The alarm went off just after 06.00 so rush down to the
showers and then back in time for a light breakfast in the cabin. By 0700 we
were at the front of the site waiting for the coach to arrive and transport
us.along with others, down to the Manapouri ferry dock for the first stage of
the trip to Doubtful Sound.
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| The underground road to the power station |
The boat trip across Lake Manapouri first which takes about fifty minutes and
then its off the boat and on a bus for ten minutes to visit the Manapouri Power
Station which quite frankly is a bloody marvel. The power station sits in the middle
of a mountain with water coming down from the sea in to the Lake and it drives
five generating units which alone can provide enough electricity to power the
whole of South Island. The building of this complex took about six years and
just digging through the rock on a 24 hour basis for seven accomplished about 7
metres, not a lot really but they were using explosives and drills etc. They
were also hampered by the rain which as you go further West gets more than you
can imagine. At Manapouri its about 1.5 metres per year, which increases to 3 metres
per year at the power station dock and by the time you reach Doubtful Sound it’s
up to 8 metres per year, quite a lot when you think about it.
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| Doubtful Sound in all its glory |
Then a bus ride for about 45 minutes with occasional
photo stops and you arrive at the sound and transfer to a boat which then goes
out to the sea entrance and this takes about 100 minutes. We stopped by some
Islands which had seals and also saw the odd penguin and finally on the way
back we saw a couple of schools of Dolphins but they were a bit too far away
with the lens that I had on and to change it would mean missing out totally.
We arrived back in Manapouri around 17.00 and then a
bus back to the Holiday Park and then feet up on the bed for 40 minutes then
time to cook dinner and a well-earned glass of wine.
This is the third time we have done this trip and it is
well worth it for a great day out and well worth the £ 120 per head for the
day.
The weather today has been pretty good and by the time
we got back to camp the sun was shining down and it is quite warm and we hope
that tomorrow will stay the same for our drive up to Milford Sound.
If you want to know more about the Power Station see
the following Wikipedia link.
