Doubtless Sound

Après un copieux petit déjeuner nous voilà en route vers Manapouri , point de départ de notre grande journée d'excursion. Une heure de navigation sur les eaux claires du lac du meme nom . Nous étions bien cinquante et ca ressemblait assez à une sortie pour club de 3ème age ! Après une traversée en bus de la foret nous voila bientot embarqués a bord du Commander Peak pour une croisière de 3 heures sur le Doubtfull Sound . Isolé, sauvage et accessible seulement depuis la construction il y a une dizaine d'annees de la route qui relie le lac à la mer , nous n'avons pu que nous laisser impressionner par la puissance et la beaute de ce fjord encore assez peu frequente.

After a great breakfast here we are ready for a day of excursion , first on the Manipouri Lake then after an hour of bus through the forest happy to embark on the Commander Peak with some other 50 tourists for a 3 hours cruise along the Doubtless Sound to explore its remote wilderness . It was quite impressive and the weather being clear witch is pretty rare over there , we did enjoy the wild life on the shore, the birdsongs when the engine was turned off for a while and even the cold wind .
Doubtfull Sound , « unquestionable breathtaking » says the publicity is the deepest fjord at 421 m deep and 40 kms long . The cliffs are about 900m. It is an heaven of nature with ancient forests and superb physical grandeur . It has not yet been touched by Man so you still can feel the sense of silence, solitude, serenity . I loved it

The trip started by a boat trip across Lake Manapouri followed by a bus journey over the rugged Wilmot Pass . This 22 kms road connects West Arm in Lake Manapouri to Deep Cove in Doubtfull Sound and was built due the construction of a power project . The power station has been built underground and we visisted the massive turbines room inside of the mountain cavern after driving down for2 kms . A wonderful day.