“Third time is a charm!”

Mike, our pilot, called and said everything looked good for the flight to Doubtful Sound. Finally! We met him at the Southern Lakes office in Te Anau, which is a not much more than a little shack overhanging the lake.

Our flight was awesome; Mike was very knowledgeable and easy to understand. We had two landings. The first was at Campbell’s Kingdom. It was right by Doubtful Sound, but couldn’t be seen from the sound at all. It was a dramatic entry between steep mountain walls and we landed in Shangri-La, it seemed. It contained a beautiful lake and waterfall, and could only be accessed by helicopter. Fred quickly took photos because it didn’t take long for the sandflies to descend upon us. The following landing was at Mount Kidd. The mount is 5500 feet and the dusting of snow a couple of nights ago, very apparent. The 360° views were amazing. The mosses and vegetation that thrive in that kind of environment reminded me of the kinds of things you see at tidepools. Both landings were very different from one another, which was great.

On the way back to Te Anau, we saw many trampers on the Kepler Trail. There were about a dozen on Mount Luxmore and most of them waved at us. There was already another helicopter on the small landing pad they have over the water and both Fred and I thought we’d have to wait to land. This was not the case. Mike said it is a tight fit, but they have two helicopters on this small pad all the time.

This was the priciest thing on our entire trip, but totally worth it!

It was now mid-morning and we began our journey to Curio Bay. Invercargill would be the first stop. It was Saturday and many of the shops were closed. Fred wanted to see the Worlds Fastest Indian located at E Hayes & Sons Hardware Store. The hardware store also housed other motorcycles and antique cars. I hovered at the ’57 T-bird.

We walked about 4 blocks to find the Seriously Good Chocolate store. I have to say, this store should be written about a bit more. It really was seriously good chocolate, and I preferred it to the chocolate from Patagonia.

Other than that, we found the town was a bit dull.

In hindsight, we should have fueled up at Invercargill. My sources said that fuel was available at Fortrose and at Tokanui. Fortrose was a lot smaller than I thought and we never saw a gas station. When we arrived at Tokanui, the station was right along the road and pulled up next to the pumps. They were closed! This was a Saturday afternoon and the station is only open on Saturdays from 9am to noon. They are closed all day on Sunday. We asked at the nearby café where we could purchase gas. The said 12km back in Fortrose. The pump is at the café there.

So we drove back and after a little searching, found the single gas pump Fortrose has, hidden behind some shrubbery at the café. We pulled up and the man said, “Cash only.” So be forewarned, anyone coming this way.

Back on the road, we followed the signs down the gravel road to Waipohatu Scenic Reserve. It is a 2-3 hour loop, or 45 minutes to a pair of waterfalls. The track ascended the hill and proceeded to get muddier and muddier. We found the spur track to the two waterfalls and they were wonderful. If we completed the loop, it would head up the trail further and then meet a gravel road back down to the carpark. I knew going down the muddy trail was an invitation to disaster, so we did the entire loop and it took us 2.5 hours total. Even though we took the less slippery route, our pants and shoes were trashed.

We found Curio Bay Accommodation without any trouble. There was a sign at the entrance to remove shoes before entering. I guess they’ve had guests like us before.

We relaxed a bit with a little wine and cheese and then headed the short distance down the road to find Yellow Eyed Penguins. There was a pair of them close to the barrier and it was easy to get pictures. The rain and wind were getting worse, so we didn’t stay as long as I would have liked to. We saw some campers walking down the road from the nearby campground and were so glad we had a cozy place to return to.

Later that night, as we were having dinner, we kept hearing a strange noise right outside our back door. I asked Dani, the owner, about the noise and she emailed me, “The little Blue Penguins are nesting under the deck at the Studios but they are hard to spot as they don’t have any white colour in them and they come in late when it’s dark and go back to the water before sunrise.”

The Adventure Continues>>>