If we thought that we'd got lucky with the weather in Fox, we certainly carried that luck into Fiordland. We had two days of glorious weather in the stunning Doubtful Sound.
Hannah much appreciated her first camping experience to be in the dry.
On the first afternoon, we had a bit of a tailwind (which is never a bad thing). And on the second morning there wasn't a breath of air, and the surface of the fiord was like a mirror.
Oh and DOLPHINS! They are quite large when they swim straight towards you and pass 2 feet under your kayak! No photos I'm afraid, as it all happened rather fast, but we do have some excellent cinematography of the moment when the dolphins weren't there.
The guide, Keith, was extremely laid back, occasionally kayaking out of sight! Fortunately there were no emergencies, so that was ok. It did make for a very tranquil trip, as often there were only 4 other kayaks in sight, and these were 100s of metres away, exploring their bit of the fiord.
A bit of a coincidence, but of the 6 others on the trip, 2 worked in the energy industry (in Germany), so we had some detailed discussions on power generation while the stunning scenery passed us by.
On the subject of power generation, the 700MW Manapouri hydro station dumps into the sound, and it was noticeable when you had to paddle against the exhaust flow - even 100s of metres from the exhaust canal. If it weren't for the aluminium smelter in Southland, the station would essentially power the whole South Island.
Keith explained all about why the sound was so dark, and not at all green and milky. It is because they extract all of the light from the water in order to generate the electricity....
Damn, we're working in the wrong bit of the power industry....
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, the reason the sound's so dark (I think), despite the presumably high inputs of sediment-laden glacial water, is that the glacial water being very cold and having all that sediment is very dense. Denser than saltwater, in fact, so it just sinks straight to the bottom of the fjord where you can't see it, with the less dense saltwater on top.
Sounds convincing, except saltwater is more dense than freshwater (which is why you float very easily in the salty dead sea. In fact the surface water of the sound is almost fresh. I tasted it, there is just a hint of salt, and after heavy rain, it is perfectly drinkable, as long as you don't mind the essence of diesel from the pleasure cruisers.
DeleteYes, I know saltwater is dense, but you underestimate the density of the dirt side (OK, that's a tenuous reference. I was struggling there). What I think you normally find in fjords is a surface layer of "normal" freshwater, with seawater at mid-depths and then a bottom layer of very cold, very turbid water.
DeleteSounds doubtful! (Oh I just can't get over that one...)
ReplyDeleteOr maybe, to continue the astronomical theme, NZ is secretly, of course, experimenting with dark energy as an energy storage medium: so, just like with the "real" thing, the reason you can't see it is there's so much there!
I think Robbie may be back next week so we can take up the interstellar dust optics question with him then...