AUCKLAND ISLANDS, N.Z

DIARY OF THE INVERCAULD EXPEDITION

@ Invercauld Publications

Dec, 1994

Weather still appalling. Sat around during morning and by 11:30 began to look as if we might get away. Favreau Straits very rough (woman in store commented that if you can cope with the Favreau you can cope with anything!) - seas calmed as we got into lee of Stewart Is. Saw first albatross, cape pigeons. Seas running high by 11.30 p.m. Glad to have storm sheet holding us in. (Canvas "screen" between bed and attached to upper bulkhead). Ship rolling as well as pitching - who needs a cradle!!!

DEC. 2: 11 p.m (25 miles from Auckland Is - speed 9 knots.)

Fair winds today -picked up a fine easterly - went for a bit without engines - speed dropped by only one knot. Albatross and petrels around ship all day. Will make landfall about 3 a.m. - went to bed fully dressed.

DEC. 3:11:30 p.m. ( Quietly at anchor in Laurie Harbour aka Ross Harbour).

Incredible night! Got up at 1:30 and went up to the wheelhouse - there on the horizon was a dark, linear smudge. The Aucklands! It certainly wasn't pitch dark - light from the moon behind the clouds. Stayed for over an hour watching the shape on the radar become reality - first Enderby Is, then Rose Is. Went back to bed about 3:30 as we worked our way steadily down the harbour to safe anchorage. Roused from my dreams by the engines stopping and the clank of anchors being dropped. A few voices and then all was silent.

Woke at 7 to the sun pouring through the porthole. Having learned not to take the sun for granted, dressed and went on deck. An incredible sense of unreality being here...cape pigeons soaring above, the ever returning albatross -- simply can not describe the magic of these huge birds soaring without a wing-flap --around, over, high, down - skimming the wave tops, and then higher and higher to repeat the ageless dance.

The island is as I expected - yet not. Overwhelmed with the bleakness BECAUSE I too came by sailing vessel..36 hrs. in fair winds. The great rocks on the top! Slight reddish haze on the hills as rata beginning to bloom. The chunks of rock which are these islands I have only known as names on a map lie before.

Weighed anchor about 10 for the west coast. Chugged along watching a map become real!!! Into N. Harbour for lunch - 4 Hooker sealions played all around the boat for the longest time. Saw 2 yellow eyed penguins.

1:30- out and onward to west.The sense of anticipation as we came around Column Rocks was almost tangible. The first glimpse of the wall of towering rock was a heart-stopper. I had seen them in air photos with the best stereoscopic equipment, I had looked at the top sheet and seen the ominous joining of the contour lines - but nothing could prepare us for the wall of rock which met our eyes. Amazing - 1200 feet straight up! Seas unbelievably calm - were able to get right under cliff for the back swell kept us out.

We examined each cove with Grampa Holding's manuscript being read over and over and over. We were absolutely right in saying that there was no way a ship could have gone in where it is marked on the map. The next small cove was possible - but didn't quite match. The second cove is most likely...single rock in the middle, cave....

Headed back about 6 p.m. in soft evening light - followed by the albatross, petrels and skuas soaring high. One of God's perfect days!!!!

DEC. 4.(Laurie Harbour)

What an incredible unbelievable, breathtaking day!!! We could have to go home tomorrow and I would feel that we have accomplished more than a satisfactory amount! Cloud was well down over the hills so decided to hike along e. coast to Dea's Head and beyond to try to identify Invercauld survivors' camp by Lindley Point (n.e. point of main Auckland Is.).

Dressed for rain and set off after thoroughly disinfecting our boots so not to bring any seeds onto the island from the mainland. Over the side - down the ladder into the dingy and ashore on the rocks by the Hardwicke site -- huge kelp beds, mussels and winkles. Brenda ate one right off the rocks - raw - Paddy began a day of photographic frenzy - as frankly, did we all. Have already finished 3 rolls of 36 and one video film!

Cut into the bush and suddenly before us was the flagstaff - just standing there - whole question of preservation vs. natural decay strikes very vividly as you see these historical sites simply rotting away! On to the Victoria Tree - sad remnant of what was - carving almost gone.

Tour of Hardwicke site - nothing much left after 150 years - can still see the indentations of where the buildings were. (Note: settlement of 200 people set up by the South Seas Whaling and Fishing Co. of England. Lasted 1848-52).

Worked our way down the coast -- all fitted manuscript descriptions. Each beach had its resident bull sealion (common term - beachmaster) ... some were more complacent than others! One very aggressive chap who was NOT going to let us spend time on HIS beach viewing the Transit of Venus site. He chased one group of us off the beach and then came back for the rest of us!!! Despite size (about 600 - 700 kg.) these guys can really move!!! Next beach had an even more determined individual... these are the young bulls who have lost a number of battles and who aren't going to get a harem except for a cow or two they can weed off the edge of a larger harem.

Climbed Dea's Head... almost at top (300 ft) I got the feeling I was being watched - turned my head and looked straight into the limpid eyes of a young female sealion not more than two feet away. She had let all of us pass without moving - absolutely no fear. As we were sitting resting she ambled over to Brenda and snuffled her pack. Apparently the females will go to quite some length to get away from the bulls. We left her in peace and continued on. All through the bush are paths made by the sealions- they don't like the rain and take shelter in the bush! Description of N. area in manuscript right on.

Magic moment at dusk - back on board - Lance called out - "a whale"... of course everyone went topside "Where?" "Way down there - can you see?" No - he had gone - then the shocked whisper "He's right beside the bloody boat!" A Right Whale about 8 - 9 m. long lying about 50 yards off - he went down again and then came up on the other side of the boat so close that we could have stepped onto his back!!! Amazing... he rolled partly on his side and you could see the eye taking us all in - down the side of the boat and back again. He hung around for about 10 min. and then was gone.

DEC. 5th . 4:30 p.m. (Stern deck of "Evohe")

Another perfect day! Usual morning discussion as we listened to the weather forecast and watched the rain come in over the hills. Decided to go for Rose Island. Sun came out and stayed out - surprisingly warm - like early Sept. at home.

We took a close look at the gut between Rose and Friday Is. and Friday and mainland - they certainly would have to have picked a better day than this to go over! (Castaways had built a boat from seal skins and sticks to explore beyond the main island.)

We landed in the cove next to the one with the Dept. of Conservation sign on it -- BY PERMIT ONLY. Walked the shoreline and came to the conclusion that where we had landed was likely the one from which they were rescued. Searched for the hut site - with imagination there was a flattish lump but no sign of the fireplace. (We found it - some distance away on the 1995 expedition).

@ Invercauld Publications

Island low with central ridge - dead rata trees all over - low grass since rabbits just cleared out last year -- little skulls all over.Hiked up the ridge and over to the cliffs on the north side. Indescribable - fit Holding's description exactly!! Sea pounding in - Pete (our DoC representative) assured us that this was a calm day! The sights that filled this day - volcanic formations, curious sealions, Nellies having lunch on a dead sealion.

Hiked up one very unusual waterlogged cut - Pete pointed out nesting penguin (yellow-eyed), several others visible when you knew where to look. (Yellow-eyed is second rarest penguin species after the Galapagos penguin).

To be among birds that have no fear - who will sit and watch you come towards them is an amazing experience...comes to very few...we have been fortunate in this life!

@ Invercauld Publications

DEC. 6th

Not a beautiful day(!) but decided to head up to the hills. Geared up with packs made last night. Set down on the rock at an angle to the center slip - figured easier going. (slip= landslide area - there were three on this side of the Hooker Hills). Pete had rifle incase goats or pigs seen. (Eradication still going on.).

Unfortunately we WEREN'T put down in quite the right place and ended up hiking somewhat (!) further through rata bush than we expected. Incredible - tightly knit bush - had to follow seal trails on our stomachs at times! Impossible to bend branches. Robin had his sleeping pad on the outside of his pack and it was literally torn to bits. Paddy - "just tell everyone you threw it at a charging sealion!"

Finally made it to the slip slope - (after climbing a tree! Compasses useless due to magnetic anomalies.) At this point Brenda discovered she had lost her "power lounger" - some lucky sealion!

Made good time up slope but it didn't last nearly long enough! Back into dense forest - not rata this time but finer bush and myrcene. By now rain coming down in torrents and high winds.I now understand how some of the men of the Invercauld simply gave up, lay down and died. Before seeing high wind and 80km wind on the top of a sub-antarctic hill I couldn't imagine. It was powerful, and frightening.

Now above the tree line - only tussock grass - but what tussocks - if you walk between the earth is up to your waist - and the top of the grass shoulder level. If you try to step from one to the other - an extremely long reach for someone 5' 6". Mud in between that goes half way up to your knees! The myrcene (thorn-like bush) is knitted together - and in some places even covered with tussock so you are walking on a second level. Quite dangerous if you fall through.

Rain now coming in sheets across the "tops" (hills) - could see it flying horizontally! Headed towards the bare rocks on the top which R.Holding described - to try to get some shelter... dropped down behind a myrcene bush for lunch. Time for major discussion and decision. To risk not finding a campsite and being stranded - or say "no go" and head back down with people from the boat who didn't have the overnight permit?

 

(This diary will grow as I have time to write!! )