Last August, we had much debate about whether we should visit Milford Sound or Doubtful Sound from Queenstown. Milford Sound is much busier and requires 10 hours of riding on a tour bus or taking a small plane on the return and cutting the trip time in half. We were going to opt for the bus/plane tour; but, we were concerned that if the weather was not in our favor for the plane ride back to Queenstown, we would be in for a very long bus journey. We opted for the Doubtful Sound tour; as it is only a 5- hour++ round trip bus ride. Today, was our Doubtful Sound Tour and we woke up to rain, 35 degree temperatures and high winds-yuk! (At this point, we were quite happy that we did not select the Milford Tour). Being right on a lake, the dampness makes it feel substantially colder. Lesley piled on 6 layers of clothes which included 3 long sleeve shirts, two Lululemon jackets and a Patagonia puffer. She was still chilled to the bone most of the day!
The tour bus, with about 19 other tourists, picked us up at 7:15 a.m. at our hotel. We were off and running with terrific commentary from the bus driver about the New Zealand topography and some fascinating New Zealand legends. It actually started snowing on our way to Doubtful Sound and we had snow covering the mountains by the time we arrived back in Queenstown. Keep in mind, that November is New Zealand’s late springtime. The initial drive was through farmlands, including farms raising deer, sheep & wapiti (elk). Many of the sheep farms have converted to dairy production because of basic economics.
The normal tour was bus, boat across a lake, bus, then boat in Doubtful Sound. Because of recent rains, a bridge on the second bus ride was washed out – it became bus, boat, bus, walk, bus, boat. It was quite the journey! Doubtful Sound is beautiful and the rain that morning resulted in numerous temporary waterfalls. The road after the lake is the only NZ road that is not connected to any other road in NZ. Thus, the only way to visit Doubtful Sound is by boat. The Doubtful Sound area is a national park and the area reaches to the “high tide” mark. A number of years ago, a cray fishermen realized the opportunity and built a “hotel” just below that high water mark. It is the ONLY building in the Doubtful Sound area. After his “hotel” was built, the government quickly changed the laws outlawing such a structure. Today, ended up being a very long day (about 13 hours) but totally worth it. We will sign off for a few days due to travel. Tomorrow, we are flying off to Auckland overnight and then on to Sydney the following day.
