Three Boat Rides, Two Coaches and a Power Station

The big day had arrived, we were all up early, packed lunches ready, and set to enjoy our “Wilderness Cruise”. The only thing was we had all made hot drinks in thermos flasks, to be told free tea and coffee was available on board the vessels we were to travel on.   Our outing today was to cross Lake Manapouri on the Titiroa, board a coach travel over the “Wilmot Pass” pick up another boat and cruise through Doubtful Sound, and on the way back travel down 180 mt via a 2km circular tunnel to the machine hall of the “Manapouri Power Station”.

Titiroa, our first cruise of the day

This mist hung low as we glided along, with a good running commentary keeping us informed of the surrounding sights.  White scars on the steep mountainsides show where “tree avalanches” have occurred.  As there is very little top soil on these mountains. the tree roots tend to be intertwined in a mass.  As the trees grow they become too heavy to be supported and tumble down into the water, and the whole cycle starts to repeat itself.  

Mist hanging low

It’s a great day for cruising

One of the many waterfalls in the area

Stage two of the trip was boarding the large comfortable bus for our trip over Wilmot Pass.  The 22km road is one of New Zealand's remotest roads.  The road was built in the 1960s to provide access for the heavy equipment needed to construct the power station.  Our driver John was very informative and also kept us entertained with his dry sense of humour.  

Our big blue bus

Stopping at the top of the pass for a photo stop we caught our first glimpse of Doubtful Sound – so named by Captain Cook in 1770 on his first circumnavigation of New Zealand.  He sailed past the entrance to Doubtful Sound as he was unsure if there would be sufficient wind to manoeuvre his vessel in the narrow reaches.  Joseph Banks and the others on board were desperate to make landfall and collect specimens, but were overruled by Captain Cook. 

Doubtful Sound from the top of Wilmot Pass

A pretty little black, white and yellow male tomtit was fluttering around the bus, and our driver remarked that the bird visits every day.  The male birds in particular are very inquisitive and this one obviously likes to keep an eye on all the visitors. 

Male tomtit came calling

Once over the pass we arrived at Deep Cove and  boarded the Patea Explorer for a three hour cruise of Doubtful Sound, which is the geographical heart of Fiordland – one of the world’s wettest regions.  Fiordland lies next to a dramatic fracture between two of the earth’s plates, the Pacific and the Indo-Australian plates, with the Alpine Fault marking the place where they meet, forming the Southern Alps.  In the Ice Age, glaciers ground their way down the valleys towards the sea, sculpting the landscape and deepening valleys.  All this slow activity formed the dramatic beauty of the area as it is today.

Guiding the boat

  .   Doubtful Sound

The large picture windows gave us glorious views, with several calls from the staff to look out for wildlife.  Everyone rushed to the side of the boat hoping to capture a photo of the porpoises, penguins, and even a low gliding albatross.  As we progressed towards the open sea, the boat ride became rather more vigorous as the open sea mixed withy the waters of the sounds.  There in front of us on a rocky island a group of New Zealand Fur Seals came into view.  These animals were once nearly hunted to extinction for their fur, but now a protected species, their numbers are starting to build up again. 

Fur seals lying on the rocks

Back on the bus once more it was time to travel down the 2km spiral tunnel hewn from solid granite into the bowels of the Manapouri Underground Power Station.  Our driver John then had to carefully manoeuvre the large coach doing a three point turn to make sure it was facing the right way for our return.  Whew – that was certainly a very clever bit of driving, and the whole bus load of passengers clapped at his achievement.

Driving down the spiral tunnel

Years ago the New Zealand Government of the day did a deal with the Comalco aluminium smelting  company for them to build a smelter at Bluff 191kms away in exchange for cheap power, and so the “Manapouri Power Station” was conceived.   Work began in 1963 and brought together drillers, tunnellers and engineers from 22 countries, with about 1800 men working on the project.  Water drawn from Lake Manapouri flows through the intake structure then down through vertical penstocks, with the force of the water powering the seven turbines.

.    Model of the Power station

From the viewing platform

It took eight years of drilling and blasting to build all the access and service tunnels, the underground machine hall and the 10km tailrace tunnel between the station and Deep Cove.  Conditions were harsh and dangerous and men worked long shifts underground.  They bored holes in the rock with massive pneumatic drills, then placed explosives in the holes in total darkness, as the lighting had to be switched off for safety, before retreating from the blasts.  Sixteen men died over the course of this building project.  Most of the workers were accommodated at Deep Cove aboard the liner Wanganella, which had been converted into a floating hostel, and after the long working days underground, the centre of the social life aboard was the bar.  According to legend, Christmas Day was a “free for all beer day”.   

Here we are, 2km underground

Back onboard the bus and we slowly climbed up the tunnel towards the top and into daylight again.

Through the gates and into light

Then it was time to re-board the Titiroa for our third cruise of the day, back across Lake Manapouri to return to Pearl Harbour, enjoying yet another cup of the free coffee provided for the passengers.  It had been a long day, and was quite an expensive trip, but worth every penny, considering we had three boat rides in top of the range craft, plus an excellent coach.  The trip was very professionally run, with friendly informative staff.  We all arrived back at camp a little weary, but so pleased we had finally done this particular trip – another one to mark off our “must see” list.