Things to do in Doubtful Sound

Doubtful Sound / Patea is roughly three times longer and ten times larger by volume than Milford, and no road reaches it. Getting there is the trip: a boat crosses Lake Manapouri (about an hour), then a bus climbs Wilmot Pass (around 45 minutes) to the wharf. Budget the whole day from Queenstown, not a half-day add-on — door to door it runs 12 to 13 hours, since Manapouri itself is 190 km away.

Cruises, day and overnight, cut engines mid-fiord for the so-called Sound of Silence, and pods of bottlenose dolphins and New Zealand fur seals turn up regularly near the entrance. The underground West Arm power station, built into the mountain in the 1960s, sits on the same access road.

Overnight berths run from around NZD 350 upward per person; day cruises from Manapouri are cheaper but still a full day out.