Newsletter 20
Southland Sea Kayakers
15th January 2005
Dear Southland Sea Kayakers
Summer has been a poor affair so far with lots of wind not conducive to safe sea kayaking. I have been involved with a host of other projects and not been able to take any network trips for some time and it seems there are not many others in the network willing/able to take trips either.
In 2 weeks time our Preservation Sound kayaking expedition leaves and hopefully the weather will be an improvement on what we have been getting. I am busily organising last minute details for this. I will write a trip report on this when we get back.
Last weekend I met a group of fellow Irishmen who were doing a Charity Bike Ride from Auckland to Dunedin and I took them to see the Albatross colony on Taiaroa Head. If you have not seen this I thoroughly recommend it. When I was up on the hill observing nesting Albatross I had a good view of the Otago Harbour and there looks like an excellent trip down the harbour and out and north around the coast to Blueskin Bay. I will lead a network trip there in autumn and I will see if the Otago sea kayakers could share this with us. I am keen to do some joint trips with OSKA.
George Sound Trip
There is a rough track across middle of Fiordland from Lake Te Anau to George Sound. It is not your average ŒGreat Walks¹ track and it passes through some pretty inhospitable terrain. The route was first described by Richard Henry (Resolution Island fame ) and Robert Murrell in 1899. Belinda and I were keen to explore the region over Christmas and New Year.
On Christmas day we left in our kayaks from Te Anau Downs paddling up the Middle Fiord of Lake Te Anau. It is about a 25 kilometre paddle. The day was fine with grand view of snow-clad mountains beyond Lake Hankinson. It was an easy paddle but about 3 kilometres from the beach at the end of the North West Arm the wind suddenly sprang up and we had to power paddle in strong wind and breaking waves.
There is a 500 meter track from the beach across a small hill to Lake Hankinson and it took us 2 hours to carry across all our gear and the 2 kayaks. Then it was another hour paddle up Hankinson and the river to the hut. There was a blue
sit-on kayak tied up to a tree at the hut belonging to a Christchurch couple. Belinda was pooped and went to bed without dinner. By now the rain had come on and it continued next day giving us an excuse to have a rest day. Kevin and Naida decided to push on to Thomson Hut and I went for a stretch of the legs in the rain to Lake Thomson. Unbeknown to us a giant Tsunami was sweeping across the Indian Ocean claiming countless lives.
On 27 December the rain had stopped and it brightened up a bit so we set off leaving our kayaks up on the bank and surplus gear stored in them. In 5 minutes we arrived at a walk wire across the river and the track is good on this section to near Lake Thomson. An hour later we crossed back to the true left of the river below the outlet of Lake Thomson on another walk wire. From here on it is a rough track that meanders across large slippery rocks and one has to be very careful not to have a fall on these. It took us another 2 hours to reach the Thomson Hut. This is a delight perched on top of a large rock outcrop overlooking forest. We had lunch here before carrying on across the Wapiti River thundering in a gorge near the hut.
The track rises gently for about an hour and climbs away from the Wapiti River. Then beside a waterfall on the left it climbs steeply for about a 100 metres. The track is very rough and wet and deteriorates further along. It levels off and passes through a bag with low trees and logs spanning many of the deep pools. Here we found our Leki poles invaluable in maintaining our balance as we crept along greasy logs and for probing the depth of the bog holes. This area was bad but worse was in store near the ominously named ³Deadwood Lagoon². Here there were open areas of bog between scrub and there were some man-eating swamps here. It is all slow going and we eventually reached Deadwood lagoon which is nice enough. Continuing up the valley for about 200 metres the track/stream veers left up the hillside towards Henry Pass. There is a nice camping area about 15 minutes from the top and Kevin and Naida was just about to set up camp when we arrived. We decided to push on to the Pass. Here there was a good view of the Marguerite Peaks and a cool wind was blowing through from the west. We set up camp on a dry flat area 50 feet below the pass on the east side of the Pass. Here a weka paid us a visit. We were to see quite a few wekas on the trip.
Next day dawned overcast and we set off down into Katherine valley. The track descends under an overhanging cliff some of the way and then heads straight down again very wet under foot. In the valley floor there was a good camping spot where the track levelled out. Then there was some good travelling and it was here we saw a family of wapiti including a fawn. We had startled them and they ran across the river and stopped to peer at us.
The valley then constricted and there was a big drop of about a hundred metres to a lower level. The most noticeable feature of this section was a huge area of dead trees caused by a rock avalanche at some time in the past. It must have been years ago as all the rocks were covered in lichen. By now the weather was definitely packing up as there were northwest winds racing across the peaks and a sudden arrival of gale force winds heralded the onset of rain. We pushed on to Lake Katherine and we had only just reached it when the rain started. After a bite to eat we carried on around it and pushed on down the valley to George Sound arriving here a bit damp. For the next 24 hours it poured down.
The DOC hut at George Sound is the oldest one on the route and has an open fireplace and is difficult to heat. We were the only ones there and looking at the hut book not many parties make it there. The previous party came by sea in October. We had a rest day in any case and by evening it has stopped raining so I went for a walk along the beach towards the Katherine River. Here the Alice Falls were in spate across the Sound. There were lots of small fish jumping in the sea. DOC has removed the dingy from the boat shed probably due to the fall out over Cave Creek. There is not a lot to do at George Sound if you do not have a boat, as there is nowhere to walk to but the track in.
We left early next day in overcast weather and retraced our steps to Henry Saddle. It was a South Easterly so was sheltered to the west but on Henry Pass the rain started and from here on it was cold and wet all the way to Thomson Hut, which we arrived at 10.5 hours after leaving George Sound. There was a man and his son there and he was not very enthusiastic about carrying on in the conditions. We had some noodles before retiring.
Next day it was a leisurely start for Hankinson in dry weather. We spent the night there before kayaking out on 2 January. The South Easterly was still blowing which made it hard for us but further down the Middle Fiord it died completely for a while so we carried on. We had thought of camping half was down but the sand flies were a deterrent. On the last leg across the breath of the main lake a strong southerly suddenly arrived and we had to power paddle across a beam sea. We got quite wet in the breaking waves and it was a relief to reach boat harbour.
A trip to George Sound by kayak/tramping 25/12/04-2/1/05 by Belinda and Stan Mulvany
Evening practice sessions in kayak rolling and surf launch/landings at Awarua Bay and at Riverton or Colac Bay.
I did advertise this in our last newsletter and we had a session yesterday evening at Awarua. We practised self and assisted rescue and also eskimo bow rescues and a rolling technique. Again I would encourage people who want to learn these techniques to register their interest with me and be prepared to go out at short notice in the evenings to practice with me.
Safe kayaking
Stanley
15th January 2005
Dear Southland Sea Kayakers
Summer has been a poor affair so far with lots of wind not conducive to safe sea kayaking. I have been involved with a host of other projects and not been able to take any network trips for some time and it seems there are not many others in the network willing/able to take trips either.
In 2 weeks time our Preservation Sound kayaking expedition leaves and hopefully the weather will be an improvement on what we have been getting. I am busily organising last minute details for this. I will write a trip report on this when we get back.
Last weekend I met a group of fellow Irishmen who were doing a Charity Bike Ride from Auckland to Dunedin and I took them to see the Albatross colony on Taiaroa Head. If you have not seen this I thoroughly recommend it. When I was up on the hill observing nesting Albatross I had a good view of the Otago Harbour and there looks like an excellent trip down the harbour and out and north around the coast to Blueskin Bay. I will lead a network trip there in autumn and I will see if the Otago sea kayakers could share this with us. I am keen to do some joint trips with OSKA.
George Sound Trip
There is a rough track across middle of Fiordland from Lake Te Anau to George Sound. It is not your average ŒGreat Walks¹ track and it passes through some pretty inhospitable terrain. The route was first described by Richard Henry (Resolution Island fame ) and Robert Murrell in 1899. Belinda and I were keen to explore the region over Christmas and New Year.
On Christmas day we left in our kayaks from Te Anau Downs paddling up the Middle Fiord of Lake Te Anau. It is about a 25 kilometre paddle. The day was fine with grand view of snow-clad mountains beyond Lake Hankinson. It was an easy paddle but about 3 kilometres from the beach at the end of the North West Arm the wind suddenly sprang up and we had to power paddle in strong wind and breaking waves.
There is a 500 meter track from the beach across a small hill to Lake Hankinson and it took us 2 hours to carry across all our gear and the 2 kayaks. Then it was another hour paddle up Hankinson and the river to the hut. There was a blue
sit-on kayak tied up to a tree at the hut belonging to a Christchurch couple. Belinda was pooped and went to bed without dinner. By now the rain had come on and it continued next day giving us an excuse to have a rest day. Kevin and Naida decided to push on to Thomson Hut and I went for a stretch of the legs in the rain to Lake Thomson. Unbeknown to us a giant Tsunami was sweeping across the Indian Ocean claiming countless lives.
On 27 December the rain had stopped and it brightened up a bit so we set off leaving our kayaks up on the bank and surplus gear stored in them. In 5 minutes we arrived at a walk wire across the river and the track is good on this section to near Lake Thomson. An hour later we crossed back to the true left of the river below the outlet of Lake Thomson on another walk wire. From here on it is a rough track that meanders across large slippery rocks and one has to be very careful not to have a fall on these. It took us another 2 hours to reach the Thomson Hut. This is a delight perched on top of a large rock outcrop overlooking forest. We had lunch here before carrying on across the Wapiti River thundering in a gorge near the hut.
The track rises gently for about an hour and climbs away from the Wapiti River. Then beside a waterfall on the left it climbs steeply for about a 100 metres. The track is very rough and wet and deteriorates further along. It levels off and passes through a bag with low trees and logs spanning many of the deep pools. Here we found our Leki poles invaluable in maintaining our balance as we crept along greasy logs and for probing the depth of the bog holes. This area was bad but worse was in store near the ominously named ³Deadwood Lagoon². Here there were open areas of bog between scrub and there were some man-eating swamps here. It is all slow going and we eventually reached Deadwood lagoon which is nice enough. Continuing up the valley for about 200 metres the track/stream veers left up the hillside towards Henry Pass. There is a nice camping area about 15 minutes from the top and Kevin and Naida was just about to set up camp when we arrived. We decided to push on to the Pass. Here there was a good view of the Marguerite Peaks and a cool wind was blowing through from the west. We set up camp on a dry flat area 50 feet below the pass on the east side of the Pass. Here a weka paid us a visit. We were to see quite a few wekas on the trip.
Next day dawned overcast and we set off down into Katherine valley. The track descends under an overhanging cliff some of the way and then heads straight down again very wet under foot. In the valley floor there was a good camping spot where the track levelled out. Then there was some good travelling and it was here we saw a family of wapiti including a fawn. We had startled them and they ran across the river and stopped to peer at us.
The valley then constricted and there was a big drop of about a hundred metres to a lower level. The most noticeable feature of this section was a huge area of dead trees caused by a rock avalanche at some time in the past. It must have been years ago as all the rocks were covered in lichen. By now the weather was definitely packing up as there were northwest winds racing across the peaks and a sudden arrival of gale force winds heralded the onset of rain. We pushed on to Lake Katherine and we had only just reached it when the rain started. After a bite to eat we carried on around it and pushed on down the valley to George Sound arriving here a bit damp. For the next 24 hours it poured down.
The DOC hut at George Sound is the oldest one on the route and has an open fireplace and is difficult to heat. We were the only ones there and looking at the hut book not many parties make it there. The previous party came by sea in October. We had a rest day in any case and by evening it has stopped raining so I went for a walk along the beach towards the Katherine River. Here the Alice Falls were in spate across the Sound. There were lots of small fish jumping in the sea. DOC has removed the dingy from the boat shed probably due to the fall out over Cave Creek. There is not a lot to do at George Sound if you do not have a boat, as there is nowhere to walk to but the track in.
We left early next day in overcast weather and retraced our steps to Henry Saddle. It was a South Easterly so was sheltered to the west but on Henry Pass the rain started and from here on it was cold and wet all the way to Thomson Hut, which we arrived at 10.5 hours after leaving George Sound. There was a man and his son there and he was not very enthusiastic about carrying on in the conditions. We had some noodles before retiring.
Next day it was a leisurely start for Hankinson in dry weather. We spent the night there before kayaking out on 2 January. The South Easterly was still blowing which made it hard for us but further down the Middle Fiord it died completely for a while so we carried on. We had thought of camping half was down but the sand flies were a deterrent. On the last leg across the breath of the main lake a strong southerly suddenly arrived and we had to power paddle across a beam sea. We got quite wet in the breaking waves and it was a relief to reach boat harbour.
A trip to George Sound by kayak/tramping 25/12/04-2/1/05 by Belinda and Stan Mulvany
Evening practice sessions in kayak rolling and surf launch/landings at Awarua Bay and at Riverton or Colac Bay.
I did advertise this in our last newsletter and we had a session yesterday evening at Awarua. We practised self and assisted rescue and also eskimo bow rescues and a rolling technique. Again I would encourage people who want to learn these techniques to register their interest with me and be prepared to go out at short notice in the evenings to practice with me.
Safe kayaking
Stanley