“On a Mish” #176 The World’s Greatest Show-offs. Meretoto / Ship Cove. Queen Charlotte Sound. 30.8.2020. As far as hospital waiting rooms go, Kaikoura Health Te Ha o Te Ora must have one of the best views on this planet. During the five hours wait to see the doctor, my sister and I had a lot of time to study the epic view of Mt Fyffe(1602m), and the rest of the snowcapped peaks of the Seaward Kaikoura Range. While recovering from my back and hip injury I managed to break my wrist, this mish was turning out to be much more ‘interesting’ than expected…
Before my minor mishap my original afternoon plan was to camp at an easy access spot somewhere in the Seaward Kaikoura Range, now with my new injury it was not possible, but a not so bad plan B was hanging out with the Whanau in one of the South Island’s gems (Kaikoura). The plan was to head north the next day, aiming to cruise Queen Charlotte Sound once we reached the top of the south.
An early-ish start the next day had us packing up and heading north up the South Island’s East Coast for Waikawa. Hats off to the incredible road workers for work that has gone into not only rebuilding the road north of Kaikoura but also making it almost as visually pleasing as the stunning coastline. As the road weaves its way around the rugged coastline there are still signs of the 2015 earthquake in the form of the hundreds of slips throughout the mountains that are visible from the road, along with all the new construction.
We arrived at Waikawa, and after a night in the near empty camping ground (probably thanks to the very chilly weather) the Whanau headed to Picton to go on a cruise out to the very historic site of Meretoto / Ship Cove. This was my first visit to the spectacular waters of Queen Charlotte Sound and, having worked in both Piopiotahi/Milford Sound and Patea/Doubtful Sound, it was great to finally visit a place in New Zealand with the correct title of ‘Sound’. We jumped on the ‘Mail Run Boat’, which not only had a few sightseeing passengers like us, it also a couple of hikers getting transported to the northern start of the Queen Charlotte Track.
It was our lucky day, as with the sun shining and unusually warm August weather, we encountered a large pod of Dusky Dolphins after only ten minutes cruising the sound. I used to see the ‘World’s Greatest Show-offs’ all the time in Fiordland, but it had been some time since my last encounter. It is near on impossible to not be impressed by the antics of the ocean’s acrobats.
Our journey took us near the open ocean at the entrance of the sound, where we swung to the west into Meretoto / Ship Cove. Aotearoa is a very young country when compared to the rest of the world, and the memorial at Ship Cove is one of the oldest historical sites (European) we have. The place oozes ancient NZ history which is rare due to our young age.
After leaving the cove we made our way to Endeavour Inlet, where we learned about New Zealand’s first bodiless murder case, a change in tone from the tales about early Māori and Cooks exploration. On the final leg of our return journey to Picton Harbour we again crossed paths with our Dolphin friends, and it was awesome to see both young and old going nuts for the ocean’s greatest show-offs – just like back when I was working in Fiordland. These sleek sea-going mammals are right up there with nature’s best entertainers!
