Just a three hour plane trip from Australia’s eastern seaboard to New Zealand’s South Island – and you’ll be transported to the second largest fiord, Pātea Doubtful Sound in Fiordland National Park with RealNZ!
From flowing waterfalls to peaceful lakes, Doubtful Sound promises the experience of a lifetime, including impressive accommodation with a view!
Each season brings a different experience. Clear skies and reflective water mesmerise all who visit, while grey skies and low-hanging clouds equally add a special mood to the fiord, creating mysterious layers among sprawling forests, peaks, and inlets.
The fiord is a habitat for many New Zealand taonga (treasured) species which makes it one of the best places to spot native New Zealand animals in the wild. With a resident pod of bottlenose dolphins, NZ fur seals lounging on the rocks, and Fiordland crested penguins swimming around!
A trip to Doubtful Sound is an adventure – starting with a scenic cruise across Lake Manapouri and an even more spectacular coach ride over Wilmot Pass to get there! It’s this real adventure that makes the fiord even more special in its seclusion.
When you arrive, you can explore the fiord on a Wilderness Day Cruise, or spend the night aboard a specially designed overnight vessel and wake up to peace in nature, with coach transfers to the start of your adventure in Lake Manapouri available.
RealNZ are not just a tourism operator – they’re doing incredible work in conservation through many initiatives.
Their mission is to help the world fall in love with conservation, by showcasing incredible places worth taking care of, and encouraging guests to give back to the places they visit. And one-way visitors can do that is by trying a delicious drop that gives back to conservation projects while they’re at it!
Enjoying a ‘Putangi’ wine in Doubtful Sound will send donations directly to monitoring traplines on Bauza Island. This habitat is particularly important for conservation because of its proximity to the mainland and Secretary Island. It’s the perfect stepping stone for pests to reach vulnerable species living on Secretary Island. By monitoring the trap lines around Bauza Island, Secretary Island can be maintained as a refuge for invertebrates and native tree species. This initiative has even been endorsed and supported by the Department of Conservation and works cohesively with other trapping efforts in the region!
In 2022, Realnz introduced a conservation wine to its Fiordland wine list, Wet Jacket’s ‘Putangi’ Pinot Noir. For every bottle of Putangi sold, $10 goes towards a conservation project, in either Pātea Doubtful Sound, Piopiotahi Milford Sound or at Walter Peak.
FOR MORE INFO:
RealNZ
@real.newzealand
realnz.com
