New Zealand fjords are undoubtedly the most visited tourist attraction in the country. Fjords in the southern New Zealand area can be visited as a day trip from Queenstown. Te Anau is a small town which is situated closer to the fjord-land National park and it is situated by around 2 hours drive from Queenstown. Initially I wanted to visit Milford sound because it is the most popular tourist attraction in New Zealand and it is cheaper to visit Milford sound compared to Doubtful sound. I booked my Milford sound day tour from Queenstown and the total cost of the tour was NZD 145. I booked my tour from the website https://www.intercity.co.nz/. Intercity is a very reliable site if you want to book day tours or buses from different areas of New Zealand. I visited New Zealand during the month of September and it was a shoulder season. You could still see snow-clad mountains around the lake and the weather was pretty cold at Queenstown during that time. I would recommend to visit New Zealand during this time because you can easily escape from summer crowds during this time of the year. The weather was really bad during my trip to Queenstown. First day at Queenstown was probably my worst weather experience in New Zealand. I reached Queenstown from Dunedin at around 9 pm. It was raining heavily at that time and the temperature was freezing cold. My Milford sound day tour was scheduled the very next day. Our hostel information desk informed me about the cancellation of all Milford sound trip because of road blocks caused by heavy snowfall. I received the same information form the travel agent intercity.co.nz regarding the cancellation of trips. There was high probability of trips being cancelled for next 2-3 days.
I decided to book for Doubtful sound because I definitely wanted to visit a fjord during my trip to New Zealand. There was complete uncertainty about the weather and I had only 3 days at Queenstown. I booked my Doubtful sound tour on the 2nd day because all the tickets were sold out for the next day. There is only one tour operator which provides day tour to Doubtful sound from Queenstown. I booked my tour from https://www.realjourneys.co.nz. The cost of the tour was NZD 265. Doubtful sound tour is more expensive compared to Milford sound because it is not possible to drive to Doubtful sound. Milford sound is easily accessible from Queenstown. The trip to Doubtful sound involves a bus ride to Manapouri followed by a boat cruise along lake Manapouri to Wilmot pass road. The final leg involves a bus ride along Wilmot pass road. Doubtful sound cruise lasts for 3 hours. The return journey from the fjord involves the same route. So definitely it was a long day tour from Queenstown and the trip didn’t include lunch.
Our tour started early morning at 6 am and it was supposed to be a 13 hours long day tour. Real Journey provided us with special tour buses having glass roof. Fortunately, the weather was excellent on that day. We started travelling along lake Wakatipu and finally reached Manapouri after 2 hours ride. The view was excellent from the bus but most of the passengers were completing their sleep during the bus ride. Our bus ride stopped at a small pier at Manapouri. Travelers from Te Anau, Queenstown and Manapouri were assembled together at the pier. We had to show our tickets at the counter and we were assigned our boats. After a brief 30 minutes wait we started our boat cruise along the lake Manapouri.
Lake Manapouri is the second deepest lake in New Zealand after lake Wakatipu. It is situated inside Fjord-land National park. The lake also contains number of islands. The lake has four arms, North, South, West, Hope arm. After 30 minutes into the ride we crossed Pomona island which is the biggest island located inside the lake. The beauty of the lake was increased by the snow clad mountain range around the lake. If you visit the place during summer month don’t expect to see any snow around the mountain. The boat was very advanced and it had an amazing viewing deck on the top. Most of the people preferred to immediately move to the upper deck for taking photographs. The boat was moving at a reasonable speed and it was not too windy. The top deck was an excellent place for socializing and I had some nice conversation with other fellow passengers. Eventually we entered the west arm of the lake which is a narrow section of the lake. The section felt like as if we were cruising through a fjord. The mountain range was tall and the top of the mountain was completely covered with snow. The boat trip ended at Manapouri Hydro Power plant station.
The trip to Doubtful sound was not yet over. We had to take another short bus ride to Doubtful sound. The bus ride was along Wilmot Pass which connects Doubtful sound with lake Manapouri. The pass consists of a gravel road and it takes about 30 minutes to reach Doubtful sound from lake Manapouri. The road is the only road on the New Zealand mainland which is completely disconnected from other road network. We could see several waterfalls along the way during our trip. We saw the first glimpse of Doubtful sound from Wilmot Pass lookout point. The bus stopped for 10 minutes here and I took some beautiful pictures of the fjord. The road was downhill from the lookout point and we finally reached Doubtful sound at Deep cove.
Doubtful sound is the second most famous tourist destination in New Zealand after Milford Sound. It is the second longest fjord in this region and it is 3 times bigger longer compared to Milford sound. The fjord has several openings to Tasman sea. Doubtful sound is much more widespread compared to Milford sound. The cliffs near the fjords are not that tall or near vertical compared to Milford sound. The fjord has a U-shaped profile. The area receives very high rainfall throughout the year and the weather remains foggy for most parts of the year. The area near the fjord consists of dense rain forest.
During the day only one cruise is permitted inside Doubtful sound so you will not hear sounds of other boats cruising along the fjord. Milford sound is usually very crowded with boats running all over the fjord. The cruise boat was big and very spacious. The view of the fjord from the viewing platform was insane. I saw number of dome shaped islands around the fjord. It became gradually windier when we reached close to Tasman sea. I would strongly recommend to bring windproof jacket during your trip to the fjord. Our guide told us we were very fortunate that there was no rain at all during our trip. Doubtful sound receives rain 90% of the time. The view of Secretary island from Grono bay was insanely beautiful. We noticed some tree avalanches during our trip inside the fjord. Surrounding areas of the fjord consists of many small waterfalls. These waterfalls are more prominent during the summer season. Towards the final part of the cruise we stopped at Lady Alice falls which is one of the biggest waterfalls in the region. The fjord has a sound of its own. Our captain shutdown the engine for 10 minutes in order to experience the sound of nature. We maintained pin drop silence at the upper deck and enjoyed the beautiful sound of the nature. Thanks to the restriction of only one boat cruise per day there was hardly any other motor sound around the region. We returned back to the pier at around 2.30 pm. There was snacks available inside the cruise. We started our return journey immediately from the pier and we reached Queenstown at around 6.30 pm. I took a long nap during the return bus journey from Manapouri to Queenstown. The weather was excellent during our return boat trip along the lake Manapouri. The deck was very spacious for all the people on board.
I have traveled extensively in different countries and this was by far the most expensive day tour for me. The trip to Doubtful sound was completely worth it. This was a trip of lifetime and you will not forget it in your entire life. I never visited Milford sound so I can’t compare it with Doubtful sound but I read a lot of articles which compares Milford sound with Doubtful sound and clearly every time the winner is Doubtful sound. I will strongly recommend to visit both Milford sound and Doubtful sound during your trip to New Zealand. If you have only one day to visit a fjord I will strongly recommend to visit Doubtful sound.
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