This one is totally different, not so crowed like Milford. In peak season, over 4000 people go to Milford every day. And in addition you see and hear many helicopters and airplanes there. The helis are doing scenic flights or are transporting goods to the nearby huts.
Doubtfull Sound is also 10 times bigger, so the impression is quite different. Here you see the start at deep cove.
A view back to deep cove.
And here is the end of the sound. If you continue straight on.... and have a ship which could resist heavy weather you will reach Tasmania, which is south of Australia.
At these rocks I saw a seal colony.
During the trip I saw some valleys like this one. These valleys are totally isolated, you will find here unique species. My guide in Milford told me, in one valley they found a spider which is 3 times larger than the average NZ spider. And they even found some birds there which they though has been extinct and some new lizard species.
The nicest thing at this tour was a stop at a side arm of the sound. The captain stopped the engine and asked us to be silent too. It was really impressive to hear only the silent nature sounds, some waterfall in the background and lots of birds singing.
At my way back I visited the biggest hydroelectric power plant, here you can see the exit, where the water from the above lake exits.
And here the turbine hall:
The next day, monday 14.4. I relaxed, did a nice and sunny walk along the lake, saw a film about the fjordland and drove back to Queenstown.
I wanted to do another hiking track in Fjordland, but this was impossible because the return transport through a river was not possible due to the low water. Very very unusual here as there are areas with over 15m rain per year.
Diving was also not possible because end of season... I think I have to come back some day ;-)
