NZ: Manapouri, Doubtful Sound, Milford Road

(pic: View from Gertrude Saddle)

After leaving the Catlins, a region combining farmland, native forests and rugged bays, we continued on the ‘scenic highway’ heading northwest. Since starting our New Zealand adventures, we had been looking forward to the day that we would be in the Fiordland National Park, the largest national park in New Zealand and a World Heritage Area. We arrived almost a week ago, and one word…WOW!!!

We thought Switzerland was the most beautiful place we have seen, but being here has changed our minds; the Fiordlands are truly spectacular! Ok, the Annapurna Range in Nepal is quite amazing as well, but you get the point.

Our first three days we spent in Manapouri, a little town 20 kilometers south of Te Anau, and 144 kilometers south of Milford Sound; there is nothing else nearby. Manapouri sits on Lake Manapouri which is the gateway to the Doubtful Sound and back dropped by the amazing Fiordland Mountains. Our four day hut-to-hut trip on the Milford Track doesn’t start until Feb. 9, so we have had time to enjoy gorgeous hikes and scenery in the surrounding area. We have been doing roughly 3-5 hour hikes each day to get us somewhat prepared for our upcoming 54 km trek. We didn’t know there were so many accessible hikes around the area, it’s awesome!

So far, we have hiked portions of the Kepler Track, Circle Track in Manapouri, and the Gertrude Saddle, the latter being an almost 5 hour hike to a 1410 meter peak above sea level. It was by far the greatest and most technically demanding hike we’ve done, thus far. Yet the rewards were breathtaking views of the Milford Sound and the surrounding rugged mountains; it was like no other in the world!

In Fiordland National Park there are many INCREDIBLE tracks to hike, or ‘tramp’ as the Kiwis call it, but only a few are considered to be ‘Great Walks’. In Fiordland, there are three: Milford, Kepler, and Routeburn with the other six Great Walks located around NZ, all multi-day hut-to-hut treks that range from 29 to 82 kilometers. For these treks you need to be self sufficient and pack in/out your own food, cookware, clothing, and anything else you might need; just like the back-country hut trips in Colorado.

During our stay in Manapouri, we decided to book an overnight cruise to the Doubtful Sound, the second biggest Sound in the Fiordlands behind Dusky. We departed by boat from Lake Manapouri and headed to the West Arm Power Station about one hour away. From there we boarded a bus that took us 22 km up and over Wilmot Pass and down to Deep Cove, the start of the Doubtful Sound, holy shizzle it was breathtaking!!

We ventured through the fiords and sounds in awe over the stunning beauty where mountains, rock, forests, and grasslands collide. The weather was not sunny and bright as we hoped it would be, but rather very windy with some rain. At first we thought we picked the wrong day to book the tour however, when the HUNDREDS of waterfalls started flowing from seemingly every nook and cranny, we welcomed the rain and wind. Our cruise took us up close and personal to the waterfalls, so close in fact, it was splashing down on the boat’s deck! Pretty cool.

We continued through the Doubtful Sound all the way out to the Tasman Sea where we saw a colony of fur seals (which are actually sea lions and not seals) sitting on the rocks. We ended our day by docking in Christmas Cove for the evening, the boat’s Captain pulled into a relatively calm bay to let people kayak and swim if they wanted to. When we looked out the window, we noticed a woman had dumped her kayak and fell into the water. She was fine, but cold I’m sure, LOL.

We had an amazing dinner on the boat and spent the night in our bunk beds. The next morning we meandered through the Sound before making our way back to Deep Cove and onto Manapouri. The massive and magnificent Doubtful sound was a great experience and we would recommend it to anyone who travels to New Zealand.

Following our three-night stay in Manapouri, we headed to Te Anau, the gateway to the Fiordland National Park, to get settled before our trek. After a few days of hiking around the area, we decided to explore the infamous Milford Sound (122 km away from Te Anau) to enjoy both the spectacular views as well as the Gertrude Saddle hike. The 2.5 hour drive is breathtaking the whole way, and neither of us has ever seen landscape like this before. If I had to compare, it would probably be a little like Yosemite in California, HUGE mountains shooting straight up from the road about 1100 meters high.

After hiking the Gertrude Saddle and enjoying the summit’s million dollar views, we made our way to the base of Milford Sound. As the sun was shining, we grabbed a cold beer and toasted to the amazing view and to our accomplishment of summiting a challenging hike.

We have a few more days until our trek and we are really excited to get it started. We hear the weather is supposed to be rain/wind free, which is really unheard of in the Milford Sound, but hopefully it will prove to be true, we’ll see.

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love, Adam and Cath