Preservation Inlet

New Zealand - June 2008

 

Mr Richard Conan New Zealander 1944-?

Ms Teo May Wei Singaporean 1977-?

Mr Alex Koh Singaporean 1976-?

The team traveled to the south-west corner of New Zealand, Preservation Inlet. It is the last Sound of the Fiordlands National Park, a place rarely visited by people because of difficulty in accessibility. We spent 21 days in the Inlet where we had 12 paddling days. The rest of our time, we spent holed up in a tiny hut, about the size of the living room of a 3-room flat (it is probably smaller). On days when the weather was bad, three of us tucked inside, boiling lots of water for tea, coffee, soup, water, tea, coffee, food, you get the idea. The weather has definitely been kinder to us this time as it was not as cold (the fact that we can move around without our down jackets is a good indication). We had more, beautiful, sunny, blue sky days but on days when it rained, visibility was bad with winds blowing at 10-15knots and so we dont go out. Days when its beautiful or not as trashy, we head out exploring.

We only spent 3 nights in our tents this time round. Even though the hut we based ourselves in (most of the time) had only 2 beds, it was still good shelter. Not having to contend with wet sleeping bags, condensing tents and cold, wet gear was great. Every evening we will listent to the daily marine forecast for the area. It usually goes something like this, "Gale warning for …Castle Point, Abel… Puysegur...winds at 20knots, turning to 30 knots..." (10knots = 18.5km/h), with the exception of one day when there was a storm warning with the front approaching at 50knots, rest of the days were gale. On the night of the storm, everyone was woken awake at 0200h to hard pelting of rain on the tin roofs and stron, gusty winds. Alex thought the whole shelter was going to be blown apart and me feeling the lightning crash almost right beside me and wondering if my kayak is still in one piece. The fact that the shelter was there in the 60s and is still there now is a testament of how well it has withstood the harsh elements at Puysegur. In general, where we were last year (Doubtful Sound) was more sheltered from the ever-changeable NZ weather but our location this year is exposed to the NW and SW winds that blows through daily.

The most exciting paddling day we had was when we paddled out to the coast to go round Coal Island. Paddling on the coast equals paddling in open waters, the Tasman Sea with big swells and strong winds. Basically we will experience everything that is mentioned on the marine forecast. For people who are used to paddling in big coastal waters, what we went through was probably a tiny taster of what it is like but for Alex and I, we were coastal virgins. This is how the conversation was like that morning.
Richard: Instead of heading straight back to the hut, why don’t we paddle out to the entrance and have a peek, see what the conditions are like. If its something we cannot manage, we will turn back.
Alex & I: Ok.
So, off we went. The peek turned into “Yippee!” on one meter or more swells, we paddled on and no one said a thing. To avoid being pushed by the waves back onto the reefs of Coal Island, we had to paddle about 1.5km out before we can turn to go round the island. At that point, the swells got bigger and bigger, up to 4.5m. Alex was gunning all the way in front, while Richard and I got airborne in our boats for a while. Richard had his boat on top of a swell with half his boat length sticking in the air and I felt my boat being picked up and let down with a wumph! We were committed to go round the coast since no one said a thing and it would also be difficult to turn back at that point. It was 2.5hours later when we got back into the safety of the sound. During that time, it was full commitment and concentration, give your all type of paddling before we were able to find a sheltered place for a rest. It was THE highlight of the trip i'd have to say. Alex and i are coastal virgins no more.

That was a terrific experience which Alex and I will not have had the opportunity to do if not for Richard's knowledge and experience with New Zealand coast. If anyone had fallen out of the boat, it would have been grim and rescue would have been very, very difficulty and even dangerous. I was having fun going over the swells then told myself, “May, you better concentrate and don't flip!” So I sat tight, jammed my knees to the sides of the boat and dug in my paddle with every stroke. Of course after the whole paddle we were all elated we survived and were hungrily chomping on our muesli bars and having the "I thought we were just taking a peek" conversation.

Other than paddling, the other instances that got us excited was over food. While paddling out from Isthmus Sound, Richard dropped his fishing line and within half an hour we caught 4 decent sized blue cods (fish). A fishing boat backed his 50 000kg boat close to our shores and offered us crayfish (lobsters). There were 9 of them in the sack! We also had fresh abalones and blue cod fried up by the one and only other kayaker whom we met on our first day out. Eating fresh mussels, catching our own abalone, a small sand shark (yes i know...), being offered blue cods by the family taking care of a private lodge, we were quite well taken care of. I was telling a friend before I left that if I have not lost weight from this expedition, it will be because we are holed up in a hut cooking and eating.

The beauty and abundance of the land, and the generosity of the people never cease to amaze us. It has been a great adventure and experience where the lessons learnt on and off the sea have been invaluable.

May (Teo May Wei). June 2008.