New Zealand - South Island

[Al Walker]

Originally Posted by jim_thomsen

We plan to spend winter 2010 in New Zealand and we would like to explore the South Island. We have friends who have sailed in Fiordland and I have a copy of the Steward Island cruising guide. What other information is available? Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

What sort of information are you after Jim, exploring by land or by sea? There are cruising guides covering the whole of the South Island now, which are reasonably good. If there's anything specific you want to know about the East Coast of the South Island, we had a leisurely sail up and down 6 months ago, and stopped off in most places.

Drop me a line if I can be of any help

Alastair

[jim_thomsen]

Kestrahl,
Thanks for that! We were next to a guy from Lyttelton in Nelson and he told us not to go into the inner harbour, that it had sustained damage and navigation was affected. Considering your comments, I'm thinking he was a bit negative ... but then he'd bailed on the entire area and moved to Nelson! I'll adjust the text.

[jim_thomsen]

Hi Al,

This original message was from last year when I was trying to learn more about sailing on the south Island. Too many people told us that sailing around the South Island was crazy (of course, these were people from Northland who had never sailed there.) So last year we bought an old campervan and toured South Island and Stewart. And it was so beautiful we decided to sail around this year. That was a great decision!

What a beautiful country you live in! Dunedin is a great town, we really enjoyed our time there. We stayed at the Otago Yacht Club and the people were wonderful.

Thanks for the offer for information....maybe we will come back again!

[Kestrahl]

Originally Posted by jim_thomsen

Kestrahl,
Thanks for that! We were next to a guy from Lyttelton in Nelson and he told us not to go into the inner harbour, that it had sustained damage and navigation was affected. Considering your comments, I'm thinking he was a bit negative ... but then he'd bailed on the entire area and moved to Nelson! I'll adjust the text.

Yeah he sounds a bit negative.. The moorings in the inner harbor are the same as the have always been, the manager tries to keep one of the 50ft berths free for visiting yachts, there are showers/laundry and a social room. Navigation wasn't affected and the port and harbor have been as busy as ever - I think people have been enjoying getting out on the harbor this summer past to get away from the issues on shore!

As I said before tho if you had to choose somewhere to stop between the two then Akaroa is the place. But if you have time to kill and enjoy citys then Lyttelton/Christchurch is worth a visit.

[Al Walker]

Sorry I'm too late Jim !

Yep, we thoroughly enjoy the sailing down here, and Dunedin is better situated than people think. Not too far from Stewart Island, easy to get up the coast. Most of the stop-off places are very welcoming. Glad you enjoyed the place as much as we do.

All the best

Al

[weap10]

Heres a few tips for anyone visiting fiordland

Don't let the sandflies scare ya off, they're friendly little buggers.. If you use deet, it doesn't matter on the concentration just that is has some. Deet is designed for mossies not sandflies though so it doesn't work that well. None of the herbal/natural repellents work at all. The sandflies do go away after dark so you can sit under the stars worry free. You could try and make some sort of flyscreen for your deck hatches/vents/doorway because you really don't want them inside at dawn.
Rumour has it Te-hine-nui-te-po gave us the sandflies to keep us from being lazy!

I've lived in Milford Sound for ten years and they still bite me but I don't get an itch anymore.

If you decide to cruise Fiordland get a copy of Mana cruising clubs - A boaties guide to Fiordland.

It is a bit out of date but pretty good.

Heres some general tips.

Its not uncommon to have 40kts coming down the narrower fiords on a sunny afternoon.

If it is blowing 30kts outside the fiords it will be blowing 50 inside at the narrow parts.

In the winter it is not uncommon to have 25-30kts SE coming out of the fiords and nothing in between them.

Weather in the winter is more settled, and the sandflies are a lot easier to deal with.

The steep walls create crazy whirly-walls and wind fronts from all directions - even straight up.

Look out for logs, especially if there have been high tides/storms. Some float straight up and down.

Look out for crayfish bouys they can be anywhere.

VHF contact with Taupo doesn't generally work in the fiords.

Fisherman don't bite especially if you feed them beer. They do start work bloody early though if you share an anchorage with them.

The fiords to the north are the steepest and narrowest, the landscape changes gradually to flatter and broader the further south you go.

The northern fiords are more dramatic and remote (except milford) but the southern fiords have more to explore and better anchorages.

Anchorages are generally deep. So have lots of rode.

I see anywhere between 15-30 cruising yachts every year. So its pretty quiet.

Thats all I can think of at the moment. Its a beautiful place that you will never forget if you visit, I moved into Fiordland National Park when I was 18 to save some cash to go overseas. I'm 29 and still here.