below soon after being spotted but I managed to zoom in & grab a shot that at least shows he was what he was meant to be. Another bird to add to my list. Only a small percentage of the cruises get to see a Crested Penguin.

Doubtful Sound is the second largest fiord of the 14 fiords located in the Fiordland National Park and is in the heart of a designated World Heritage Area. Deep Cove at the head of the fiord is 40kms from the sea. Doubtful is three times longer than Milford Sound and has a surface area 10 times larger. The fiord is 430m deep at it’s maximum, it is remote, wild & imposing and the scenery is stunning with the sheer sides of the mountains draped in cloud and climbing dramatically straight out of the water.

Before long we could see the entrance at the far end of the Sound.

And then to everyone’s excitement the call went out “dolphins ahead!” I had positioned myself at the bow of the boat with a couple of other hardy souls for most of the journey so far (it was very brisk) when suddenly we were swamped with people jockeying for a good position to see them. I held fast and got a good view of the mothers & calves playing and riding our bow waves & racing up and down the tunnel between the catamaran hulls; “Bugger if I am going to move” I thought. “I have earnt my spot!”. This pod of dolphins are resident in Doubtful Sound but hadn't been seen for a couple of weeks so again we were on the “lucky” cruise.

Ahead of us just outside the entrance was a rock looking like a large cupcake sprinkled with currants. As we got closer the currants started moving & revealed themselves to be dozens of seals, mostly pups that had been left on their own for the day while their mothers were away feeding.

The skipper eased the boat out into the rolling ocean swell so we could our first look at the West Coast before carefully turning and returning to the the sheltered waters of the fiord. Away in the distance we spotted a cruise ship making it’s way up from the bottom of the South Island, we later saw it inside the fiord.



To give you a sense of scale; a large launch (white dot) can be seen to the left of the entrance

To be continued.......Part 2




Kepler Track- One of the “Great Walks”

The Kepler Track is one of DOCs “Great Walks”, its a 60 km, 3-4 day circular track that starts on the gently sloped beech-forested shores of Lake Te Anau climbing steadily up onto and along tussocky alpine ridges, past Mt Luxmore, through deep gorges, down the steep Iris Burn and back through beech forest along the shores of Lake Manapouri. Being so close to Te Anau the “Walk” is a very popular tramp and the huts are booked up well in advance. The car park close to the Waiau Control Gates where the track starts and finishes was full of rental cars both days we were in the area with people entering & exiting the track constantly.

There were a number of day walk options available on the track and we decided to do the 4 hour return walk from Rainbow Reach to Moturau Hut. The hut is the last one on the Kepler Track & we would be walking against the normal flow of traffic. As I’ve previously said we usually like to do a loop walk so we’re not seeing the same scenery twice but with a hut at the end to entice us (in fact two huts to choose from), a few other interesting features on the walk and two swing bridges we decided there would be enough to keep our interest.

This is the fabulous swing bridge at Rainbow Reach, one of the largest we’ve seen and capable of taking 10 people at once, although it looks like it could safely take a few more. The bridge crosses the wide Upper Waiau River which flows from lake Te Anau and into Lake Manapouri.

The walk starts in quite an airy light filled beech forest with a moss covered floor. The track is well formed and in fact we both commented on the feeling that this walk had a “commercial” feel about it. So much so that I felt like there could be somebody hiding behind a tree waiting to tell me off if I stepped off the path. We also passed a number of people & groups walking the track, a few making a huge amount of noise- those are the ones that then complain about there being no birds in the bush!

Before long though, the track narrowed and the understory grew thick, green & lush with ferns & spongy moss . The people thinned out too, a lot obviously just take a stroll from Rainbow Reach to get a small taste of NZ bush. I’m sure most wouldn’t have walked  far enough to see the beautiful ferns.

It was a thrill when I suddenly spied some flowers on a moss covered log & realised that they were our tiny native epiphytic orchid; Raupeka or Easter Orchid. As most New Zealanders will know, our native bush does not do large or flashy flowers they are mostly small & unobtrusive. This perfectly formed little beauty has the added advantage of a strong sickly sweet smell to attract attention. Cool!

Deep in the bush we came to the second swing bridge which crossed a small rocky stream bed. It was here that David decided to take a look at the water to see if there were any trout. I failed to notice that he had moved to the edge when I left the bridge after taking some photos. So for the next 40 minutes or so I raced through the bush trying to catch him up while he also pushed on hoping to catch me! Lesson learned- we need to communicate if either of us moves off the track. Needless to say we both had some choice words to say when we finally met up. After 40 minutes I realised that David just couldn’t have got that far ahead of me so I stopped and waited….and waited. Just as I was starting to worry, I heard him whistling for me. Although I didn’t know the whistle was for me! We also need to have a whistle tune that we recognise so I don't think some weirdo is approaching.

Needless to say the whole of Kepler Track could have heard us stomping down the boardwalk to the viewing platform over the wetlands and across Forest Burn.

By about now we were also starting to tire (after the mad dash) and we still had a few kilometres to walk. This cheeky little fantail (pīwakawaka) pushed us on flitting in and out of the trees as we walked by.

Along the way I found some unusual fungi to shoot, but nothing like the colours we saw in the Catlins. Finally we came to a fork in the track. One branch led to a day hut at Shallow Bay on Lake Manapouri, the other to the Moturau Hut still 20 minutes away. We had come so far I wasn’t about to turn around although my boots were starting to feel like lead weights.

Then without warning we broke out onto a clearing in front of the hut which was surrounded by people, inside and out! Kepler Track walkers that had arrived from the other direction and were staying the night at the hut. Some of the younger ones were playing a ball game, older ones were reading, others were sorting packs & airing bedding. And in amongst all this were hundreds, nay, thousands of vicious little sandflies! We had our lunch with us which we gulped down all the while swatting at sandflies and dancing about on one leg. We quickly threw everything into the pack, turned around and high-tailed it out of there. A very short and not so sweet visit! Even an invite from the DOC ranger to have a look round inside was turned down.

The view from the hut out over Lake Manapouri. At least on a hot day you could take a swim to cool down and get away from the pesky little buggers- the sandflies not the trampers.

The Kepler Track is also home to the Kepler Challenge, an annual running race that covers the whole 60 kilometres in less than five hours. While we were having our lunch on the hop a runner came in from the other direction calling out a greeting to the ranger. She filled up with water & was having a conversation with others while doing some stretching exercises when we left but it wasn’t too far down the track when we heard her footsteps approaching. We stepped aside as she ran past marveling at her sinewy leg muscles. She was in training for the Kepler Challenge and obviously covers the distance quite often. I was in awe.

It was a long slog home for us, towards the end you’re just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and praying that around the next bend will be the car park. One benefit of a there & back track, you know roughly how close home is when you see some familar objects……like a rotten log where you took a photo of some fungi.

Back at Rainbow Reach as we crossed the bridge, we spotted a canoe & a kayak approaching. We waited to see them pass under the bridge & it was good to see kids out with their Dads having fun in the great outdoors.

Relaxing in Manapouri

We’re back in the land of connections again after 12 wonderful days exploring the road to Milford Sound & the Sound itself, we’ve had some amazing experiences….ask David about the “fireworks” when you see him! So it’s back into catching up on a multitude of blog posts starting with Manapouri…..

Manapouri is a great little settlement & was an ideal spot for us to have a break after our time at Mavora Lakes & before continuing on to explore the Milford Road & Milford Sound. We initially only intended staying for two or three days to catch up on the backlog of chores that come with being off the grid for two weeks; washing; both clothes & vehicles, doing some minor maintenance, recharging the house batteries and most important of all, catching up on computer work including my blog posts for Mavora Lakes. It’s lovely to have a break from the computer when we’re out of internet range but it takes a fair bit to catch up on when we reconnect!

 

In the end, we were enjoying our time  at the Manapouri Motorhome & Caravan Park so much we ended up staying for ten days!  Those that have been following the blog religiously will know that I posted this blog on my surprise helicopter ride and the photos of the Park that I took for Selwyn & Gloria. That was a great experience and a highlight of the trip so far for me.

 

Manapouri put on some amazing weather for us while we were there, sunny blue skies most of the time with a hint of a frost on a number of days. I was worried that we were pushing our luck and the weather would break before we managed to do a few of the activities we had planned. I needn't have worried, we had a couple of overcast days with on & off light drizzle. Even when the North Island & Canterbury were battening down the hatches ahead of a cyclone warning, Manapouri stayed bright & sunny. It's not the first time I've thought about how the "rest" of  New Zealand seem to forget about the southern part of our country. The forecast for this area, when we get one, is hardly ever right.
 

 

 

Lake Manapouri is NZ’s second deepest lake and contains an amazing 33 islands. The lake has four arms, North, South, West and Hope, we were to sail into the West Arm later in the week when we visited Doubtful Sound. West Arm is also where the Manapouri Hydro Power Station is located.

 

Lake Manapouri & the Hunter Mountains

Who would have thought there was a sandy beach on the edge of the lake? It was a surprise to find it at the bottom of a gravel track just below the settlement. It was an even bigger surprise to see people sunbathing.

 

After my photography exploits in the helicopter, one of our neighbours came to tell me about a 14 point stag they’d seen on a deer farm not too far down the road  on the way to Riverton. We took a drive and managed to find him but he had hidden himself against a fence under some trees so I couldn’t get a good shot. But I did manage to get a clear shot of the Takitimu Mountain Range.

And one of Mt Titiroa, a prominent landmark in the Te Anau Basin, quite clearly showing the white granite rock which gives its summit the appearance of lingering snow even through the summer months. I did hear from a boat skipper, that apparently in the 1980s, a hunter got lost and set fire to scrub to alert rescuers. The fire got out of control and destroyed a lot of the bush that covered the upper slopes making the granite much more visible.

Each morning & evening we had front row seats to some amazing sunrises & sunsets, the cloud & fog that often hung over the lake and around the mountain range turned to many shades of gold & pink.

We did a number of short trips in to Te Anau for supplies and to make a few appointments. We also called in at a few of the tourist spots along the way & in town. In Te Anau if you’re a Kiwi, you’re the odd man out. The town is full of tourists, tour buses, motorhomes, sleeper vans and monster packs attached to people. It's busy but not that bad considering it's a small town. The local supermarket does a roaring trade and the carpark is mostly full of motorhomes & other rentals. We have found that when driving our ute we're often thought of as locals and are constantly getting a wave from farmers & others as we pass by or getting let into queues. Obviously not when we're towing the 5th Wheeler of course.

We stopped at the Upper Waiau River Control Gates on Lake Te Anau. The gates regulate water flows between Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri for the West Arm hydroelectric power station and mark the beginning of the NZ famous “Great Walk”, the 60km, 3 day Kepler Track.

Looking across Lake Te Anau to Te Anau township

 

The boats at the Te Anau Marina have extra long mooring lines due to the high rise & fall of the lake from both the snow melt in winter & hydro power scheme.

This sign beside the supermarket in Te Anau amused David and at first glance I actually thought it did say the “Wrong Way”. I suspect that there would be many photos taken of this with tourists standing underneath.

We actually didn’t do too much while staying in Manapouri which was nice for a change. We did, as I said, visit Doubtful Sound & the Power Station, and we also walked part of the Kepler Track. Those posts will be coming up shortly.

Next stop Cascade Creek, Milford! On our last morning at the Park we had this beautiful rainbow see us off.