Did hit the foyer, where you get a quick 25MB free of internet, which my antiviral update used up in a flash, so just went ahead and bought a chunk of megabytes so I could just get on with it!!

Up reasonably early for Doubtful Sound, a cosy 8.30am pick up for what several locals had assured me was the better of the two trips. It is certainly a long day!! Got bussed to Manapuori where we have a about an hour long cruise across Lake Wakatipu, to the Manapouri Power Station. Yes I know it sounds bizarre, but there is a reason, I'll tell you later!

At this point, I have to introduce you all to the New Zealand, South Island, West Coast sandfly, quite possibly the most pernicious wee beastie in existence. Now, I had come across this insect on arriving on the south island, many were the warning signs and cans of insect repellent, but thus far, not really a problem for me. Unfortunately, Manapuori Power Station Visitor Centre is sandfly central, and they were fatally attracted to me (I say fatally, I wish it was so, but I don't think I managed to kill any of them, just spent lots of time waving my hands around and getting covered in them.) Lots of people offered me insect repellent, but I had actually been good and doused myself that morning and I don't think it was particularly working on anybody anyway. These guys are nasty, you can see them, unlike mossies, so you can't help but try & swat them and you can feel them bite (and it does hurt!) and then they leave you feeling all itchy for hours afterwards, convinced they are still all in your hair or crawling under your clothes. As we had about a 15 min wait for our bus, it was sufficient time to become more than overly acquainted with them, to the point it was an absolute relief to get on the bus.

The bus takes on a road that is a little bit weird. The road only goes between Manapouri Power Station and Deep Cove harbour in Doubtful Sound; there are no side roads or exits. So, the only way to get to Doubtful Sound is by boat along the coast or across Lake Wakatipu and up this road, which was specially built to get the heavy machinery and equipment in to build and operate the Power Station.

The cruise across the lake and the drive over the mountains to Doubtful Sound is nice, though it was fairly overcast and not the best day for visibility, though apparently this is okay, because it's still great views and if it's raining, you get more waterfalls. I think I would have preferred a clearer day though it was still nice enough weather in the morning, so we did get some great views as we drove over the mountains from the lake to the sound.

Now, those of you who have been paying attention, will realise that I am in Fiordland, but am visiting a Sound, which is technically incorrect (for those of you who can remember back to your geography lessons and the bits on glaciation and geology). A Sound, technically, is a valley carved by a river and flooded by the sea. A Fiord is a valley carved by a glacier and flooded by the sea. Doubtful Sound is technically a fiord, but as it was named by English explorers back in the 1800's, who had never heard the world fiord, let alone paid attention in their geography lessons, thought it was just a regular valley, so called it a Sound.

Either way, it was pretty spectacular and as promised we saw dolphins, fur seals and waterfalls, although for most of the cruise along the Sound, it was raining and very misty, so the views were somewhat obscured. Also, although we are right at the very end of the season - this trip finishes at the end of April - there were 2 tour groups on our catamaran, so it was pretty crowded and every time there was something to see or photograph, it was quite difficult to get a decent spot to get a picture.

On the way back we visited the Manapuori Power Station, which is underground. The power station was built to generate hydroelectricity for an aluminium smelter down in Bluff on the south coast. It utilises the height drop between lake Wakatipu and Doubtful Sound to generate pretty much enough electricity to power most of New Zealand, but powers the aluminium smelter instead, which I guess is a sight more profitable! You access the power station via an underground tunnel, which runs in a spiral down to the generator rooms - and is the only right hand drive road in NZ, purely because the tunnel was built in the 60's and so is not a nice smooth finished surface, but a very rough obviously hand and machine blasted space. Therefore, to preserve the sides and wing mirrors of the traffic, they drive on the right hand side, so they can get as close to the edge of the tunnel as possible with the best visibility. You don't actually see very much to be honest, but the history of the power station and the road is interesting.

Coming back along the lake, the rain had completely closed in, so didn't see much and was back to Te Anau after dark. Dried off for a bit and then went into town in search of some food and ended up in a pizza joint, well there were a bunch of locals eating there, so I figured it was probably pretty good. Actually it was pretty good, so that was nice. Back to the hotel for an early night, as trip to Milford Sound tomorrow and pick up is at 7.30am, which I'm hoping is going to be my very last stupid o'clock start on this trip!!!