We stayed in a cottage in the small town of Manapouri, right on the edge of Lake Manapouri, the gateway to Doubtful Sound. After we arrived, Dave spent a couple hours doing a lovely painting of the lake.
It stayed clear into the evening, and we had a wonderful time watching the sun set over the lake.
You can hopefully see from the map below the challenge of getting to Doubtful Sound. Manapouri is on the right hand side of the map. From Manapouri, you take a one-hour boat ride across Lake Manapouri. At the west end of the lake there’s a gravel road, marked in red on the map, across Wilmot Pass (about 2,000 feet high) that drops down to Doubtful Sound. The road was built to bring equipment to the power station on the west end of the lake. The turbines and other equipment was brought by boat into Doubtful Sound and then trucked (very slowly) over the slippery, muddy pass. At the east end of Doubtful Sound we got on a boat which took us all the way out to the ocean, the Tasman Sea. We were on the boat about three hours, then took the bus back over the pass to have a tour of the power station and take the boat back across Lake Manapouri.
The boat ride across Lake Manipouri was beautiful because of the clear weather. The lake has quite a few islands in it, and the next few shots show the views from the boat as we crossed the lake.
In that previous photo, you can see Dave with our friend, Steve. Note how Dave is a bit hunched over. It was FREEZING on the outdoor deck of the boat. It was a cold day with a strong wind. Because I get motion sick, I always stay outside on boats. I had on four layers that day and was still chilly, but I was so absorbed in the views that it didn't matter.
The last photo on Lake Manipouri (below) shows the power station at the west end of the lake. In the background are the mountains we would cross in a bus to get to Doubtful Sound. You can see the clouds clustered to the west over Doubtful Sound. Our beautiful clear weather ended here, and the rest of the trip was in clouds. Those mountains in this photo are a rainforest, and we were really lucky on Doubtful Sound because it didn't rain. Doubtful Sound will be in the next post.
This power station is fascinating because it generates hydro power without a dam, probably New Zealand's greatest engineering feat. Holes were drilled through the rock down to the level of Doubtful Sound, which is about 800 feet below the level of the lake. The water flowing downhill to the sound turns 7 huge turbines. This hydro power station was built in the 1960s primarily to power the aluminum smelter near Invercargill, and 85% of its power goes there, providing lots of jobs for the south end of the South Island. There was a huge controversy when the power station was built because some water from nearby rivers has to be diverted into Lake Manapouri to keep the level of the lake high enough.
It stayed clear into the evening, and we had a wonderful time watching the sun set over the lake.
You can hopefully see from the map below the challenge of getting to Doubtful Sound. Manapouri is on the right hand side of the map. From Manapouri, you take a one-hour boat ride across Lake Manapouri. At the west end of the lake there’s a gravel road, marked in red on the map, across Wilmot Pass (about 2,000 feet high) that drops down to Doubtful Sound. The road was built to bring equipment to the power station on the west end of the lake. The turbines and other equipment was brought by boat into Doubtful Sound and then trucked (very slowly) over the slippery, muddy pass. At the east end of Doubtful Sound we got on a boat which took us all the way out to the ocean, the Tasman Sea. We were on the boat about three hours, then took the bus back over the pass to have a tour of the power station and take the boat back across Lake Manapouri.
The boat ride across Lake Manipouri was beautiful because of the clear weather. The lake has quite a few islands in it, and the next few shots show the views from the boat as we crossed the lake.
In that previous photo, you can see Dave with our friend, Steve. Note how Dave is a bit hunched over. It was FREEZING on the outdoor deck of the boat. It was a cold day with a strong wind. Because I get motion sick, I always stay outside on boats. I had on four layers that day and was still chilly, but I was so absorbed in the views that it didn't matter.
The last photo on Lake Manipouri (below) shows the power station at the west end of the lake. In the background are the mountains we would cross in a bus to get to Doubtful Sound. You can see the clouds clustered to the west over Doubtful Sound. Our beautiful clear weather ended here, and the rest of the trip was in clouds. Those mountains in this photo are a rainforest, and we were really lucky on Doubtful Sound because it didn't rain. Doubtful Sound will be in the next post.
This power station is fascinating because it generates hydro power without a dam, probably New Zealand's greatest engineering feat. Holes were drilled through the rock down to the level of Doubtful Sound, which is about 800 feet below the level of the lake. The water flowing downhill to the sound turns 7 huge turbines. This hydro power station was built in the 1960s primarily to power the aluminum smelter near Invercargill, and 85% of its power goes there, providing lots of jobs for the south end of the South Island. There was a huge controversy when the power station was built because some water from nearby rivers has to be diverted into Lake Manapouri to keep the level of the lake high enough.
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