New Zealand, Part 2

Hi again, it’s Kelly here from She Wears a Red Sox Cap. If you haven’t had a chance, check out Saturday’s post about Dunedin. After my three days in Dunedin, I started to feel a lot better and was ready to start exploring with two of my college friends. We started by taking a 4-hour bus ride from Dunedin to Te Anau. We stayed at a nice hostel there over night and then began our trip to Doubtful Sound. Doubtful Sound was named because James Cook (same Englishman who claimed the eastern side of Australia for the English and named it New South Wales) found it on one of his explorations and “doubted” he would be able to fit his vessel through the narrow opening to the sound. A trip to Doubtful Sound begins with a boat across Lake Manipauri.

As I mentioned in my last post, it was “summer” in New Zealand when I was there but I was wearing a fleece the whole time, and obviously “summer” had not reached the mountain tops…

After two boat trips, you have to take a bus ride over a mountain pass. On the bus we stopped at the Manapouri Power Station.

Manapouri power station is VERY cool because it takes advantage of the difference in height of the mountains between Lake Manapouri and Doubtful Sound, creating a dam. The water flows through penstocks into generators (shown in picture, I believe) which creates electricity for a LOT of New Zealand. Doutbful Sound itself is by far the most amazing thing I saw in New Zealand. It leads all the way out to the Tasman Sea. The water is a gorgeous shade of dark blue, the mountains glow with white snow…but it cannot be explained in words. See for yourself…

If you look closely, you can see the adorable fur seals that are fortunate enough to call this gorgeous place their home…

If those pictures do not convince you to sit on a plane for 15+ hours to get to New Zealand, I don’t know what will… I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about the South Island of New Zealand. This is only the very beginning of what beautiful sights can be seen in this country. I still have to go back for more… Thank you, Kelly, for sharing such amazing photos and writing about your time in New Zealand! You definitely have me convinced!