Jet Boat.

Wednesday, 1st January 2025

The alarm went off at 6:30am and we promptly got up, got ready, and were out before 8am to leave in plenty of time to make the 1hr 40 min drive. However, the drive took less than 40 minutes actually. The last 20 km were on gravel roads, complete with loud, RED hazard signs. What we noticed was the clouds and the chill of Fiordland National Park at such an hour early. 

With time to fill we found a 40 minute loop walk. However, even with photos and discussions it took about half that. So we decided to do the next walk, but the mud didn't seem worth going through. 

Finally Kevin arrived with the jet boat. A quick signing away risk and life jacket fitting and we were off.

We went towards Mary’s Island to hear about the princess skeleton in the cave. The cloud was down all around us so we could barely see the edges of the lake and it was cold. The handrails were heated fortunately so our hands did not freeze. We then got a small bay called Teal Bay after the teal ducks that live there. There was a small DOC hut but it stunk, so we didn’t hang around for long. Quickly, back on the boat we headed towards the sunshine and the 47km of river.

The boat could travel in very low amounts of water but it needed to go faster than the river to maintain this. We zoomed and bounced along the river occasionally ducking for low hanging trees. The scenery was incredible and we saw lots of birds including shags, tomtit, kaka, karearea, and the big fat kereru. The trees were bright red because of the rata (this is a relative tree to a pohutukawa). 

We all had fun and are sure this is the best trip we have ever taken in a boat. We then arrived at the Southern Ocean. We couldn’t see Stewart Island because it was hidden by clouds. Dad took lots of photos including one with the boys in front of the southernmost telephone box. We could not go inside it though because of a bumblebee nest. buzz buzz. 

The beach doesn’t have any sand, just pebbles. So the boys did what boys do, and threw the rocks. We took a walk to the lodge for lunch. Being coeliac, we had brought our own sandwiches but there was some BBQed venison that was too yummy to pass up. We got to look inside the lodge, making sure to be very quiet because people were sleeping. One of the boys had to go to the toilet. A thing of interest was that the towel holders were deer antlers. 

After lunch we made our way into the bush. The walk was full of mud and some interesting challenges including a steep incline that needed rope supports. There was a 5 person max bridge that went over the river. One of the boys was very eager to cross except he couldn’t open the gate that stopped possums moving from the non 1080 side over to the poisoned one (and so the eradicated from side) . The other boy pushed the other out of the way and successfully opened the gate. 

We then all made it onto dry land just in time just for Kevin to pick us up. The boat was now filled after we picked up 5 walkers from the Hump Ridge track. They had spent the last three days walking over hills in the clouds with poor visibility. The quick, but spectacular scenery boat ride was much preferred by all of them.

On the boat was a woman from Queensland, a couple from Queenstown, a couple from the Czech Republic, us, a couple from Christchurch , us and skipper Kevin. We made our way up the river (standing for lots of the journey with permission because we were in the back, yo). By the time we had made it to the lake the cloud had lifted and we could finally see the mountains. We then got back onto the jetty and said goodbye. 

After a short drive we were home. We then got back chilled, ate dinner and then ate apple pancakes that mum made. We then chatted with a family from Tauranga. We then hopped into bed and went to sleep. One of the boys had other plans and kept everyone awake. No one else in the room was happy with this decision with anger levels increasing as the foolish behaviour carried on.

One of the boys signing off for now.