Kayaking Doubtful Sound

Last week I went on an overnight guided kayaking adventure in Doubtful Sound. That was the first time I ever went kayaking, and it was pretty awesome. It was very wet and cold at times, but overall a really good trip. The highlights were: drinking from a waterfall, seeing the rare crested penguin, and changing into warm, dry clothes at the campsite! We had a really good, fun group of 10 who went on the trip--two were from Australia, four from the UK, and one from Germany. Ron and Nick, both Kiwis, were our guides. Ron was the older, more experienced guide, who came along on the trip to supervise and evaluate Nick, who is a young, new guide who just went through training. We were all in 2-person kayaks, so I paddled with Nick the first day, and with Ron the second day. I was lucky to be able to paddle with the guides because I felt safer and I didn't have to paddle as hard. :)

The trip started off with a boat ride across Lake Manapouri. Of all the lakes in New Zealand, I think Lake Manapouri is the most beautiful. Lake Manapouri became famous in New Zealand as a result of the "Save Manapouri" campaign, a successful grassroots campaign in the 1960s and 1970s to prevent raising the lake by 30 meters for hydroelectric power. Campaigners collected hundreds of thousands of signatures from New Zealand resident to "save Manapouri." The raising of the lake became a hot campaign issue nationwide in the 1970s. Apparently, the Labour party's position on this issue alone resulted in it taking power in the 1970s, because its leaders promised not to raise the lake levels. Anyhow, here are some pictures from the boat ride across Lake Manapouri, which was very scenic, as you can see.







After we got off the boat, we packed up the van with all our stuff and drove to the launch point for our kayaking adventure. It took a while putting on all the gear (thermal shirt, wetsuit, fleece, waterproof jacket, vest, skirt, wetsuit booties, hat). I tried not to drink too much water on the trip so I wouldn't have to use the bathroom, for 2 reasons: 1) takes too long to take off and put on all that gear, and who wants to keep taking off and putting on a really wet, sticky wetsuit, and 2) no bathroom facilities (just the woods) in Doubtful Sound. The first day kayaking was calm and peaceful. It was a bit cloudy, but not rainy. We were the only kayakers in sight, in this remote body of water surrounded by grand, dramatic mountains. There aren't many tour boats that go out to Doubtful Sound, so it was very serene on the water. We saw a couple of crested penguins that poked their heads out of the water to say hello. But they disappeared just as quickly, meaning we couldn't snap any pictures. There are some dolphins that supposedly hang out in the area, but we didn't see any. We paddled about 16 kilometers the first day. Here are some pictures from the first day. The first picture is of me, taken by my paddling partner and guide, Nick. The second picture is of Nick (looks like he's trying to move out of the picture). And the third picture is of Annabelle, from Australia, who was also on the trip with her husband James, and they were both super cool.











When we arrived at the campsite, we were greeted by a swarm of sandflies that love to suck the blood out of you! I'm still itching from those bites! But anyhow, there was a nice fly-proof shelter set up at the campsite, where we cooked our food and just chilled. Ron, the older guide, entertained us with his jokes an stories and educated us with his extensive knowledge of the region. After dinner, because there was no sink at the campsite, we washed our dishes in the freezing cold river. When it got dark, I turned on my headlamp to walk to my tent, and the light attracted all these sandflies that decided to have a party around my forehead. It started raining very heavily in the middle of the night, and the thunder was like I've never heard before. It echoed through the valleys and had a very strong, deep, clear sound. It was actually very soothing. I can't describe it well, but it was the coolest thunder I've ever heard.

The second day it was raining pretty hard. In the morning we put on all our wet gear and started paddling again. The cool thing about the rain was that there were so many more waterfalls cascading down the mountains, compared to the day before. I was paddling with Ron the second day, and he maneuvered our kayak to a waterfall, where I filled my water bottle and drank from the waterfall! The second day the waters were very turbulent, so we had to paddle pretty hard to get through the rough spots. But thank goodness Ron was paddling with me cuz otherwise I probably would've been paddling in place all afternoon. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any pictures the second day cuz it was raining too hard and I didn't have a waterproof camera. Towards the end of our kayaking on the second day, the wind was so strong and the water was so turbulent that we joined 2 kayaks together, and held up a sail so that we just rode along with the wind for a few kilometers and didn't have to paddle. I didn't even know you could do that, but it was a pretty cool technique. It was nice not to have to paddle while sailing, but my right hand froze from the cold water splashing over that hand while I held on to the other kayak. By the end of the second day, I was relieved to get back onto land, into warm, dry clothes, and into the warm, dry van back to Lake Manapouri. Although the trip had many highlights, there were also some challenges. But if there's anywhere in the world I was going to be cold and wet and devoured by sanflies, Doubtful Sound was a really nice place to do it!

The evening I came back from Doubtful Sound I stayed at a hostel that had a lodge-type feel, located up on a hill with a view of Lake Manapouri. I woke up the next morning to find this nice rainbow right outside the kitchen window.