Marlborough Sounds–French Pass and Mt Stokes

With good weather in the forecast, and some minor maintenance taken care of, we traveled North to the Marlborough Sounds. 

Even on the edges of the sounds, the wind and tides from the recent ex-cyclones have left their mark.

With a few hours on our hands we walked part of the Cable Bay walkway.

From there we drove out to French Pass.  Located between the entrance to Pelorus Sound and a nearby Island, this narrow gap varies from a few meters at high tide, to a rocky reef at low tide.  The captive tide waters rush through changing direction with the peak and low tides.  While treacherous to sailors, it is amazing to watch.

This small yacht went from over 15 knots to a near standstill as it pushed against the tide. 

The beacons on the left and right mark the main channel.  The left one is built on a rock only above water for about 30 minutes at lowest tide, when the current is at its fiercest. 

A concrete base had to be poured by hand, with workers' boats slingshot-ed by a tow vessel, and grabbing hold by hand!  After each concrete pour from buckets yielding about 6 inches of concrete, only 2 inches would survived the rushing tide (despite being covered).  

The standing wave upstream is over 2 meters tall.

Here is the lighthouse.  The Keeper's house is located farther uphill.   A local family has had three family swim crossings of the pass, starting in 1927.  I guess rural isolation and the extreme kiwi self-reliance result in great stories.

During the spring tides, the torrent of water rushing over the reef makes a vast sea of foam that completely fills the bay beyond.

The drive out to Admiralty Bay and French pass is a winding and narrow road across the top of the ridge between the sounds.

The next day had a forecast of clear skies in the afternoon, so we started to walk up Mt Stokes.  The highest point in the sounds at over 900 meters, it is the only location in the sounds with alpine vegetation. It also has a commanding view of the sounds from all directions. 

Unfortunately we had to get our of our camp site first.  With several days of cool temperatures and rain, the ground was a bit muddy.  As any off-road driver knows, wet grass over hard clay can be as slippery as any ice.  So when backing out of our camp spot, the back of the van drifted downhill, and slid along a ditch.  Normally not a big deal, but a couple of trees were in the way.

At least it wasn’t raining too hard.  So we broke out the MaxTrax (the locks weren’t rusted stuck this time!).  I aired the tires down and dug a guide channel for the front wheels.  The Sven saw made short work of the offending branches.

A little corrective steering and a three-point turn had us out.  Elapsed time, about 15 minutes.  Of course, it took longer than that to clean the mud off the gear and from the driver's floor.

Of course I had left our winch in storage on the North Island.  Otherwise it would have taken about 5 minutes to get us out.  With all the trees around (Australia never had trees when we needed them!), an off-angle pull would have done the trick.   Without the tree, we could have gotten free with a bit of wheelspin and a rock or two, but breaking a window or the awning was not gonna fly.

Clear of the mud, we drove to the Stokes Car park, which was just a three-way junction in the woods…  Our hike ended up being a wash, with the mountain making its own cloud cover (and gale winds).  This was about the best view we got at about 1/3 the way up.