Cruising in the roaring forties

Jan Mitchell tells why she enjoys cruising in the roaring forties so much.

The Southern Ocean: it’s not exactly an area that rushes to mind when thinking of cruising grounds. However, with increasingly hot summers, cruising in the cooler climes of southern Tasmania and Stewart Island, New Zealand, makes a lot of sense.

Ian and I cruised southwest Tasmania, in Osprey, our Brolga 33, in March-April 2005. Five years later, in March 2010, we sailed Osprey to the east coast of Stewart Island via Cook Strait and the east coast of the South Island.

Both islands have physical characteristics in common, although the much smaller Stewart Island has a miniscule permanent population (800) compared to our southern Australian state. Every day in summer, planes and ferries drop off enough tourists on Stewart Island to double the regular population. Backpackers swarm to the advertised tourist venues.

Getting away from civilisation

There is plenty of opportunity to get away from all civilisation. Both islands have large areas of national parks, heavily bush clad and with large bird populations. They are ideal destinations for those who like safe, uncrowded anchorages and bush walking. There are also wild rivers to dinghy up and plenty of opportunity for the amateur photographer. Stewart Island is a haven for pig and deer shooting as well. The national parks huts where the hunters stay are well marked on the charts.

The weather

The weather in southwest Stewart Island is less benign than that of Tasmania in late summer, the best time for cruising in these areas. Only a few hardy cruisers sail around the south of Stewart Island. More commonly, they sail down the west coast of the South Island, visit Fiordland, then continue on to the east coast of Stewart Island via Foveaux Strait. Another approach is to sail from southern Australia across to Fiordland.

Approaching our mid-sixties, we felt we were not prepared to risk the fierce winds that can batter South West Cape. A friendly Kiwi who has been there told us of waiting for up to two months for a weather window to move on.

At 47 degrees south, Stewart Island is further south than most of Tasmania, so the weather on its west coast has thousands of miles of the roaring forties ready to pound the coastline. With encouragement, my husband might have tried sailing there, but I refused to even entertain the thought. Consequently, Port Adventure, a day-sail south of Paterson Inlet, was as far south as we ventured. After that, the coastline veers south west to Port Pegasus, where, we were warned, one can be weather-bound for weeks.

I spent my very early childhood near Invercargill, the southernmost city of New Zealand. I absorbed enough stories of the violent weather in Foveaux Strait not to want to go there either, especially not from east to west. On the other hand, I also grew up with a healthy respect for Cook Strait between the two main islands, and I have sailed there with no problems. It is all a matter of waiting for the right weather window, and this applies to all sailing in New Zealand and Tasmania.

Settlements

The only settlement on Stewart Island is Oban. This small town lies on the waterfront of Half Moon Bay. True to its name, the bay is wide open — to the east. Paterson Inlet, a very short distance further south, offers far greater anchoring protection and just a short walk over a small hill brings you into Oban. There is, relatively speaking, plenty of boating activity in Paterson Inlet. Despite its name, it is a very large harbour with many bays and islets for shelter from strong winds in any direction. It is possible to find yourself an anchorage on your own or with only one other boat. In many respects physically, Paterson Inlet reminded me of Sydney Harbour as it must have been before any settlement, but colder.

Safe anchorages

During one south-westerly blow, we shared an anchorage with what, from a distance, looked like a fishing boat. In fact, the boat had been modified for photographing predators in the wild — mainly sharks of the man-eating variety. The owner, a New Zealander and his mate from California, were expert wildlife photographers and the owner had not long had his boat fitted out for taking very adventurous tourists on white pointer shark viewing tours. To this end, he had a huge aluminium mesh cage on deck, which could be lowered into the water with people inside. However, we were shocked to note the size of the space allowed for camera activity. The top quarter of one side was open. When Ian commented, the guys proudly showed us how you could lower yet more of the side, leaving it half open. We felt that was too much exposure to a white pointer!

Old whaling station

When the rain had passed, we walked together to the nearby ruins of a Norwegian whaling station from the early 1900s. The area is signed and once housed very extensive workshops and slipways. Many huge propellers and other bits and pieces of whaling activity were lying on the beach. Afterwards, these guys generously cooked freshly caught fish for our dinner.

Ian and I enjoy visiting isolated places in Osprey. Being the only people in a beautiful anchorage holds a special appeal for us. We feel blessed there are still places on our planet that we can reach, where there are no crowds and only birdsong echoes through the air.

Riding the dinghy up rivers

From deep inside Port Adventure, we dinghied up the Heron River. Heavy, wet, dripping forest crowded the muddy shores. The day was cool, close to light drizzle, but we were well dressed for the occasion, wearing sea boots, track suits over merino underwear, waterproofs, hats, gloves and scarves. It would be nice to have a silent electric outboard for such adventures. We feel guilty about the noise of the 3hp Mariner, so when we turn around, we let the tide and current carry us whenever possible.

That river outing was quite a contrast with our ride up the Davey River in Tasmania. We had sailed the day before from Maatsuyker Island to Bond Bay, at the entrance to Port Davey. We awoke to a brilliant day, so we packed up the dinghy for an outing up the river. Weather can be changeable in these latitudes, so apart from lunch, we took warm clothing, hats, boots, mosquito repellent and waterproofs. Instead of cold wet winds, the sky remained cloudless and the sun beat down on us. We stripped off our upper clothing and wrung out shirts in the river water to cool our burning skin. It had never occurred to us we might need sun screen! It reached 28 degrees that day, the same temperature as on our first day in Oban. On each occasion, the heat preceded a south-westerly change and in Stewart Island, we saw little of the sky for the rest of our visit and temperatures rarely reached over 20 degrees.

Bush walking

Another adventure was the trip up Melaleuca Creek. Despite calling it a creek, this river is navigable by yacht. The passage is marked by sticks. The river leads inland to the tin mine, Department of Conservation hut and the landing strip. From there, many walks, both short and long, are available. Most require walking boots. The location is the junction of the walk from Recherche bay via South West Cape and the walk to Macquarie Harbour. To complete these walks requires weeks and much fortitude. Walkers usually fly in to the area.

I have written previously in this magazine about our attempts to dinghy to the upper reaches of the Gordon River to the Franklin, and also of some of the walks we did there. Unfortunately, many of the more isolated walks shown on the Department of Conservation maps of Stewart Island were so over-grown, we were unable to find them. Perhaps it was lucky for us that it was so, because many hunters were out. They obviously didn’t want us getting in the way of their bullets or disturbing the pigs and deer they were stalking.

Bird sanctuary

We spent one very enjoyable day exploring Ulver Island, a bird sanctuary within Paterson Inlet. Such a sanctuary is necessary, because, just as in Australia, Europeans brought cats, foxes and rats. With many ground dwelling and some flightless birds, New Zealand’s wildlife suffered alarmingly and many species are now very endangered or already extinct.

Many tourists visit this island, with at least three ferry businesses bringing in passengers every few hours. We sailed over and anchored in the lee of the island, near a beach where we could land the dinghy. The island is very well maintained by the Department of Conservation. All the paths were well made and many trees signed.

At a beach on the western side of the island, where we stopped for lunch, wekas, cousins of the nocturnal kiwi, came rushing out to scavenge for food. One even tried to climb into Ian’s backpack. This was a decided contrast to a tiny islet in Lake Wanaka in the South Island, where we had been taken by my eldest brother to see the rare and shy weka.

Services and supplies in Stewart Island

Yes, Stewart Island is very isolated everywhere except in Oban and Paterson Inlet. Despite this, it is possible to buy all supplies in Oban. Prices are a little more expensive than mainland New Zealand, because of transportation, but diesel can be delivered to the wharf at Paterson Inlet in your jerry cans if you don’t wish to front up to the ferry wharf in Half Moon Bay, where the fishermen fill their boats. Put in your grocery order two days beforehand, and all items not regularly kept by the local grocery store will be sent over by ferry from Invercargill. The hotel can fill your alcohol order. You can do your laundry in the token-operated washing machine at the back-packers hostel. If you don’t wish to sail back with the boat, the travel agency will book you on the ferry or a flight to the mainland. These services operate every day.

Our visits to Stewart Island and to Southwest Tasmania were both wonderful adventures into very special wilderness areas. We happily exchanged the worst heat of summer for the coolness of the forties latitudes.

CHARTS AND CRUISING GUIDES

Aus176: Port Davey including Bathurst Harbour.

AUS 176: Approaches to Macquarie Harbour.

Macquarie Harbour Navigation Chart and Gordon River Navigation Chart by Trevor Norton.

Cruising Guide to Tasmania, by Bellingham.

Tasmanian Anchorage Guide, published by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania (Hobart).

NB: Other cruising guides for Tasmania are also available.

NZ 6823 Stewart Island: Paterson Inlet (includes sub chart of Half Moon Bay).

NZ 6912 Stewart Island: Port Adventure and Lord’s River.

Cruising Guide to Stewart Island, published 1996 by Mana Cruising Club (Attention Peter Foster), PO Box 57-045, Mana, New Zealand.