Fjordy wonderland part 2... Doubtful Sound

Doubtful sound covers a very large area with three arms off the main sound and connecting with both Thompson and Bradshaw sounds so we thought it deserved it's own post.  It has also been one of our favourite with it's high peaks, interesting walks, friendly few people and large wildlife population. As is often the case we ended up staying longer than anticipated.

We entered through Thompson sound and dropped anchor in Deas' cove as darkness fell.  Our next days walk was very hurried due to the huge population of sandflies we encountered.  In such circumstances you really have to move fast, or even better go for a sail which solved the problem perfectly.

There was a mounting onshore land breeze such that when we arrived in Deep Cove, the terminus at the inland end, we did not like the look of the recommended 'all weather' anchorage.  We sailed around finding only very deep water.  We furled our jib and motored another time around right up close to the steep sides and were hailed by the captain of a big motor boat.  He suggested we take a buoy over by the hostel and invited us for coffee the following morning before his tourist trips.  The buoy looked so near the shore that we'd discounted it as for a dinghy!

It was really interesting talking to Paul and his crew about their lives there.  They worked 7 days on, 7 off and lived together in a house provided by the company whilst at work since the only access to Doubtful sound is either by sea (a long way) or as the tourists do; a ferry ride across lake Manapouri followed by a 21km coach ride on the unsealed road.  They need to have the boat ready before the day trippers arrive.  He was filling up with fuel.  This boat uses 300 litres of Diesel per hour (about what we've used since Bora Bora) and so he fills up 3,000 every other day!  One of the reasons the tourist day package is a pricey one.

Paul was really helpful in suggesting where we might be able to anchor in each arm and what we might hope to see.  He was originally a fellow Brit but now lives in Te Anau with his family on his weeks off and has had sailing boats himself.

Once their passengers arrived we went over to meet the hostel manager Billy and also the relief manager as it was his fortnight off and he was preparing to go tuna fishing.  They were both really friendly and helpful.  We were able to buy internet time and hot showers then find out about all the local trails.

The short walks from deep cove were some of the most fun of our whole trip.  The pouring rain wasn't able to dampen our spirits since it just made the waterfalls better!

Our comedy yellow mac has come in very handy over the last few weeks.  Not so suitable for the more demanding walks but it's great as a wind and rain stopper whilst we're sailing.  The walk just above Deep cove hostel really stood out for us both.  It was a rugged track that though well marked really kept you on your toes and ended at the steep rock face of the hanging falls.

See the orange triangle?  The waterfall IS the track!  The temperate rainforest bush of this whole area is beautiful, peaceful and full of life going about it's quiet or sometimes quite noisy way.

Yes indeedy, a photo of something other than a mountain or waterfall! *1 task completed...

After some heavy socialising with Billy and his friends we sailed up Hall arm, reported to be the most spectacular.  It may well be, we couldn't see much... so when the wind died completely we had to motor most of the way to the end of crooked arm.

From the end of Crooked arm at Haulashore cove there is a trail (of sorts) across to Dagg sound (Dy'a like Daggs? 'Snatch')

We lost the track for a bit so got pretty wet and seed covered on this 'tramp' *2 Task complete, walk between two sounds...

Then we ran away from the sandflies that were chasing us to Snug cove in First arm where we awoke to a beautiful sunrise.

There are several islands in the wide entrance to Doubtful sound so on our way out we decided to stop and try our *3 task and dive into the icy depths.... I can tell you that we weren't disappointed, the variety and amount of life in the rocky steep sides of the Fjord were amazing, however, we didn't linger.  We stayed just long enough for Duncan to snag this guy, a huge spiny rock lobster.  He was so big he needed a new cooking method and fed us for three meals. * 4 tasks complete... 7 more to go...

Fjordy Wonderland Part 1...

We're about halfway through our adventures in Fiordland and are mystified as to why no other boaters are here.

There are the Sandflies of course...

The Sandfly ranger! They may be small but there can be huge numbers of the little bitey critters at times.

And the rain...

Though it's only rained three days in the fortnight we've been here.

The katabatic winds (those created by the land heating during the day and cooling overnight where the sea temperature stays stable) are difficult to predict and make the offshore forecasts somewhat academic at times. We had to abort an attempt to leave Milford Sound as it got too late in the day and we've had to use Pip (the engine) more than we usually would but generally the weather hasn't been a big problem.

Milford Sound

Bligh Sound

A rock lobster or crayfish given to us by a friendly hunter in Bligh sound

Everyone we've met has been super friendly, generous and fun. This area really is an unspoilt wilderness so there's been plenty of quiet seclusion too...

Anchorage cove, George Sound

Alice Falls, George Sound a very windy anchorage but beautiful walks and lovely mussels along the shoreline

We've decided to give ourselves some challenges for the second half of our trip to broaden our experiences...

• Don wetsuits and brave the icy depths
• Spot a penguin (we've kept an eye out and seen plenty of seals and dolphins but no whales or penguins yet)
• Think of some boat jobs to do in the rain or when there's too much wind to trust the anchor
• Take a photo of something other than waterfalls and mountains
• Eat a meal which contains NO fish or seafood
• Meet a fisherman and endeavour to understand what he or she says...
• Spend an evening in a hut with hunters and a fire
• Dive for a crayfish in said icy depths (we've been given loads)
• Walk between two Fiords
• Catch our own blue cod (we've been given one and have caught a LOT of Albacore Tuna)
• Find out what a Paua is

On our way out of George sound.

So far we've visited Milford, Bligh, George, Thompson and some of Doubtful sounds, we plan to see more then move on to Breaksea, Dusky and then Chalky and Preservation inlet before we sail on to Stewart island. There's a huge amount here to be explored.

Looking back towards Milford sound in the distance

Through the forties to Fiordland...

We'd first glimpsed a sight of land around two in the afternoon when it was still over forty miles away. The sky cleared more comprehensively around six eliciting exclamations from us both. I don't know what I'd expected but the sight surpassed anything we'd imagined.

As darkness fell we still had at least fifteen miles to go. Duncan shivered with excitement,

'a clear night, almost full moon... it'll be amazing!'

I love night time arrivals too but truth be told only because of the reflected glow of Duncan's confidence and excitement. Seeing in the dark in unfamiliar teritory is not my forte.

As we approached, the wall of towering rock disclosed ridges and fissures. A silvery stripe of waterfall here, then there; 'they're everywhere!' The surf crashed on the rocks around the point and across Anita's bay. We rolled on in.

Navigation wasn't hard once we started to benefit from the shelter of the imposing granite.  The crags tumble down from thousands of metres above the mast to hundreds of metres below the keel here, the igneous formations gorged out by glaciers.

We spied the bay we'd planned to check first; it was vast, calm and in that silvery half light breathtakingly beautiful. We slept soundly for the rest of the night and awoke to blissfull flat calm, then had a gentle sail in to the deep harbour, a far cry from the previous few days. 

Back to the Bay of Islands...Or why we love Russell boating club

We've been gradually creeping up the East Northland coast here with a new adventure in mind.  It didn't take us long to realise that we weren't going to want to stay in this corner of New Zealand until we head back to the UK for a bit and we certainly weren't going to get a car like most overseas sailors do once they get here.

It started after about a week looking around the beautiful bay of islands.  'This is lovely but wouldn't it be something to see the fjords...' The seed was planted.  So we've been getting ourselves ready, together with seeing a bit of the area.

Someone else with their spinnaker up near Great Barrier Island.

Whangamamu harbour, an old whaling station.  Rather gruesome to read about but a lovely walk across the peninsula.

Just shows I can still harbour double standards since we were delighted to catch this kingfish just after we rounded Cape Brett.  We got changed and washed the cockpit down a bit before the photo.

From the top of Motuarohia island.

This area of Northland is famed for it's beauty and clement weather and as such is something of  a holiday destination.  But with a boat and all those islands to chose from you can still find yourselves a quiet corner. There's also loads of scallops, mussels and oysters around to supplement your dinner.

Urapukapuka...

So, whilst we've been enjoying our sail back up the coast and around the islands, we've been thinking about how we need to be prepared for our forthcoming trip.

We've started to rebed our portholes.  They all need their rubber seals replacing where they open and close and this is much easier to do when they are out of the wall.  Some of them were dripping a bit occasionally so we'd like to get them all redone before we leave the boat in a couple of months time.  A good time to give the wood behind some TLC too and a little shine doesn't hurt though don't count on the eighth one getting this attention!

 This is the really big job.  Since it might be quite windy down around the bottom of South Island we feel we'd be pushing our luck to solely count on our 40 year old main sail to stand up to it.  We wanted our spare ready to use just in case.

 When we bought Impetuous she came with an old and a new main sail.  Brand new never been used with the name and number of the boat on it. Imagine our surprise when we hoisted it for the first time and found that it didn't fit.  We puzzled for a bit as to what we'd done wrong, we'd built our new mast taller than the original but we couldn't work out why this would make any difference...

In the end we couldn't find any other explanation other than it was wrong and we'd need to change it significantly before it could be of any use.  So we paid a sailmaker in Guatemala to recut the leech shape and remove the foot, add a new panel and reshape it.  We'd left it at that all this way but here we will need the reefs when our old sail finally gives out.  So we removed the old reef patches and eyes (except one which we could make work) and very carefully measured where we wanted the new ones to be.

                                     

So we made new strengthening patches.  6 layers starting small and getting bigger to spread out the strain on the material.  Then onto the sail so when we were sewing them under the leech tape that made 9 layers, we were so pleased that our machine could just about manage it, the material is very tough (9oz dacron).

Next we had to add the eyes through the patches to do the work.  We'd bought the equipment to do this in Panama so we were ready, we just refreshed our minds by watching the sailrite youtube video again.  Cut the hole with a stanley knife, punch holes where the stitches will go and then sew the brass ring on.  Two rings of stitches of different sizes for added strength (a la Moitessier).  Once it's finished, hammer on a grommet for the ropes or hardware to run through.

                                     

                                                           

So this is why we love Russell boating club.  The people are friendly and helpful, they have a hot shower, a bar open 3 evenings a week, a big dinghy dock and a lovely big space where we could work on our sail.  It's all done now so we're leaving this afternoon, sailing round the top at Cape Reinga then heading straight for Milford Sound.  The wind may not let us go straight though as we're likely to pass through a patch of variable and light winds but we'll hope for the best.

The other reason I love Russell boat club is that it has a community garden.  It's lovely to potter in a garden and get your hands in the soil. Contribute and you can share so we've got some beautiful chillis, lettuce, chard and a few little carrots for our trip.