Exploring Tennyson Inlet

David was going fishing and I wanted to do one of the walks in the area so I hitched a ride with him out of our home base in Elaine Bay. I was going to get him to drop me off at Deep Bay which looked to be about half way along the Archer Track, a 9km walking track from Penzance to Elaine Bay. I could have walked the 3.5hr walk one way from Elaine but then I’d have to retrace my steps and double the time as it wasn’t a circular route.

Tennyson Inlet is part of Pelorus Sound and there are quite a number of narrow fingers and bays in this part of the Sound, It would be easy to take a wrong turn & get lost in amongst the bays and deep coves. Here we are heading towards the top of the Inlet, there’s another DOC camp in Duncan Bay right at the end but the road to that part is very narrow & winding and towing is not recommended so we’ll not be visiting it with the vehicles.

From the water I can see some of the Archer Track following the contour of the hills around the bays and when we get to the opening to Deep Bay it doesn’t seem to be that far from Elaine so I make a rash decision and tell David to continue on and I’ll walk the full track from Penzance.  We pass another couple of points and turn in towards Penzance where we can see a few houses in amongst the bush off in the distance.

Close in and we can see that Penzance is a little bigger than it appeared but still a small settlement with mostly holiday homes.

We pull up at the wharf and I clamber out with my day pack. David’s a little worried that it’s mid afternoon and I have a fair way to walk. I assure him I’ll be fine, we’ll touch base on the walkie-talkie once I get underway- as long as they work. He roars off back up the bay and I ask a couple in a boat berthed at the wharf the direction to the start of the track. I smile at some wag’s sense of humour; they’ve fed the penguin a plastic fish lure! Some donation!

I find the beginning of the track and realise that I have got a walk and a half ahead of me. It’s about 2:30pm which means I’m not going to get home until early evening. Hmmm…….maybe I was being a bit ambitious, I could easily walk it but I’d have preferred to have done it in the morning and/or with somebody else. Oh well, no choice but to hit the trail running. Or at least fast walking, I’ve got a lot of ground to cover.

I stop for a quick photo at the ‘view point’ looking back over to Penzance and then push on. I suddenly think maybe if I can get hold of David before he passes Deep Bay he can pick me up from there. I call him up and get no response. For the next 10 minutes or so I fail to reach him. I think he hasn’t turned the radio on. As I reach the first point I catch sight of him way down below and let out a shout. Just as I see him pull the starter cord on the outboard. He roars away. Blast! I guess I’ll just have to keep walking.

Most of the time the track is under bush and tree cover but occasionally I get views out over the water. That’s Mt Shewell off in the distance, the one we passed on our way to French Pass.

"Taxi, taxi".......
"TAXI!!!!"

Luckily he stops to fish just below me and then he calls up on the radio, although I’m sure I could have shouted to get his attention. Great! I don’t have to walk so fast now.

He’s happy to pick me up as he was a little worried about how long it was going to take me. He roars off around the corner and into Deep Bay, calling me up at regular intervals to let me know there’s still another point to round.

Finally, after about 4kms and just over an hour I make it down to the water’s edge at Deep Bay where David is just pulling in too. I made good time probably because I wasn’t stopping so often to take photos and I didn’t have my walking buddy with me.

In the bay is this hut/bach with the handy back porch and deck! And a bigger house up the back hidden in the bush. There are 3 or 4 overturned dinghies at the water’s edge but no sign of anybody about.

Even though it’s called Deep Bay, it’s pretty shallow close in and I have to wade out to catch my ride. I’m pretty relieved as after the fast walk my feet are starting to ache.

We head towards Elaine Bay and stop for a short time off an island where David catches a kahawai which we’ll smoke for dinner later.

He then wants to show me the jelly fish and mussel farm where he went fishing yesterday. The water is silky smooth in amongst the buoys of the farm. Each row of buoys, know as a ‘backbone’ contain 10 metre drops of ropes off each buoy and on each rope are attached thousands of mussels.

And moving about between the backbones are hundreds of large white jellyfish, dozens & dozens of them moving silently through the water pumping their bodies back and forward with dozens of tiny hairs around the edge, they glide along. They are everywhere, there are plenty out in the channel too, as we move through the water you can hear the propeller of the outboard hitting them. I wonder if they sting.

The orange buoys at the end of the backbones are for navigation, the buoys in the background have no drops attached to them hence their height out of the water. From seeding to harvesting it takes about 3 years. The seed, collected from 90 Mile Beach in the Far North,  are introduced to hairy ropes (looking like frayed nylon) which is then enclosed within a woven sock. The sock holds the tiny mussels in place while they attach themselves to the hairy rope (yes that is their official name). After a few months the seed are stripped off the rope and go through the same process again but this time with less numbers so they have room to grow. The sock eventually rots away leaving the mussels in place until harvesting.

The smaller non-commercial blue-black mussel attaches itself to the buoys. It will only survive in the first metre of water so to stop it attaching itself to the commercial ropes a different rope (that it can’t attach to) is used for the first metre or so.

There are approximately 900 million commercial mussels growing in the Sounds- minus the few dozen that we’ve eaten in the last few days! Mussels are filter feeders and are each capable of filtering 300 litres of water a day which means a massive 270 billion litres of water is moved each day within the Sounds.

That’s Maud Island centre left, with the clay cliffs and line of dead wildling pines. Maud Island is a DOC scientific reserve & predator-free island sanctuary where many endangered birds are sent to recover and breed. It’s also has populations of tuataras, rare skinks & geckos. And is home to one of NZ’s most famous birds; Sirocco the kakapo parrot (when he is not touring NZ).

After our cruise through the mussel farm we headed for home, the water like a mill pond for most of the way.

Bulwer… Bul–where?

Our next road trip was to Bulwer. You will recall that on the multiple sign post at the turn off to this arm of the Marlborough Sounds, there was a pointer for Bulwer, a place I had never heard of before & one I wanted to visit as it was right at the end of the road,  80kms away. Camped at Elaine Bay, we were already half way there but 40kms on a gravel winding road will still feel like eighty.

We climbed back up to the top of Elaine Bay Road and turned onto the ‘main’ road heading once again towards French Pass. David kindly pulled over to let a truck carrying a digger past, he repaid us with a view full of dust for the next 10kms! We pulled back to let him get ahead but with not a breath of wind the dust hung in the air.

Next right Bulwer, 30kms…..

The lambs are fattening up at a fast rate around here, Christmas must be getting close. Although David tells me he heard on the radio the other day that they don’t dock Christmas lambs, too much stress toughens the meat. So it may be that this chubby chap has a little longer to enjoy the green pastures overlooking Pelorus Sound.

We wind our way down the side of the ridge for a couple of kilometres before we come to another road junction, Bulwer to the left this time but we take a short detour to check out Cissy Bay & Te Towaka.

I walk to the edge of the road on the left to check out the view and what a fabulous view it is. This is Admiralty Bay looking north towards the outer sounds and Cook Strait. D’Urville Island is the far distant finger of land on the left (with a smaller island in front of it). French Pass a good distance around the middle point on the left and we are heading to and over the far point on the right. Once again there are dozens of rows mussel floats filling every bay in both directions.

We drive down towards Te Towaka to find out that it's the farm we saw the other day from high up on the ridge on our way to French Pass. It's tucked into a beautiful deep cove with a private jetty. The road down to Te Towaka is private but we take another branch to Sissy Bay on the otherside of the bay where there were a number of holiday homes and permanent residents including one with a sense of humour.

Back up on the Bulwer Road we stop often to check out the scenery, the road is gravel, narrow & winding and we seem to be the only one travelling today. Not a soul in sight in all directions (and in fact we see no one on the way in and just 3 cars on our way back out). We can see the road following the contour of the hills along the coastline for miles ahead of us.

D’Urville Island fills the horizon.

The road drops down to sea level for a short distance in a little bay and tucked up beneath the bush are these wonderful little fishing huts. The dark green hut has a 'Kozy Nook' name plate on the wall outside.

We push on and it’s about now that David wonders whether it’s worth continuing on, the views are spectacular when we break out of the bush and pine forests, but the road is getting narrower and the twists and turns are starting to become a pain…..in the bum. I tell him we’ve come this far we can’t turn around now but we've only covered about a third of the road. This is looking back the way we've come, you can see the road running along the hill on the other side of the bay.

There’s a stain of dirty water on the shoreline of this farm ahead of us which means there must be muddy water entering the bay from the farmland behind and as we move further along the road I see that there are thousands of arum lilies blanketing the slope down to the farm buildings. Arum lilies love damp ground and there are a few water tanks buried amongst them so I think perhaps there’s a fresh water spring located under there somewhere.

My sister Gaelyn, would love to get in amongst these lilies! Arums are her favourites, many years ago she had trouble locating enough arums for her wedding bouquet. She found a couple of plants on a farm near the main road and after asking permission to pick them, kept a wary eye on the flower spikes hoping they wouldn’t bloom before her big day. In the end she was able to pick a precious few, just enough for her bouquet.

The road starts to wind higher & higher & disappears into bush again, we start to wonder whether we’ll ever get to the end.

At last we can see we’re nearing the end of the ridge, the view is magnificent, tiny cabbage trees dot the slope out in front of us and off in the distance we can see the stock yards of Port Ligar farm where we’re heading. The islands in the centre are the Trio Islands, the ones to the left protect the top end of D’Urville Island.

I zoomed in on the cabbage tree slope, this should give the shot above a bit of perspective; it was a long way down to the water.

The road is now little more than a farm track and we stop near the stock yards. It’s no wonder the sign way back at the beginning of the road says ‘Port Ligar – No Beach Access’, you’d feel pretty cheated driving all this way to check out the port and then finding out that there isn’t one. Port Ligar is a farm and although the bay we’re about to see on the other side of the ridge is also called Port Ligar, it’s surrounded by private farm land.

Looking out to the right of the ute we can now see French Pass clearly across the bay and the tiny township tucked beneath the dark green pine forest with a shallow crescent of golden sand showing where the beach is.

In front of us is another cattle stop, we must have crossed at least a dozen on the way in but this one takes the cake! I’m not sure what all the string, rope, old mudguard and other bits of plastic are doing nailed to the side frames but it sure looks like an abomination. Add to that the right hand metal cross bar has a nasty sharp end to it that has broken loose and is pointing upwards. I wonder how many tyres that has shredded on the way out.

Before we move on I climb the fence and walk along a track around the edge of the hill where this amazing sight comes into view, this is looking towards the top of  Pelorus Sound. This is Port Ligar with Homestead Bay in the foreground. The large bit of land in the centre that looks like an island is part of Port Ligar Farm and is actually joined to the tip of the point of land that we’re on.

Below us we see a dirt road winding down to the water and a homestead, at first we think that it must be Bulwer but it’s not until we drive on, that we realise the Bulwer road carries on winding it’s way along the ridge and over the two promontories on the right. The road we see is a private road down to Waterfall Bay Lodge which has cottage accommodation along with rooms in the lodge. What an amazing, secluded and remote area of the Sounds to stay at.

We carry on across the cattle stop, Bulwer can’t be too far now. Mr TomTom says 6kms which again feels like double that with all the winding up and down and around, we feel like we’re heading back up the finger on the eastern side. We can now see Homestead Bay and the lodge from the other side and the thin isthmus that joins the large ‘island’ to the mainland on Port Ligar farm.

Finally we pass a sign advising us that we’re now entering Bulwer Scenic Reserve, it’s now about 2pm and we haven’t stopped for lunch along the way in the hope that we’d get to Bulwer and be able to have it on the beach.

For the next 2kms we herd this family of sheep (including the black sheep of the family) down the road, they try running up the bank but then come crashing down in front of us and they refuse to run off the other edge when there are a few gaps. I tell David to slow down even more and then stop as they tire, hoping they’ll make their way over the edge without the pressure but no, no matter how long we leave it we find them ahead of us again. Finally as we break out of the bush they take a flying leap over the side and head off towards a collection of houses in the bay below.

And there below us is Bulwer and by the look of the road end, cattle stop and signs it’s a private farm too, which will explain the sheep in the reserve. Bloody hell! All that way and we can’t get down there.  David’s reserved English nature (yeah right) tells him he can’t intrude and we must turn around.  I tell him we’re not coming all this way and not going down there. Plus I’m starving and I certainly don’t want to drive all the way back up to the top to have lunch. I can see a couple of people wandering about so I tell him I’ll ask if we can have our lunch on the water’s edge. He’s very reluctant but we drive on.

We stop near a woman walking up towards a house with a large sheep walking alongside her. I get out and for my troubles the huge wether sheep head butts me in the bum. ‘Lucky’ doesn't like me interrupting his walk.  I explain to the lady that we were hoping for a reserve at the end of the road where we could have had lunch and were surprised to find that Bulwer ended in their farm.

She says no problems, drive on down to the beach and you’re quite welcome to have lunch at the ‘Cigar Hut’, just watch out for the farmyard animals they may make a nuisance of themselves, as she slaps the sheep on the nose just as he lines me up for another head butt. This farm also has some motel units, 'Cedarview Cottages' and guests obviously use the hut for happy hour drinks. We move the picnic table out into the sun and make ourselves at home.

There are some old boats moored out in the bay and in dry dock on the beach, there’s old sheds and old houses and a few baches in the settlement too. A small runabout arrives at the wharf with guests for the motel. The farmer is a little shy, he’s working in the shed (old house) near where we’ve parked. He tells David that his grandfather jumped ship when he was young and swum ashore and claimed the bay as his own. And the family have farmed it ever since. He had lived there all his life (about 65 years I’m guessing). It's a 2 hour drive to the main road and then another hour to Nelson if they want to visit the 'big smoke' although I suspect he hasn't left the farm in years.

This was the shed the farmer was working in, as it turned out it was his grandparents home and up behind that was his parent's family home (now rented out) and off to the side and towards the back of the settlement was his family home. By the look of it, the jeep must have belonged to the grandparents! The old cargo shed would have been used to store wool & other farm products, waiting for the coastal shipping boats to come and collect from the wharf.

We finished our lunch and thanked the farmer for his hospitality (his wife had disappeared along with 'Lucky'). After another interesting road trip it was time to turn tail and head for home…

Wild Ride - Elaine Bay

We survived a wild ride last night, a ride that felt like an eight hour earthquake as the van rocked and bucked underneath us. It was our wildest night ever on the road. We’d arrived at the DOC camp at Elaine Bay yesterday afternoon. Elaine Bay is 17kms further on from Okiwi Bay on the otherside of the Sounds ‘arm’ that we are exploring. This side should have been more sheltered than the west side but now I’m not so sure.

The severe gale force winds that were forecast around the country started battering us early in the evening and by midnight were thundering over and under ‘Out There’, banging, crashing and rattling us from all directions while we hunkered down in bed waiting for the next big thump. Today we are shattered, I think we had about 3 hours sleep all night. Poor David must have made about a dozen forays out into the weather to check on things, shift the ute, tie down the boat and tie down the van! Thankfully it wasn’t cold and the rain only came for a brief time just before dawn which was also when the sky lit up with lightening!

We pulled the slide out in just after dinner when the wind started picking up, the awning that unwinds and protects the top is sprung-loaded & acts like a sail when the wind gets under it and we didn’t want to have that rip on us or pull out. We have quite often pulled the slide out in, that’s nothing new, it just depends on the direction of the wind.

But last night the wind just kept on intensifying and it swung wildly around us rattling the awnings on both sides so David threw a couple of ropes over the top and tied them off to the suspension. The boat was tied to legs of the van and he shifted the ute around to the front to try and break some of the force. That was good for an hour or so but then the wind changed and came roaring at us from the sea, blasting us with sea spray which has coated the van from head to toe in salt, and threatening to blow us over. I had visions of us climbing out through the escape hatch and a flattened ute. I kept recalling mentions of ‘willywhirls’ in the Sounds, great funnels of wind ripping down the steep sides of the hills and capsizing boats. Well never mind boats, I’m sure it was going to tip us over too.

Inside the van the noise was at times deafening, you could hear a gust winding up, roaring down the slopes around us as it whipped through the trees and then whacking us full force. I thought the roof hatches were going to blow out at every blast, I kept leaping out of bed to re-tighten them frightened the wind would get underneath and rip them off. In the end David tied them down with electrical ties. Finally around 6am the wind settled a little and we were able to grab another couple of hours sleep before it picked up again and has been battering us off and on all day.

David spoke to a couple who came down to check on us this morning, they had been worried as there has been a motorhome blown over here in the past. We couldn’t have shifted last night even if we wanted to as the wind was just too strong, along with the fact that there was nowhere to go close by, we’re on a small reserve tucked into the end of a bay with a steep narrow road up onto an exposed ridge. If this wind keeps up (and it looks like it might) we’ll hitch up the ute to add some stability to the nose of the van. David already has the ropes in place ready to tie down and the hatches have had the ties replaced and are ready and waiting. Wish us luck!

Of course, this blog post now hasn’t quite followed the sequence of events as they happened so I’ll step back 24 hours and post some of the photos from the trip over to Elaine Bay.

This is climbing out of Okiwi Bay on the other side of the harbour; Okiwi settlement is on the far left, Goat Hill (where I walked the track) is across the water, centre right. In the water just below you can see the remnants of an old mussel farm. The road up this side is steep and very winding, David had the ute in low-range 4WD and it handled the work load really well.

Once up the top, the road is an easy run along the ridge for the next 10kms or so before dropping down into Elaine Bay on the opposite side to this cove, which I see is aptly called Squally Cove. I bet the westerly wind whipped down this narrow bay last night.

Squally Cove is also part of Croisilles Harbour where Okiwi Bay is located. If you look closely you’ll see hundreds of rows of mussel floats lining the shore all the way around the bay. Here’s a zoomed in shot.

And the only reason we have such a magnificent view is because the pine forest below us has been felled, the slopes are now covered with pine seedlings and a mass of bright yellow- gorse bushes in flower. The air is saturated with a sweet perfume, I didn’t know that gorse could smell so lovely. I assume that this is where the logging trucks we were warned about, were coming from. They’ve long finished their job.

At the end of the tarseal the Elaine Bay road drops off to the right, a gravel road continues on towards French Pass.

Elaine Bay is a quiet little bay (well it was) with just a few holiday homes, a handful of permanent residences, a jetty, a wharf and a tiny marina. It is here that the mussel barges come to off load their sacks of harvested mussels. Mussels from the hundreds of mussel farms located around this part of the Marlborough Sounds. This does not include the farms in the photo above; they’re harvested from the other side directly to Nelson. The mussels that land here are loaded daily onto truck & trailer units that make the journey to Nelson twice a day. It’s these trucks that rumbled passed us while we were parked at Okiwi Bay and the ones we timed our run to miss when we came over the hills to Elaine Bay.

Looking back from the end of the jetty, you can see us parked to the left behind the bush. The yellow house (a holiday home) looks totally out of place in this environment, not only the colour but the size. The people that came to check on us this morning said that the glass panels around the deck were shattered on this house the same time as the motorhome was toppled over.

And with the wind still blowing a gale, this loaded mussel barge came down to the wharf this afternoon but didn’t off load it’s cargo. It pulled in for a minute and then backed out and headed off. We’re not sure if it was dropping someone off or it was too windy to offload.