South Island day 12: Manapouri, Doubtful Sound

Today dawned cloudy again, but we didn’t really get to see this until we were on the road, heading for Lake Manapouri on a day trip to Doubtful Sound. We had 7 changes of transport through the day, which was good for ticking the boxes for Raewyn to ‘keep moving around and don’t sit for long periods’.

Despite the low cloud at Manapouri, Doubtful Sound itself had fantastic weather. The wind was actually behind us as we cruised out of the Sound, and we were able to get some very cool photos. We saw a number of NZ fur seals on some large rocks at the entrance to the Sound, which was the only place we were really affected by the swell. It was incredible to think how deep the water below us was – and we certainly felt dwarfed by the landscape and awed by its remoteness.

On the way back we visited the Manapouri power station, which was really interesting.

The highlight of the day was probably the weather – last time I was here (which was on a family holiday when I was a teenager) it was pretty grey and rainy with low cloud.

Here are a selection of photos from the day:


Lake Manapouri


Doubtful Sound










NZ fur seals






View from Wilmot Pass




Manapouri power station tunnel