Fiordland to Westport

Sunday 24/04/2011 – Friday 29/04/2011

Our week in Milford was broken up by a trip into Te Anau. After our arrival in the dark we woke up to find ourselves in a basin surrounded by huge peaks. Milford Sound is quite different to the other Sounds we have visited with its mountains that rear up straight out of the sea and keep going up 1000 to 3000 metres.

In the basin we have in front of us Barren Peak at 1560m with another peak behind it rising to 1930m, to our right is Sheerdown Peak at 1877m, behind us is the Devils Armchair and Mt Phillips at 1626 and 1445

and out to left a little further away is the most photographed peak of them all – Mitre Peak.
This is the one the tourists all get to see (and there are a LOT of tourists), while it is not the highest peak around (1682m) I believe it is one of the worlds highest peaks to rise out of the ocean and it makes a pretty spectacular picture. From our deck we can also see across to Mt Pembroke and the glacier on its slopes. The highest around the area is Mt Tutuko at 2722m.

We spent the next couple of days wandering around the area, feeling rather stunned by being back in civilisation with hoards of people around; checking out the ferry terminal and the café and doing our washing at the Lodge up the road.

On Wednesday morning our plan was to go to Te Anau, taking a bus that left at 9.30am from the lodge a couple of kms down the road. Loaded with our packs, all scrubbed up and dressed in our city clothes, we called in to the marina supervisors office on our way up the road only to be told that the berth we were in was required later in the day and we would have to move the boat before we went. This meant we missed the early bus and so after we had re-parked the boat we went off to the main ferry terminal to enquire about other busses. It looked like we would have to wait until the following day but as we walked past the airstrip on the way back to Deepwater Basin we saw three guys talking and went to ask if they knew of any alternative ways of getting to Te Anau. After a bit of banter one suggested that we hire a helicopter to which we laughed (local flights are around $300-400 per person and we are on a cruisers budget), however after a bit more talk about helicopters one of the blokes said that he was heading back to Te Anau about 1pm and could do a special deal for us for $50 each but was not going direct as he had to drop others off on the way. We assumed he was talking helicopters and we jumped at the chance to see this spectacular area from the air at a bargain price. He said he could pick us up at the boat about 1 at which point he pointed to his vehicle with a Tour company logo on its side. We went and packed our bags again and while waiting for his arrival we started to speculate on the fact that he had driven off in a small tourist van after speaking to us and it suddenly dawned on us that the fabulous helicopter ride was in fact going to be a van ride! Sure enough at one o clock he arrived at the boat with an Australian couple on board. In our minds there was still a slight possibility that he was simply taking us to the helipad in a nice tourist van and we knew that if he turned left at the main road it would be “helicopter” or if he turned right it would be “van”. Unfortunately the indicator went right. It was however a good trip fully commentated with lots of stops to see the incredible sights.

The trip took about three hours climbing up out of Milford Sound to the Homer Tunnel which is an impressive bit of engineering. This tunnel was completed around 1954, taking about 5 years to build. It is about 1.2 kilometres long and has a gradient of 1:10 which we did not notice on the outbound (uphill) journey but could definitely see and feel the slope on the return trip when going downhill.

We stopped at the Mirror Lakes and the Chasm, a short walk into the forest to a spot where a river has carved the most incredible potholes in the rock as it plunges down a gulley. Very much like Bourke’s Luck in South Africa (on a much smaller scale) that we visited a couple of years ago.

Arriving in Te Anau was really hitting the bright lights for us and we stayed two nights and enjoyed eating out in restaurants, sleeping in crisp white sheets, having endless hot showers and even a sort of soak in a bath (although it was rather small – what they call a shub)!

The highlight was going to the local cinema to watch a movie called Ata Whenua – Shadowlands. This is a stunning documentary, purely visual – no commentary, of scenes from the Fiordland area filmed mostly from a helicopter. The pilot and photographer compiled the footage over a five year period and it is superb with scenes that we would never get to see from the land or sea.

Te Anau is a pretty town situated on the shore of Lake Te Anau which stretches some 60km but is not much more than 6 kilometres wide. It also has a number of Arms off its western side and is part of the feed into Lake Manapouri which is the lake which feeds the hydro electric scheme dropping into Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound.

On Friday we returned to Milford having booked seats on a tourist bus. We turned up at the bus stop at the appointed time ten minutes before departure, along with our backpacks, big box of groceries and a 20 litre drum of engine oil. As we were loading this all into the luggage compartment the bus driver spotted the oil and said he couldn’t carry it as it was dangerous goods. After a bit of an argument that we were never going to win Pete took off with the oil back to the service station from which we had purchased the oil and managed to arrange for them to have it trucked into Milford. Unfortunately the next delivery was not till Wednesday but as there was no other option and the bus was not going to wait he left it to be delivered to Milford.

The drive back to Milford was stunning, the day was sunny and warm and the scenery down the wide glacial Eglington valley stunning with the yellow tussock grass plains and a backdrop of snow capped mountains.

After arriving back at Gunner we unpacked our gear and went for a dinghy ride to the Bowen Falls.

Later in the day Maggie Rose arrived and we had a chat with Tony who we had last seen down at Thomson Sound. Going on his advice and the fact that the forecast was so fantastic for the next couple of days with a huge high sitting over the country we made the decision to leave the following day. It meant that we would have to bequeath the oil to the fishermen at Milford but we didn’t know how long we would have to wait for another weather pattern like this one.

Saturday 30/04/2011
We fuelled up at the wharf and got underway about 1130 for this the longest leg of our trip - 380 nautical miles to the top of the South Island, about 63 hours away.

We motored slowly down Milford Sound. It is a stunning sight with sheer cliffs and waterfalls that drop into the sea but we felt that we were glad to leave. At this time of year there are not many hours of sunlight that reach down the steep mountains and dew on the decks never really out and inside felt damp and clammy. I can’t imagine spending a winter there although I suppose if you are in a house with good heating it would be a spectacular place to see covered in snow. The other detraction for us after the solitude of the more remote sounds was the number of tourists, busses (150 per day), boats, planes and helicopters buzzing around.

At entrance to the Sound it was dead calm – quite an unusual event for this area – and because of this we were able to motor close to the coast and up past Martins Bay, Big Bay and towards sunset we were off Cascade Point south of Jackson Head.  Taking leave of Fiordland was quite a wrench, we have been in this area for nearly two months and it has been an amazing journey and adventure.  We have been privileged to see places that not many others get to see and have loved every minute of it.

Sunday 01/05/2011
By sunrise we were some 20 miles off the coast somewhere southwest of Abut Head.

The sky flared in the east with the sun and the moon rising about the same time. Deep reds and oranges reflected off the sea and dolphins jumped and played in our bow waves. The dolphins had been with us on and off all the way up the coast with huge numbers of them racing over to the boat at times.
In the morning light the Southern Alps dominated the skyline with New Zealands highest, Aoraki, Mount Cook lording it over the others. The Franz Josef Glacier could be seen glistening white and cold and all the peaks were covered in a fair amount of snow signalling that winter was definitely here. All day we were entranced by the changing view of the Alps sliding past us.

The day was good and the sea calm however the old adage of “red in the morning, sailors warning” had us checking what was to come. The weather report was talking of a depression in the Tasman sea that was deepening rapidly. Speaking to Tony on Maggie Rose (who had left just before us and was home to Tarakohe in 24 hours) later in the day he said that it was starting to blow up around the Farewell Spit and we made the decision to head for Westport.

We spoke to the Westport harbour master who advised that if we had not been in before it was advisable to wait until daylight before entering the port.

Westport
Monday 02/05/2011
We had always said that Westport and Greymouth to the south were places you only went into when you didn’t need to. In other words – only in calm weather. The Westport bar harbour is notorious for huge swells and numerous boats have come to grief trying to enter in adverse conditions. There are in fact many plaques set into the breakwater stones remembering those souls who have lost their lives crossing the bar.

With this in mind we approached the area with trepidation. We had slowed down during the night and headed in close to the coast to get shelter from the easterly wind that was gradually increasing making our way up from Greymouth past Cape Foulwind.

After an uncomfortable few hours with a northerly swell on our beam daylight eventually broke as we sat outside the port and we called up the harbour master for permission to enter. It was going to be a busy day for the port with two ships arriving and there was one of them behind us on the horizon steaming up fast. The harbour master said that we should get in before the ship as the waves on the bar were likely to start increasing with the wind. The dredge was working at the entrance which caused us a bit of confusion as we couldn’t see the lead in lights. After talking to the skipper of the dredge he gave the okay for us to proceed into the channel. Even with the moderate swell that existed at the time it was easy to see how this could quickly become a dangerous situation to try and enter in adverse conditions. The rip simply wants to take the boat off course and if this were to happen in big swells a boat could go beam on to the swells and capsize or forced into the rock groins. However we made it safely into port and were allocated one of the fishermen’s berths where we soon crashed for a few hours badly needed sleep. Later in the day we had a walk up town to see what Westport was all about – fairly quiet on a Monday it seemed but a good wee shopping town just the same – and friendly.
Being still a bit fatigued we settled for an early night.

Tuesday 03/05/2011 – Thursday 05/05/2011
After 10 hours sleep we woke up still rather zombie like but definitely feeling better.

The day consisted of a wander around town, doing our washing at the local laundrette, and getting haircuts.

Wednesday was my day for doing our GST returns. In the afternoon we had a visit from Mal Garrod, an old school mate of Petes who came up from Moana which is on Lake Brunner near Greymouth.  It was good to have a yak about old times and catch up with the latest news.

We have hired a vehicle and tomorrow are going to head up the coast to a place called Karamea about 100km north of Westport.

Friday 06/05/2011 – Saturday 07/05/11
Picked up the rental van and drove down to have a look at the harbour entrance and watched the pilot boat guide one of our new Navy inshore patrol craft, the Hawea, into the port.

We then headed north up the coast to Denniston which is the site of an old coal town high up on a plateau above the coast. Denniston is famous for the incline railway where a cableway was used to get the coal cars up and down from the plateau to the railhead. In the early days before a bridle path was constructed everything had to go up and down to the town on the plateau in the coal cars, this included the miners, their families, furniture and all the supplies. A pretty scary ride by all accounts as the drop is 500 metres and a pretty steep gradient. Operations continued on the Denniston Incline from 1880 until 1967 when the demand for coal dropped and maintenance costs forced its closure.

Top of the Incline

From Denniston we passed through the small settlement of Granity where we stopped for a coffee and a pie at the local café and then on up to Karamea. The road winds inland for a stretch climbing up through some beautiful forest before dropping back to the coast at the Little Wanganui river. The West coast is known for its delicacy of whitebait fritters and there are a number of big wide rivers up the coast which are obviously prime spots for the whitebait fishermen.

Nikau Palms and Cabbage trees stand like sentinels singly and in groves all along this coast and the surf crashes onto wild sandy beaches where huge piles of driftwood accumulate.

Seeing the size of some of these logs is enough to make you want to stay home and never go to sea again when you imagine that some of these are probably drifting around out there.

At Karamea we found the village hotel and checked in for the night. The bar was friendly and warm with a good fire going and the food was good.

We were woken early to the sound of gunshots but had been warned that today was the opening of the duck shooting season and it is good duck country around here. The rain was pretty heavy in contrast to the previous days sun so it wasn’t looking good for walking. We decided to have a look at the weekly craft/produce market we had seen advertised. Because of the weather it was held inside the RSA hall. We drove past just before 9.30 and there didn’t appear to be much happening so we took a drive up river returning an hour later. Inside the hall there were five or so stall holders. The elderly couple selling knitted wear – bibs, bootees and the like; the lady selling relishes, chutneys and jams; another with second hand books and other bits and pieces and the younger women with organic veges – mostly garlic, radishes and pumpkins. We managed to get out with a couple of books!

We then headed the 25 or so kilometres further up the coast to where the road ends. This is the start or end of the Heaphy track which is one of the great New Zealand walking trails. It is a four to five day walk with huts along the way. The track has just recently been opened up again to mountain bikers on a trial basis.

The rain cleared enough for us to have a wander along the beach but it threatened further downpours so we meandered back to Westport and had a look at Tauranga Bay at Cape Foulwind before heading home.

Sunday 08/05/2011
Today we noticed that the Navy ship Hawea which is still in port was having an open day for the public so we headed over to have inspect the ship. They are heading down to Fiordland from here and it was their sister ship, the Taupo that we had seen while we were in Bradshaw Sound where the Fisheries officers boarded us. There were a few crew onboard to answer questions and show visitors around. Good to check out what our tax is being spent on.

It looks like we will be ready to head off tomorrow. High tide is around 1400 so we will leave at that time for the next leg of 22 – 23 hours around Farewell Spit and into Golden Bay.