Doubtful Sound

I’ve never felt so humbled by a place in my life.

Since coming back from the Routeburn, i’ve based myself in Te Anau. It’s about as far west as a town can be before the terrain of the alps and fiords make a town impossible. I’m a bit of a Fiord fanatic, so I’ve given myself a lot of time to explore the area. In about a week I’ll be up in the famous Milford Sound, but before that I wanted to explore the lesser known, and much more expansive Doubtful sound. Two days by Kayak seemed like the best way to do just that.

seeing as how I have next to no ocean kayak experience, nor even a kayak, I booked myself on a two day kayak tour. It was a nice group size of eight people in four double sea kayaks and one guide.

Getting there is a bit complicated. Te Anau is just about the closest town to the sound, but it still takes two busses and a ferry to get to deep cove of doubtful sound. It’s a good chance to get acquainted with everyone though.

Once in deep cove, we loaded the kayaks with all our tents food and gear for the night, then pushed off into the dark waters. Even being there, it’s hard to comprehend the scale of the place. The force of eighteen glacial periods has carved sheer cliffs over a kilometer high on either side of you. There’s not even any dirt. The thick forrest you see in the pictures is actually more like vines on a wall, with the roots woven together and adhering to cracks in the rock. Because the place gets between eight and ten meters of rainfall a year, the trees don’t really need soil to hold water. It’s a birds paradise.

We made our way all the way to the end of Hall arm and back a bit to make camp one one of the only rocky beaches in the sound. Given that it rains here over two hundred days out of the year, it was all the more surprising to be treated once again to nothing but sunshine. After making camp most of us ventured into the fiord for a swim. The water was cold, but not too salty. Swimming in the ocean normally freaks me out a bit as you have no idea how far down it goes, couple that with the juxtaposition of sheer cliff walls racing up to the sky on either side and it truly made me feel like an ant in a pond.

That night (after the torrential horde of sand flies went to sleep), the stars came out brilliantly along with a few wekas (short, curious flightless birds). We were the only nine people in the entire fiord. Walking back to the tent I thought I was hallucinating as I started seeing stars in the forest, but upon closer inspection I realized that they were glow worms hiding inside every log and crevice. Walking to the toilet in the middle of the night really felt like a fairytale.

We had a group vote and decided to get up bright and early the next day to make the most of it and hopefully see some more wildlife. The weather that morning was even better than the day before. Not a cloud in sight as rays of sun shot over the cliffs into the fiord.

Paddling back out hall arm and a bit farther out in the main sound, we saw dozens of interesting birds up close, including a whole gathering of crested fiordland penguins! Also, I didn’t know this was a thing, but we managed to sail part of the way back to deep cove.

My arms might be on fire, but luckily the next four days i’ll just be using my legs to hike the Kepler track!

If you want a closer look at Fiordland and also enjoy smooth jazz with blaring saxaphone, watch this short movie too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A94Dj7UQGM0