It was raining when we were picked up at 6:00 am for our three day sea kayaking/camping trip in Doubtful Sound. We had a short drive to Lake Manapouri where we loaded all the gear into a boat for a ride across the lake to West Arm. We had great views of thick fog as we crossed the lake (ah, the ever elusive NZ sun). We arrived at a visitor's center and did a quick change into polypro, wet suits, fleece, and water jackets before loading up a van for the drive to Deep Cove. On the drive we learned the backstory behind the Manapouri power station involving secret deals with Australia and a strong grass roots movement to minimize the impact of the station, which was all pretty interesting. One hundred percent of the south island's power is hydroelectric, while I think 75% of the north island is hydroelectric (NZ is proud to be nuclear free).

We snapped this picture from Deep Cove where we unloaded, sorted, packed our kayaks, and launched around 10:30. Getting to Doubtful Sound is involved, but well worth it as it has a fraction of the visitors of Milford Sound.