Last December (yes I'm that far behind again), I travelled to the South Island to do a bit of a road trip. I did another car relocation deal, this time from Queenstown to Auckland, and stopped off at a few places on my way back up. I flew down to Queenstown on the first flight of the morning, and arrived at around 9am. The weather was glorious so I decided to take a drive around and take few photos of Lake Wakatipu.
After familiarising myself with the town and the edges of the lake, I found my hotel, dropped off my bag and went to explore a bit further afield. I found a nice little walk a short drive to the north of Queenstown. The walk started off near the water, passed a few little bays and then climbed up into the hills. It was quite a warm day so I dipped my toes in the lake, but it was definitely far too cold for a swim!
After my walk, I drove back into town and picked up some supplies ready for my trip to the Doubtful Sound the next day. I had an early start so wanted to be fully prepared and rested for my 5am drive. The boat left from a small village south of Queenstown called Manapouri, with the drive taking a couple of hours. The drive itself was quite pleasant, lots of farmland and unspoilt scenery, and the sunrise was amazing.
I arrived at the dock at about 7am and waited for the the cafe to open for my morning hot chocolate. It was a little cloudy, and freezing cold, but I had a feeling that it would brighten up a bit later in the day.
To reach Doubtful Sound, we first had to take a boat across Lake Manapouri. By the time the boat left (around 8am), the sun had broken through the cloud and it looked like it was going to be a nice day. The boat ride took around 45 minutes, and I sat outside in the sun to take pictures. Again, the scenery was fantastic, and although Lake Manapouri was not billed as the main attraction, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Just as the boat was pulling in to the wharf next to the visitor centre at the end of Lake Manapouri, we heard a helicopter coming from behind the trees. When it suddenly appeared, we could see something dangling from the winch line, and as it got closer we could make out several deer carcasses. Apparently they hunt the deer to regulate the population and then send the meat to be sold on the mainland. The only way for them to get the deer out of the thick bush is by helicopter, and then it's transported by boat to Manapouri wharf. It was a bit of a surprise to see, but quite cool at the same time.
After a short briefing at the visitor centre, we were loaded on to a bus that would take us up and over the hill to Doubtful Sound at the other side. The road was extremely bumpy (no tarmac) and windy, but the scenery was lovely. The highlight of the bus journey was at the top of the hill where we looked down on to Wilmot Pass. As you can see from the pictures, the view was phenomenal, and well worth a quick pit stop for photos.
Next stop - Doubtful Sound itself!
