Doubtful Sound

One of the bigger adventures on our New Zealand itinerary was an overnight kayaking trip in Doubtful Sound, which is part of Fiordland National Park in the southwestern corner of the South Island (see previous post on the Milford Sound trip for a map). Doubtful Sound is more difficult to get to; it took two bus rides, one boat trip and over two hours to get there, which meant it was less crowded and touristy than Milford Sound (and Milford Sound wasn’t even all that crowded or touristy). But the reward was worth it – the raw beauty of wilderness barely touched since it was seen by the first European explorers.

Within two minutes of getting off the bus that brought us there, however, we quickly learned the second major reason why Doubtful Sound is less crowded: sandflies. And not just your ordinary run-of-the-mill sandflies – these were highly militant, bloodthirsty savages bent on the eradication of the human race, one (extremely) itchy bite at the time. In fact, the first European explorers of Doubtful Sound in 1793 complained about the sandflies, a complaint echoed by all who came after them; a particularly bitter (or bitten) Englishman in the 1800s wondered why it wasn’t called “Sandfly Sound” or certain parts of it “Venom Point” or “Merciless Reach”. And as one of the kayaking guides theorized, the Maori probably never permanently settled in the Fiordland because of the cold winters and the sandflies. I find the latter much more plausible than the former.

But I digress – back to our kayaking trip. On our first day, we made one attempt to get out on the water, but had to return to shore after 45 minutes due to rough conditions (or as our guide said, “The water’s a little exciting today, isn’t it?”). Instead, our guide took us on two walks around the area. The highlight of the first walk was seal-spotting; we had seen one earlier that morning, sunning himself on the beach less than two metres away from our kayaks as we got them ready, and we saw another on our first walk. Two things about seals that I’ve learned on this trip: (1) Seals are not afraid of humans. None of the seals we encountered on our kayaking trips tried to get away from us or exhibited any defensive behavior. As one guide remarked, that was probably what made seal-hunting so easy back in the day and nearly drove them to extinction. (2) Seals are natural performers. The seals that we saw seemed to have a natural affinity for the camera, and would pose, preen, strut, and generally showboat for us whenever someone whipped a camera out. In retrospect, I’m mildly surprised none of them pulled out a ball or hoop from behind a rock to start a routine.

On our second walk, we visited Helena Falls, a pretty spectacular waterfall in Doubtful Sound. It was an easy 30 minute walk to get to the Falls, and getting from the trail to the base of the Falls took another 15 minutes of climbing and scrambling over water- and moss-slicked boulders and rocks. But once we were there, soaked by the spray of the cascading water, yelling to be heard above the deep roar, and perched on a rock, time seemed irrelevant. The visceral thrill of observing nature’s power and beauty that close, and the sheer sense of awe evoked by seeing a torrent of water leap from 200 metres right above you and come crashing down around you, seemed to freeze those moments in time and in our memory.

(Special mention goes to our Vibram FiveFingers – yes, those weird toe-shoes. They were great for gripping the wet rocks and did a good job while we were walking on the trails too!)

Eventually, we left Helena Falls and returned to our kayaks on the beach. By this time there wasn’t much chance of us paddling to our campsite, so we spent the night at a hostel in Doubtful Sound instead – a complimentary upgrade from a sleeping bag in a tent!

When we woke up the next day, the weather could not have been better. The water in the Sound was calm and still, without any breeze to ruffle its surface. The Sun shone brightly, yet the temperature was cool. We quickly packed up our rooms, readied our kayaks, and were out on the water shortly after 8 a.m. This began an amazing afternoon of kayaking around Doubtful Sound, exploring up close the coves, beaches, flora and fauna that the Sound had to offer. The whole day, the weather seemed intent on atoning for its roughness the day before – the water remained calm, the wind never got stronger than a gentle breeze, the Sun and the clouds provided warmth without being oppressive. I captured the shot below just after we came around a corner into a new bay - those clouds couldn't have been more than 100 feet off the water.

We finally left Doubtful Sound that evening tired but happy. We had witnessed first-hand the power and beauty of nature and enjoyed some quality kayaking. We left with lots of breathtaking photos and great memories. The only things I wish we’d left behind were the sandfly bites – 60+ of those souvenirs were much more than I ever wanted!