Checking out of Kenepuru

The sun sets over Kenepuru Sound and after a wonderful ten days, it’s time to hit the road again and finish exploring the Marlborough Sounds.

We loved having the DOC Kenepuru Head campground to ourselves for most of the time we were there but when the long Labour weekend brought at least a dozen campers to the site it was great to have some company for a change. The campground is so large that there was plenty of space for everyone to spread themselves around.

After having fantastic weather all week the rain & wind arrived on the Sunday of the holiday weekend which was a shame for those that were in tents and/or had only come for a couple of days.

Of course our departure wouldn't be complete without a weka inviting himself in to say goodbye. He got a short shift!

I’m sure DOC thought we’d outstayed our welcome, they had to mow around our van (and in fact DOC have just mowed around our van once again here at our latest site, this is becoming a habit!)

Without any stops, and travelling slower through all the twists & turns with the 5th-wheeler on the back, made the 40km to the main road feel a very long way. We were heading to the DOC camp at Momorangi on Queen Charlotte Drive which is just 6-7kms on from the main road junction so it was good to know we didn't have too much of a journey ahead of us. Momorangi was on our radar because it had a small boat ramp & good access to the Sound without us having to worry about the tide. David was keen to see if the snapper had arrived.

Unfortunately our plans were foiled. We knew that Momorangi Camp was being upgraded over winter and that they hadn't quite finished them, but we didn't know that they actually have a long way to go to complete the changes. The Momorangi Campground is leased out and while its in a nice spot it’s more like your usual campground with all the facilities, it also has the main road running through the middle of it. After coming from the quiet and remote Kenepuru Head it was a bit of a shock to find such a busy site with earth moving machinery and workman everywhere along with sections of the campground roped off. So we made the decision to continue on to Picton and around to another DOC site at Whatamango Bay.

Queen Charlotte Drive is one hell of a road, it’s a narrow and winding (what’s new) scenic drive that links Picton with Havelock. Most sane people travel the extra distance and join the two towns by travelling via Blenheim, it’s longer but faster and the roads are fairly straight. Not us or overseas tourists, we want to see the sights. I think I saw a sign post flash past that said no vehicles over 9 metres. Too late. By the time it registered we were well past and we couldn't turn around to check. Oh well, we’re used to these roads by now.

The road was narrow, and it was very winding, and it climbed up a few hills but none of these faze us much any more. It was the amount of traffic coming the other way, and mostly driving down the centre of the road, that was the worry. I know it’s narrow but there is a centre line for a reason, and if you have to cross it, slow down and check nothing is coming the other way before proceeding. These cars just pressed on seeming to take no notice of the fact that we were approaching.

Once we got to the other end and stopped at the lookout over Picton wharf I realized that a lot of traffic would have come off the ferries that had recently berthed.

We stopped in Picton to top up the tanks with diesel & petrol(generator), fill the gas bottles, fill with fresh water & dump our black & grey water tanks- thankfully all at the one service station which was great. Next was the supermarket to replenish the fridge, freezer & pantry. We’d done really well with supplies and the only thing I ran out of was milk although I still had one carton of long-life milk left, and powdered milk if things became desperate (yuk). But it was nice to get fresh veges & fruit, bread & eggs and top up the supply cupboard as well. Oh, and the wine- just one bottle spare thanks to a few entertaining nights over Labour Weekend.

Finally we were back on the road and heading to Whatamango Bay another 10kms further on past Picton on narrow winding road (no surprise there!) The wind was picking up and storm clouds gathering by the time we pulled in and even though we set up camp down by the water we were tucked in behind some low bushes and around the corner from the main wind which was blasting down the bay.

Whatamango is another large site but it doesn’t quite have the same appeal as many of the other DOC camps that we’ve been to in the Sounds have. The tide was out when we arrived but by the look of it I think it must roll in here which just happens to be very near the front of our vehicles. It’s not a tidy looking bay, with lots of driftwood and debris scattered about and exposed mudflats.

I know the weather has a huge bearing on first impressions of a place but unfortunately this one isn’t doing it for us. Maybe we’ve just been spoilt too much with the sites we’ve already visited but we’re both not that impressed with this side of the Sounds. We were going to move onto to Whites Bay or Robin Hood Bay on the east coast after this stop but we’ve now decided we’re going to head to Nelson Lakes for the next couple of weeks. We’ll explore the east coast side another time, I think we’ve just had too much of the same scenery for now.

We might not be too impressed with the site but these couple of crazy ducks are even less impressed with us. They think we’ve brought intruders to their patch.

I thought, at first, that they were pecking the bugs off the bumpers but after half an hour of quacking, head bobbing and climbing over each other I went outside to have a look. They were attacking their reflection, silly crazy ducks. I think they were a little crazy anyway, they’re either brothers or two drakes in a relationship. They wander everywhere together, side by side, they play in the puddles and rest together, it is quite sweet how much affection they have for each other. But now they’re starting to annoy me (and David), they keep coming back and attacking the bumper. All day, they've been here and even when I chase them away, half an hour later they’re back again, quacking and dabbing at their reflections.

The mate of this female paradise duck spends half his time chasing them away too.

The forecast gale force winds and heavy rain arrived this morning but as I type the sun is back to shining although the wind is still strong- I spoke to soon, it’s now pouring again with strong gusts rocking the van. And as I predicted the tide came creeping around the corner this morning, stopping just short of the ute.

We’ll sit it out here tonight and then head to Blenheim tomorrow and onto the Lakes.

And in case you’re wondering why we don’t just move further afield, I’ll let you into a little secret. We’re booked to cross back over Cook Strait in mid November. But don’t panic. It’s just for a couple of months. Family is calling and the call is pretty loud. We’ve done good to last 12 months without seeing our North Island families but we’d really like to catch up with them soon. We’ll be in Tauranga late November & most of December and then Napier for Christmas & January, including going camping at the Tuki Tuki River like we should have two years ago (the two caravans have been replaced with motorhomes since then). Then we’ll cross back over late January and continue on our journey.

And once again this might be the last post for awhile, I'm not sure how reception will be at Nelson Lakes.

Turn Left at the Junction- Kenepuru Head

We take a left turn at the junction just past our camp site at Kenepuru Head, it’s time to explore down the west side of Kenepuru Sound. Hopewell is at the very end of the road which winds it’s way right along the shoreline, the Crail Bay Road heads over the top of the hills to, well, Crail Bay. You’ll remember we visited Crail Bay on the mail boat a week or so ago. It’s time to join the dots!

The road is sealed for the first 5 or so kilometres but soon turns to gravel & it’s just as winding as the road into Kenepuru Head. There are more houses & farms along this side & just before the gravel starts we come across a large grassed area on the water’s edge which is a freedom camping area, one of the very few sanctioned freedom camping spots we’ve seen on our South Island travels so far.

And look what the area is called- Taradale! Now that’s a nice surprise. I grew up near Taradale in Napier, Hawkes Bay. It’s the first time I’ve seen the name Taradale anywhere else in New Zealand.

The waters of Kenepuru Sound are silky smooth, not a ripple to be seen and the colours are amazing with so many shades of blues & greens. The beautiful teal colour seems to show in the shallower waters while the deeper bays and channels are a deep blue.

In the left photo above you can see dead wilding pines dotted through the bush on the ridge in the background, the ridge that separates Kenepuru & Queen Charlotte Sounds and where the QC Track runs along the top. Wilding pines are a major pest problem in NZ, seed from commercial pine forest blocks (like the one shown in the bottom right photo) is spread far and wide and because pinus radiata is such a fast growing tree, the seedlings soon take over in the native forest. Each wilding pine has to be individually poisoned, men are either helicoptered in or have to fight their way through the bush to each tree. Once it dies the tree’s skeleton will slowly rot and eventually collapse (or crash) into the bush and rot away providing food and mulch for the native forest. This has found to be the most effective way of getting rid of the pines and it must be working because we’ve seen whole hillsides of dead and dying trees on our travels.

This very bright red bach stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the blues & greens of the countryside. I liked the sign; ‘The Wharehouse’- whare is Maori for house/home so what they are saying is ‘The Househouse’. A bit like the new horse I got the year I took French at high school, I named him Cheval!

Someone obviously loves doing woodwork in the area & donating it to the community, there are a few wooden seats placed at odd spots, the sign back at Taradale & now this one nailed to the power pole. Strangely enough we never have this problem, you can’t argue with Mr TomTom. And anyway we’re never lost, we’re just exploring.

There are quite a number of holiday homes and farms at Waitaria Bay and a long jetty, many people must arrive by boat from Havelock to this side of the Sound, it would save a long 60km plus road trip.

There are also some gorgeous old boats moored in a lot of the bays, including this beautifully restored launch. I love the chimney stack colour, just like the big ships.

I’d seen on the map that there was a golf course at Nopera, another tiny settlement not too far from the end of the road. We had discussed whether we’d take our golf clubs with us and have a game but in the end decided that we’d just explore this afternoon. We stopped to have a look on our way past though and found the greenkeepers wife doing some paperwork in the office and she offered to show us through the clubhouse! Her husband was out mowing the greens and she told us that while the membership was dropping, they still had enough members to play club days once a month.

And look at that sign board, there’s that Kiwi humour again. The car park is also a park over property for motorhomes & caravans, although a little expensive when you have a freedom camping site further back up the road.

We have seen some weird & wonderful front entrance ornaments on our travels but I think this one takes the cake! David can’t get over the amount of ‘junk’ & super sized knick-knacks that people adorn their gates, fences and driveways with. I tell him this is the rural take on gnomes in the garden.

Just before the end of the road at Hopewell (where, miles from anywhere, there is of all things a backpackers lodge- do they drop in by parachute I wonder?) we pass this luxury lodge with it’s very own jetty. On the way back we stop so I can take a photo and the manager just happens to be walking up from the jetty. He stops to talk to us and tells us that Raetihi Lodge has new owners & has just had extensive renovations and had only re-opened a couple of weeks ago. He had just run guests in the boat across the Sound to Portage where he had then taken them over the saddle to Queen Charlotte Sound where they’ve caught a water taxi back to Picton. The men in the party had been fishing while the women had been pampered. He invited us in for coffee but we declined as we still had some exploring to do.

We head back along the road for a few kilometres and then take the side road to Crail Bay passing this gentleman in his weird contraption along the way. It obviously didn’t have any suspension because he gingerly raised himself from the seat everytime he passed over a rough patch as he approached us.

It was 14kms to the end of the road and after a steep narrow wind to the top of the hill we wound our way down the otherside and into Crail Bay. But I couldn’t see the jetty that we delivered the mail to the other day. A quick look at the map and I saw that this was at the head of the bay, the jetty we visited was further along the bay around the point on the right.

By now we were hungry (and thirsty) and looking for a place to stop and have lunch, I was thinking a nice grassy patch on the edge of the water would be good but all we found was a gravel track into this jetty.

We set the chairs up in front of the ute and had our lunch in the lovely warm sunshine overlooking the bay, with not a soul in sight. If it weren’t for the two vehicles parked on the jetty we’d have thought that this side was uninhabited.

Beside the track was this old cargo shed that looked to be hanging on by a thread, the piles were rotten and worn away and  the far side was propped up by large poles.

It looked like someone has used the shed as a studio/workshop at some stage as the rotten floor was covered in gear and half finished projects including a small plane. It looked like a mould plug for a flying plane or some such I thought- similar to the ones you see at the side shows. Part of the shed had been added on to and someone has helpfully added a sign indicating the back wooden plank section was ‘historic’. I wouldn’t bet on it standing for much longer given the ferocity of winds in these parts.

We decided we just couldn’t take any more winding gravel roads and decided to head for home instead of driving the final 6kms to the end of the road which meant we didn’t quite get to join the dots with the Crail Bay mail jetty.

Bluey

Meet Bluey the labradoodle. Bluey was one of at least a dozen dogs that came camping at Kenepuru Head with their owners over the long weekend. This DOC camp allows dogs which is obviously why it’s a popular place amongst dog owners.

Bluey knows his place when he goes camping, it’s right up there beside Mum & Dad in their motorhome and when they’re busy entertaining and he gets bored, he likes to sit in the drivers seat keeping a watchful eye on passing dogs. And wekas. ‘If only I could catch one’ he thinks, as he tries to squeeze out the window.

Bluey is very good at high-fiving for treats. He knows the routine and he likes showing us how he does it. Again and again. He’s got the measure of his doting ‘parents’ Jan & John.

Bluey you are a darling. Most of the time.