Drenched in Doubtful Sound

Speaking of beds around the world, I've neglected to post updates on this year's many adventures. According to the inimitable Great Circle Mapper, I've racked up 76,414 air miles so far in 2009, which is pretty good for an amateur eco-villain.




A highlight of this year's trip to New Zealand was a kayaking expedition on Doubtful Sound (in Fiordland). We took a bus to Manapouri, connecting to a boat across Lake Manapouri, where a gravel road climbs a 2100' mountain pass before dropping to sea level at Deep Cove. Fiordland can be pretty soggy, and our trip was no exception. We awoke in Te Anau to a torrential downpour. 150mm of rain (about 6 inches) was forecast before 2:00pm, with additional storms to follow. This is roughly the same amount of rain which San Francisco saw during all of November, December, and January combined.

We loaded the boats and pushed off with our guide, Ben, who warned us that the campsite might be unreachable. Within minutes, a squall moved up the fiord and made it impossible to see more than a few meters ahead, so we rafted together and waited it out. Luckily, the storm weakened by early afternoon and we had a few hours to enjoy the scenery, which included a swimming penguin and hundreds of towering waterfalls.


The weather was considerably finer for our backpacking trip across the Routeburn Track, a well-trodden Great Walk with gorgeous alpine scenery. Though the Milford Track is a bit more popular, the Routeburn features more panoramic vistas, including a view of Martins Bay from the summit of Conical Hill.