After a rough night's sleep on the 2:30am ferry over from Wellington were delivered exhausted and bleary eyed into the port of Picton at around 6:30am. The buzz of newness revitalized me long enough to make the short drive to our campsite where we were to rest and recoup from the long and mostly sleepless night. Awaking bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning we kicked it into gear for the first real day on the island. We took the leisurely drive along Port Underwood road on the far eastern end of the sounds, winding and twisting and climbing and falling on what we were to find out was a typical sounds road. Along the way we passed many coves and wonderful viewpoints, but many of the beaches had no public access and the weather wasn't exactly on our side, leaving us with sense of something to be desired. It wasn't until we hit White's Bay that the day really got good.
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| Fresh off the ferry |
White's Bay is a small crescent shaped bay sporting a becoming deep emerald hue. Aside from the raw beauty of the bay it's also framed by some interesting rocky headlands, and it was these headlands where I got my first taste of the wild and rugged beauty of the South Isle's coast. I walked onto the craggy rocks just as a man donning a snorkel mask and wetsuit was readying a bucket and preparing to wade into the water. Having previously heard of the abundant shellfish and crustaceans in these waters, I inquired as to what he was shopping for. As we were talking, another man and his son came onto the rocks and I ended up chatting with them for some time. His son was eagerly wading into the waters and browsing through the crevices in the tide pools pulling out massive ten and twelve legged starfish. He was on the hunt for Paua (aka abalone), but ended up walking away with only about ten massive green tipped mussels. My curiosity was piqued - that you could just walk up and grab what would cost dozens of dollars in a supermarket to go home and cook fresh that night was enticing, especially to a super budget conscious backpacking schmuck like myself. Nature provides.
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| White's Bay |
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| The hole in the rocky headlands of White's Bay |
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| The tide pools |
As it turns out it wasn't so easy for said inexperienced schmuck to find anything big enough to take. I spent several hours walking along the rocks and staring into each tide pool, watching the waves move in and out hoping to spot anything worth going in for. As I moved further and further from where the people were, I did start to see some unique things: pink underwater flowers bobbing to and fro with the tides, and a few kelp plants peculiarly perched outside the water. I found plenty of baby mussels clinging to virtually every surface, but to my novice eyes it looked as though the grounds had been picked clean. After a while I'd just given up on spotting mussels and resigned myself to just exploring the coast and doing some light rock climbing. I'll tell you though, I've never been more enamored with the ocean, or the thought of taking up fishing.
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| Underwater flowers? |
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| Baby green tipped mussels |
Over the course of the next few days we explored a few of the twisty and remote roads leading deep into the sounds. A few huff and puff hikes rewarded us with sweeping 360 degree panoramas of impossibly beautiful coastline and some of the purest blue ocean waters I've ever seen. The weather was a crap shoot, but the wind died down and it began to clear up towards the last day or two on the sounds. If we had been on a different sort of trip we would have definitely gotten out onto the water to explore the sounds via boat, but alas, this time it just wasn't in the budget. Sigh, what a life…:p
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| A loooong way from home |
These are just three of the photos from various lookouts. There are far too many to worthy photos to post here for your viewing pleasure, so be sure to check out our facebook.com/escapefromthebay to see more.
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