A yacht trip to the New Zealand South Island visiting Fiordland and Stewart Island
Background
In January 2004, I, Robert Green, together with Tom Green and Ben Biddington, flew to Nelson, at the northern end of the NZ South Island to resume our voyage around the South Island, in Think Tank, an Adams 40. Our main objectives were to visit Fiordland, in the south west of the South Island, and Stewart Island, which is south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. At Oban, on Stewart Island, the plan was to meet up with wife, Heather, and son, Hugh, in mid February.The year before, in January, 2003, Ben, Warren Hellwig and I, had sailed from Bermagui, on the NSW south coast, to Nelson. From Nelson, we moved the yacht to Havelock at the head of Pelorus Sound, visiting along the way Torrent Bay in the Abel Tasman National Park, D'Urville Is, French Pass, and some of the hundreds of anchorages in Pelorus Sound.
The Marlborough Sounds
Pelorus Sound is one of the main cruising grounds in the Marlborough Sounds, a vast complex of drowned river valleys at the north eastern corner of the South Island. For those who know Pittwater and the Hawkesbury system, the Marlborough Sounds are similar, except that they are about one hundred times larger, much more varied and with many fewer boats. Without any exaggeration one could spend a year in Pelorus Sound staying at a different anchorage every night.Nearby, a few sea miles away, is Queen Charlotte Sound, which contains Picton, the terminal for the inter island ferries. Queen Charlotte is slightly smaller but has similar cruising and slightly better access to transport and facilities.
Both Sounds offer good cruising, fishing, walking and general relaxation. There can be strong winds but most of the time conditions are good and there are plenty of anchorages. There are excellent cruising guides put out by the Mana Cruising Club, the locals are friendly, the weather forecasts are good and the boat yards are very competent (and cheaper than Australia).
In April 2003 Heather and I had cruised in Pelorus and now it was time to head south to go around the South Island.
Which way round?
There are 2 ways to get around the South Island. Either one can go down the, generally more sheltered, east coast, with the flexibility of being able to break the trip into smaller sectors by heading into Christchurch, or Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula, or Dunedin. The return trip would then be made up the west coast with the prevailing south westerly behind you.The other way is to go down the west coast, returning via the east coast.
At first glance it would seem obvious to take the east coast route south, but there is a snag. The South Island does not run so much from north to south as from north east to south west. The bottom of the island is a long way west of the north of it. This means that if one takes the east coast route to go south, then, from Dunedin on, one is not so much going south as going west. To get to the south west corner of the island is a slog of 200 miles, more or less west, into the seas and winds which come from that direction at 47 south. Moreover, part of the distance may be through the shallow, rough and windy Foveaux Strait. The cruising guide says that a Swiss yacht, (as if there is such a thing), waited for 2 months before it could get around the corner. The crew eventually gave up and visited the West Coast by road instead.
The general advice is that if Stewart Island is your sole objective then take the east coast route south, but if you want to visit Fiordland then the west coast route is the way to go. We chose to go down the west coast.
The West Coast
The anticipation of sailing the West Coast felt very much like the slightly apprehensive feel of tackling the Tasmanian West Coast except that the New Zealand one is much longer, goes much further south and is more likely to have rough weather. The advice was very much along the lines of, "Don't muck around. It can be a terrible place. Look out or a Southwester will get you. If your boat speed drops below 5 knots put the engine on and keep going."There are ports on the west coast at Westport and Greymouth, but the advice was that they are fair weather ports only, Both have bars and will close out in rough conditions. The only other shelter north of the Fiords is at Jackson Bay, about 60 miles north of Milford Sound. It is completely open to the north west but gives reasonable shelter for southerlies and south westers.
The gateway to the West Coast is Farewell Spit. It has the reputation of being something of a poor man's Cape Horn and difficult to get around. Apparently the Southern Alps block the normal westerly flow of the winds. Near the gap between the North and South Islands westerly winds striking the Southern Alps are deflected around to the southwest so that they can then funnel down the gap between the North and South Islands and through Cook Strait. Our own experience when coming over last year was that the wind increased to 48 knots off Farewell Spit and that it came up from the south west.
By the evening of Tuesday, 13 January, Tom and I had taken the yacht from Havelock, back through French Pass, where the water can run at up to 8 knots, and around to Nelson. Ben had been collected from the airport and we had finished provisioning. By the evening we were right to go. Ben made dinner, (Tandouri chicken with couscous, green salad and yoghurt and cashew salad) and about 9 pm on Tuesday we set out in calm conditions across Tasman Bay.
As it turned out it was completely calm all night and all of the next day as we motored out to and around Farewell Spit. The weather gods smiled on us this time and we were lucky. We motored down the rhumb line in calm conditions until early Thursday, when the wind went to the south west, where it stayed for the next few days.
Then began a long series of tacks, inshore through the day and offshore during the night. By early Friday morning we were about 60 miles offshore, so we tacked back towards the coast. The day was fine and all day we had a spectacular view of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman. There was a clear blue sky, no high cloud and only a narrow band of cloud low down on the coastal ranges.
New Zealand is called the Land of the Long White Cloud. I had always thought of this as a poetic reference to the snow on top of the long range of mountains which is the Southern Alps. In fact once you get offshore you realise right away that the reference is literal. There really is a long white cloud running all the way along the edge of the land. The early Maori navigators obviously used it to keep their bearings.
Jackson Bay
Heading south we decided to call in at Jackson Bay. It turned out to be somewhat less than I had been expecting. When the cruising guide said that it was "predominantly a fishing port" I had expected it to have, at least, a pub, a general store and a service station with some engineering. In fact it had a part time pie cart, two fish freezing depots and nothing else at all. There were 3 permanent families, 6 more at nearby Neils Beach, and no stores or facilities until Haast about 40 km away.But the locals were friendly, there were penguins in the main street and the snow capped Southern Alps were a pretty backdrop to the yacht anchored in the bay. Ben and Tom took the opportunity to hitchhike to Queenstown from Haast.
Milford Sound
Several days later we moved south again, heading for Milford Sound . We left late in the afternoon with the intention of arriving off Milford Sound at dawn. Along the way we passed the remarkable Cascade Point, which had 5 large waterfalls all pouring water over the cliffs into the sea.Milford is the most northerly of the fiords. They are all called "Sounds" but they were all formed by glacial action and are properly called "fiords". The south west corner of the South Island is called Fiordland.
Fiordland
The attraction of Fiordland comes from the combination of the range of scenery available, the history of the area and the satisfaction that can come from being the only boat in magnificent surroundings. Milford is often regarded as the grandest Sound of them all, the Hall Arm of Doubtful Sound is said to be the most beautiful, but, because of its variety, size and history, Dusky Sound is the best overall combination.That is what the guidebook says and we would agree.
Years ago I had been on a tourist boat at Milford, so it came as no surprise that the entrance to Milford was not immediately obvious from seawards. However as we closed the coast the dog leg entrance opened up and we were into calm water, with towering cliffs, hanging valleys, waterfalls and snow above us. It was no trouble to find our way around to the fishing boat harbour where we collected Warren, who was to join us for the rest of the trip.
That night we anchored at Anita Bay, which is just in from the entrance to Milford Sound. A couple of tourist boats came in and we spent the late afternoon relaxing and being introduced to the local livestock.
West Coast Sandflies
Fiordland is almost perfect. It is like paradise on earth, but it has one drawback. It has sandflies. The log probably says it all. In Tom's words, "Sandflies. They deserve a chapter in their own right. Little buggers [sorry, bad pun] - only about 2mm long. What they lack in size, they make up in numbers and suicidal tendencies. It is impossible to convey their numbers in text alone. You would wave your arms madly about and hit dozens with every swipe." Ben wrote "The sandflies were absolutely insane. I was talking with a girl who had kayaked out from one of the cruise boats. She had a swarm around her head. Although I was swimming, the things kept going down the snorkel. We eventually pulled up the anchor and drifted out into the bay to avoid the sandflies."And Tom later added to the log book, "Did I mention that they are as stupid as they are small. A basic flyscreen across the companionway was erected. It's not so much a barrier to the sandflies but more a distraction. The sandflies are sufficiently small that they can crawl through the little squares of the flyscreen. However, being programmed with the knowledge that there is always better food on the other side of the wire, once they get in they promptly climb back the way they just came."
The moral is obvious. If you visit this part of the world, come equipped with insect screens and plenty of insect repellent and sprays. By and large we found the best thing to do was to cover our arms and legs with clothing and to keep the insect screens in place when at anchor. The sandflies are found along the shore. They do not go very far from the shore and they operate during daylight. The fishing boats stay out in the bay until dark, when they come in to anchor. At dawn they up anchor and drift around several hundred metres offshore to have breakfast.
South of Milford Sound
We left Anita Bay just before dark and headed offshore overnight so as to arrive at George Sound at dawn. This was our basic travelling pattern for the time we were in Fiordland. We moved between the Sounds during the night and travelled around them during daylight. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, we had limited time so we used daylight hours to see as much as we could. Secondly, the wind tends to rise through the day so it was easier to do the offshore work at night.As it turned out, our visit coincided with a good spell of easterly weather. The fiords were invariably calm and the rain was gentle. There were many highlights and we wish we could have stayed longer. The "must see" places are Milford Sound, Alice Falls in George Sound, Deas Cove in Thompson Sound, Precipice Cove in Bradshaw Sound, Deep Cove, the Hall Arm and Blanket Bay "hotel" in Doubtful Sound, Sunday Cove and the top of Breaksea Sound, the Acheron Passage and most of Dusky Sound.
If time is limited try to leave as much time for Dusky Sound as you can. The highlights for us were Sportsman's Cove, within Cooper Island, Supper Cove, Cascade Cove, Pickersgill Harbour and Astronomer Point, which was Cook's base in the area and where you can still see the stumps of the trees cut down by his crew. But we missed much of Dusky Cove and one could spend weeks there. There is said to be an island for every day of the year.
While in Dusky we met up with a small tourist boat carrying about 12 passengers. It was MV Tutoko , based at Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound, which took fishermen, deer shooters, divers and general passengers around Dusky Sound. If you did not have your own yacht this would be the way to see the area. Tutoko's divers supplied us with crayfish and we kept ourselves supplied with the excellent blue cod.
With the good weather coming to an end and knowing we had to make the passage to Stewart Island, we set off before dark from Dusky, sailing past Preservation Inlet, around Puysegur Point at the south west of the South Island and a notorious place for bad weather, then across to Stewart Island.
Stewart Island
Stewart Island would be worth visiting in its own right. It is the third island of New Zealand, off the bottom of the South Island. The maoris called it Rakiura meaning "glowing skies", a reference to the southern aurora.Most of the island is national park and there is only one settlement, which is at Oban on the north east coast. There are two large harbours, being Paterson Inlet in the north behind Oban and Port Pegasus in the south. There are a number of other bays, islands and anchorages and of these Lords River and Port Adventure are certainly worth seeing.
We sailed from Fiordland directly for Port Pegasus stopping at Burial Cove in Broad Bay on the south coast for a few hours. On arrival, we found a sea lion on the beach and a lovely, mossy creek. The water, like the south west of Tasmania was tannin coloured and, in fact, Stewart Island reminds one very much of the excellent cruising grounds on the Tasmanian west coast.
From Burial Cove we went around to Port Pegasus, which was our base for the next week. It is a substantial harbour and apart from a group from the NZ Dept of Conservation, who were staying in a hut, we had the place to ourselves. The walking was good, we had storm proof anchorages, a mixed bag of weather, excellent fishing and plenty of shellfish.
Our deadline to meet Heather and Hugh in Oban was approaching. Since the weather could be unpredictable we did not want to cut things too fine so sailed up the east coast of Stewart Island calling in to Port Adventure on the way. It looked like it would have been worth spending a good deal more time there. While we had lunch a couple of fellows came past in a tinnie with fresh fish and a newly shot deer on board. Such is life in the south.
Oban is situated on Half Moon Bay which faces out onto Foveaux Strait. Near it is the entrance to Paterson Inlet, the second large harbour on the island and a small cruising ground in its own right. We had rented a house for the week that we were there and were fortunate that it had its own jetty at which we could park the yacht.
At Oban, Warren left us. His bronchial pneumonia had been playing up even before he left Australia and the cool and, sometimes, wet conditions were not helping it clear up.
Back north via the east coast
After Heather and Hugh left, Tom, Ben and I headed north up the east coast of the South Island, stopping only at Akaroa, on Banks Peninsula, to drop off Tom who was scheduled to fly out.Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula near Christchurch. The peninsula was an old volcano, into the centre of which is a drowned valley accessible by quite a large channel from the sea. Akaroa is located at the edge of the valley and was an early French settlement in New Zealand.
As one approaches the peninsula from the sea something remarkable happens to the colour of the water. The rivers and glaciers which flow from the Southern Alps grind the rock into a flour which is carried down to the coast. Along the east coast there is a narrow strip of water which is coloured by this "rock flour". We could see the change in the colour of the sea very clearly as we closed the shore.
The colour change was so abrupt that it looked slightly ominous. One wondered whether it would support the yacht because it was so different from the water we had been sailing in.
After Tom left, Ben and I pushed off immediately, heading for Picton at the north of the island. So far we had come north from Stewart Island in strong to gale force southerlies but these were forecast to be replaced by strong northerlies in 24 or 36 hours so we wanted to be in Picton before they arrived. As it turned out we had an excellent, fast sail north, arriving at the entrance to Queen Charlotte Sound before dark the next day.
From there it was a short run around to Waikawa where we were going to leave the yacht at the marina for the next month or so before returning to Australia.
That in a nutshell is our South Island circumnavigation. It would have been nice to have had more time.
What did we learn? Several things.
Firstly, the scenery is spectacular. There is nothing like it in Australia. The animals and wildlife are unique and plentiful. We saw hundreds of dolphins at a time, seals, sea lions, penguins and birds.
Secondly, it confirmed what we had learned in our Tasmanian and Bass Strait travels. Any well found yacht can safely explore southern waters provided that the crew is competent, the yacht is well set up, prudence dictates what one does and one makes due allowance for the weather.
Thirdly, we saw very few yachts. In fact, apart from one visiting British yacht, which we saw at Nelson and again at Milford Sound, we saw no other yachts at all on the west coast or in Stewart Is. This seems to be a pity. As a cruising area the NZ South Island, with the Marlborough Sounds, Fiordland and Stewart Island, offers extensive sheltered and interesting cruising on a scale greater than anywhere in Australia. It is close to home and the natives are friendly.
So, give it a go and you won't regret it.