Tuesday, February 22 – Doubtful Sound? And Glow Worms…

Why is it called Doubtful Sound? Well, we thought so because we had to wake up at an ung-dly hour (4:30am) to get to the meeting place for our kayak tour of the sound (it was about a 30 minute drive and we had to be there before 6AM – when we get there, no one is there and we start to wonder if we are in the right place! Sure enough, we are and everyone else is late. Since its summer in NZ, everything is crowded and booked up, so this company adds a 6am kayak when they have enough people for it. Despite the time, it ended up being a very enjoyable day. It’s the hardest place we ever had to get to for a 1 day excursion, for the entire trip I suspect. We had to drive 30 minutes, then be driven for 5 minutes to the dock at a place called Lake Manapouri, then take a 40 minute boat ride across the lake to a power station, then change to our wet suits and hop in a 30 minute van ride to the other side of the planet in order to arrive by 8:30 or so at Doubtful Sound. Needless to say, we hardly saw anyone else that day because of the remoteness, which is part of the appeal. Doubtful was named by James Cook, who discovered NZ and Australia as far as Europeans are concerned, because he was doubtful that the winds in the sound were enough for him to get into and back out of the sound, so he didn’t even go into the sound. Its very different from Milford, in that it has a good deal of vegetation, since the surrounding mountains aren’t as steep and that allows more soil to accumulate. It was good that we went so early, because we started to get some winds and choppy seas as we returned in the early afternoon. I have posted some shots below from this trip which I took with one of the disposal waterproof cameras. They work quite well, in fact. I also have some more shots from the Great Barrier Reef, which I took with another underwater camera – I had the film developed for both of these since undeveloped film in your checked luggage can get ruined nowadays with the scans they do for bombs (its not a problem in your hand luggage, but who wants to carry those things around for months!). Let me know what you think of these shots, as well as any others – I think the disposable cameras are quite good, considering how cheap they are! We then went to visit the Glow Worm caves near Te Anou that evening. Glow Worms are very fascinating creatures who literally glow in the dark – it’s a bioluminescence that they use to attract insects into their version of a web. They are quite fascinating, and you feel like you are looking at stars in the milky way, as you wend your way in the bowels of a pitch black cave by boat – no photos though, you must experience them for yourself!