Background noise: I have been to Tamatea. Its amazing. There is no internet or ph or anything so I have been writing and photographing but couldn’t post. Then it was “go home stay home” so now I am stuck in Queenstown. So I am going to post the stories each day and once again live in the moment. I also think you can comment now if you are subscribed so hope to hear form you.
Tamatea – Dusky Sound.
(Saturday 14th)
I have spent days stressing. Worrying. Wondering.
Despite my history and career choices I have never been a good sailor. I try to be . Real hard . But to those you who say its mind over matter, I say feck off. It maybe many things; inner ear, balance, even eyesight and brain connection but it is definitely a state of reality and not a matter that can be controlled by my mind.
The swell map reads red, (by the way that’s bad). The boating forecast map reads 1 (by the way the scale is 1 -10 and ten is good.) So you get the picture. I buy my sea legs plus some ginger lollies plus some miracle herbal snake man medicine. Got to be good for you and here I am. In my cabin on a small vessel in Tamatea – or Dusky sound
First to be discussed is the helicopter flight in. I have done a few and have always enjoyed the view and the experience. The only one which I felt on edge was on my 50th when we did one to the Daintree mountains and then out to the Great Barrier Reef and as we went to the Daintree it was misty and cloudy and hit a few bumps and I certainly did not like the experience of turbulence in a helicopter. Now I have a new experience of helicoptering up the valleys towering above following the lakes arm, in the sleet and then up and over the mountain range in the the snow and mist and in the moments when I did open my eyes up there it was very spectacular but for me the majority of it was still best viewed with my eyes closed and breathing 4 in 4 out..
The helicopter lands on the vessel and the smiling group who was before us begins their journey out with cheery waves of hi and goodbye and comments of what a great time we will all have. On arrival we make our way to our cabin sunk low on the vessel, with large windows out onto the water and we settle in.
There are 17 of us here and we are here to do a photography workshop. I am an imposter with my little Olympus mirrorless camera. They talk about what lens to use for what whilst I have only just learned how to take mine off the manual settings and get a good depth of field (I know fancy right). At least WH can say he hasn’t a clue but I wish he would refrain from saying “no my wife is the photographer” as it may be the case in his company but right here right now its feels like a lie.
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We meander up the sound which is technically a Fjord and we learn the difference. A fiord is glacier carved and a sound (technically Sund) is a safe haven. So technically we meander up the fjord but with red and ones outside the entrance the Sund sounds perfect.
We anchor a a great little bay which I have already forgotten the name of and we tender up to the edge of the sound. The native bush is jurassic looking. Its dense and wet. It has depth and texture. I hope I can capture it on my camera.
We are told the tannin in the water washing down from the mountains means the first metre or so is fresh and then it turns to salt. One of the guys cups his hand and takes a handful concurring that our trusty, skipper come tender driver come tour guide was indeed correct.
I think the strongest feeling of the day is that Maori named this magnificent place “Atawhenua – shadow land” and it is so apt. My wish is to capture that “Atawhenua” as the shadows run back into the horizon in layers that are quite spectacular.
We finish the day with a meal of fresh crayfish and salad followed by a delightful dessert of some sort of sorbet with beautiful bits added and a couple of glasses of easy to drink red wine. Its hard to believe the trepidation I felt this morning was real as this place relaxes the mind and eases strokes the soul.