When James Cook first explored the west coast of NZ, he looked into this narrow fjord, considered the prevailing winds coming from the west, and reckoned that if he got in, it might be doubtful as to whether he could get out! So he named it Doubtful Sound and moved on, but we had a wonderful cruise through the sound with the luxury of heavy duty marine diesels to get us turned around.

We started out heading west in mid-summer, January, shortly after we arrived in NZ, on a 5 day odyssey that would be our first introduction to the world outside of Dunedin. I thought I would need some serious map skills, but after talking with our good buddy Mark Joyce at the Penguin Patch information center in Dunedin, we figured out what we wanted to do, figured out where to stay, and took off.

In the morning, we needed to make the short 20 minute drive to Manapouri, where we would take an hour long boat trip across Lake Manapouri, then catch a bus across the rugged road that connects the lake with Deep Arm at Doubtful Sound. The road is the most expensive ever built in NZ, but they needed it to build the giant power generating station on Lake Manapouri, which creates the energy needed to run the giant aluminium smelter down in Bluff. The trip across Manapouri was bouncy, windy, and heaps o'fun.

Manapouri is a little place, just like so many places in NZ. Te Anau, for all of its visitors, is really only a street along the lake and a street at a right angle to the lake, with a few houses around it. Lots of travelers, lots of backpackers, but compared to a resort town in the US, with all of its fast food places, vacation homes, souvenir shops, etc., Te Anau is a quiet place in a lovely surrounding.

Manapouri stands out among the environmental movement annals in NZ because of the power generating station, which is virtually hidden on the far shore. But in the 1960's, when it was originally proposed, the station would have raised and lowered the levels of the lake enough to ruin the spectacular setting. Manapouri was the first time in NZ history that a huge industrial plan was altered to take the natural environment into consideration.

After the bus ride through the high beech forests of Fjordland, we got to our ship, the Fjordland Navigator. With a capacity of about 72 passengers and 5 or 8 crew, it was a perfect size to serve as our home for the next afternoon, evening, night, and morning. We had chosen the overnight cruise of Doubtful Sound, opting to be on the ship longer and see more of the sounds than was possible on Milford Sound to the north. We got to Manapouri at about 1pm and got on the Navigator at 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

We had chosen the bunks as berths rather than the much more expensive private cabin. Actually, it was perfect! Downstairs, in a large room, there were about 4 curtained off areas on both sides of the ship. Our names were outside one of the berths, and when we looked in, we had 2 bunks on the left, 2 on the right, and a small storage area at the foot of the bunks. We had one little porthole to show that we were on about water level - no locks, no doors, and communal baths and showers down the hall. There were some families like us, some single travelers in with their new best friends, and some groups of 2 or 3.

The Navigator also had a front open area on desk and an enclosed area near the front as well as a main salon/mess hall/bar. As we started cruising down the sound, getting accustomed to the ship and getting our instructions from the crew, we began our search for dolphins and penguins.

The nature guide on the boat gave us a good running commentary, and of course Joe and Sara had some questions for her. We got lucky and saw bottlenose dolphins and later, the smaller rarer Hector's dolphins. We came across a couple yellow crested penguins as we headed out through some spectacular scenery.

At the entrance to Doubtful Sound, with the Tasman Sea in front of us, we came across a huge colony of NZ fur seals, who graced us with their bellows and a powerful aroma!

After a late afternoon bowl of one of many experiences with pumpkin soup in NZ, we had a chance to go kayaking in the sound in Precipice Cove. We each had our own small kayak and it was lovely, although it was also one of our early experiences with the sandflies about which we had been warned.

For dinner, we had a great set of options, and it was delicious. I liked the bar, of course, and we were also introduced to another thing in NZ that is considerably different: the sign that said minors could not drink alcohol unless they were in the company of their parents or guardians. So the drinking age is 18 in NZ, or whatever age you want if your parents are willing.

After dinner, we chatted with folks on the boat and looked for the southern cross in the dark, clear NZ sky. It was pretty brisk, though, even if it was summer, so that didn't last too long. In the morning, after a short walk ashore to explore the dense bush and meet a few more sandflies, we headed back toward Deep Arm.

The weather was perfect, clear and still - in fact, while they needed the rain, we were fortunate on our trip to have lovely skies. Fjordland is a UNESCO World Heritage site - we felt lucky to have been able to see some of it, explore its coves, view some of its wildlife, learn about its history, and meet some of its hosts.

Doubtful Sound was spectacular - Real Journeys did a nice job of providing a trip that met all of our expectations.

After arriving back in Manapouri, our next destination was Wanaka, on the way to our stop for the next 3 nights at a sheep station near Lake Hawea, jet boating on the Wilkins River, a trip to Haast and the West Coast . . . but that is all a story for another day!