Kayaking on Doubtful Sound

Our kayaking trip started at 7:30am with a 30km boat ride across Lake Manapouri. After a quick stop to get all our equipment on we boarded a bus over Wilmot Pass which was covered in mist! It rains a lot here, they get about 7m of rain a year and today was no different.

We got into our kayaks at Deep Cove and headed on into quite rough water. There were 9 people in our group plus a guide and we were all in double kayaks. The wind was really howling through the fiord and it was very hard work paddling. We all made it round the first point but the second point was a real challenge, our guide had his first capsize when one of the kayaks got caught out by the wind. Luckily it wasn't us! They decided to get us all back on the boat and head to calmer waters at Hall Arm. The boat was pretty bumpy and I couldn't face an early lunch before we headed out again. Back in the kayaks on calmer water we all relaxed and really enjoyed the surroundings.

It was such an incredible environment, you could imagine that had we been there 1000 years ago it would have looked pretty much the same. The steep sided mountains plunge straight down into the water and in places in fiords are over 400m deep. Trees cling to the rock face, relying on the moss that grows there for water and nutrients. Apart from the sound of waterfalls dropping down the cliffs and into the water there was hardly a sound. It's hard to imagine that places like this really exist.