Adventure yarn: Fiordland 2.0, with Mark Jones
Adventure yarn: Fiordland 2.0, with Mark Jones
How about this for an experience? Summer just gone, Mark Jones and Hannes Shultze braved the infamous Roaring Forties to kayak 375km around the Fiordland coast. Their tale is an inspirational one.
When I cycled around the coastline of New Zealand, I was never further from the ocean and beaches than the inland ride between Tuatapere and Haast. The untamed wilderness of Fiordland - the country’s largest national park and major part of Te Wāhipounamu UNESCO World Heritage Site - stood in my way. I haven’t forgotten it and still spend a small fraction of every day cooking up ways to ‘fill that gap’. Or just traverse it some other way.
One man who’s traversed it another way is Mark Jones. The adventurer and senior lecturer of outdoor education at AUT first popped up on my radar in 2021 with his impressive 40 day traverse between Te Waewae Bay in the south of the south to the Eglinton Valley, near the Milford Highway. As is true for so many adventure addicts, once was not enough for Mark. He wanted to link the start and finish of his initial traverse by sea kayak. Summer came and off he went, this time taking a friend, Hannes Shultze.
Over the course of three weeks, Mark and Hannes battled huge waves, hunted for their sustenance, slept in remote huts, built creative campsites and suffered spirit-crushing gear fractures as they paddled north. They initially planned to end at Piopiotahi/Milford Sound, but were enjoying themselves so much, they skipped the bustle of the most popular tourist spot in the land and continued on to Jackson Bay, in Westland.
Upon completion, Mark was kind enough to let me email him a bunch of questions, to which he emailed me back his answers. Here we go…
Dunc Wilson: Why did you want to do this?
Mark Jones: I feel like turning this question on its head and asking who wouldn’t want to have done this trip - exploring some of the most stunning coastline under your own steam, living on sea food and venison obtained with your own hands, waking up at a new place each dawn as part of an unfolding adventure with a good friend. What could be more satisfying to the soul? I have always loved our wild places in NZ and believe strongly in the value of challenging oneself. Journeys in nature are a way to do both. Most of the best experiences I have had, those ones I look back on with a sense of gratitude, that give me a warm glow inside when I think about the accomplishment and the experiences I got to have, are the bigger, wilder journeys. The greater the challenge, the deeper one has to draw on one’s skills and resolve and self-belief, the greater the sense of satisfaction. There is a balance to be struck of course... misery and terror mean you got something wrong...
“Success is not guaranteed with journeys such as ours, that’s what makes them an adventure.”
This trip was meant to close a circle I had conceived several years ago: a traverse from Te Waewae Bay to Milford [Sound] by sea, having completed the same by land in 2021. As it turned out, our timing was off for the South Coast, which was being belted by an endless succession of gales from the southwest, so we ended up starting our trip further north at Doubtful Sound instead. Success is not guaranteed with journeys such as ours, that’s what makes them an adventure... At least I know what I will be doing next summer, and the experience we got from this trip will help us make good decisions on that next one.
DW: How did you arrive at the decision to team up with Hannes?
MJ: This time, I felt this was an experience to share for whatever reason. Part of that I think was having the intention to get most of our protein from the wild and knowing there would be lots of great encounters that would be nice for someone else to be part of. It was difficult to find a partner. Most couldn’t commit to the time away, but Hannes was in the right place at the right time in his life and was able to say yes. I was extremely grateful. We’d only shared a few day trips spearfishing, but we have known each other for a long time. I just had a really good feeling about doing a journey with him. It was better than I thought it could be, we had a lot of funny times amongst the adventure stuff. We just seemed to always be on the same page with decisions and what needed doing. In that way we were just really compatible and this meant we had none of the frustrations that can come from shared adventures, when you have different expectations, objectives, risk thresholds, work ethics, etc.
DW: What was the highlight?
MJ: The highlight was the fact that this trip had serendipity. Things fell into place in beautiful ways from the time we left Auckland until our return. We experienced some significant challenges that threatened to end the trip or end our ability to blog, or posed significant hurdles to overcome, and yet at every turn good fortune would come our way in all manner of ways. The people we knew and met along the way were a big part of that.
The physical highlight was experiencing the big ocean swells and tail-winds on the open coast. We would paddle out of the mountains, down serene fiords out into the liquid mountains of the ocean. In either direction it was like going through a door. We had 4+ metre swells at times and I felt very tiny out there. It was exhilarating, with the swells booming against jagged points and the rugged coast, while the scenery was various degrees of dramatic the whole way.
DW: What was the toughest section?
MJ: The toughest section proved to be the coast north of Milford Sound because of the exposed beaches, which presented challenges both with landings and launchings. I experienced my most difficult departure out through surf here, weathering 23 breaking waves (as counted on the GoPro afterwards) before getting out the back. One wave, about to break was so big I chose to roll upside down (to avoid a certain backward surf and pitch-pole) before Eskimo rolling back up. It was a strategy we had discussed but I never thought I would actually choose to do it. I had never done this before. On a landing later that day we were both pitch-poled, with Hannes unfortunately stoving in the nose of his kayak. A day later it was another pitch-pole landing, but with much more severe consequences, folding my kayak at the front hatch, which split open the bow and opened both side seams (one side for about 50cm or so).
DW: How did you fix all that up?
MJ: We were prepared for damage to gear, but the boat damage was a level above our worst fears. Despite this, we found a way to mend both boats using what we had. In the second case we essentially sutured up the splits in my boat by melting holes with hot wire, and using heavy gauge fishing line to sew them up. Silicon and duct tape finished the job. The ability to make tools and to problem-solve is an integral part of journeying. You have what you have and you have to make it last the distance with what you’ve got.
“The warm glow of success is the prize, coming away realising you are stronger than you thought you were.”
DW: What kept you going through those dark moments?
MJ: The dark moments came in the form of situations with equipment that threatened to put an end to the trip or the ability to share it through the blogs. Getting through those was about being resourceful with what we had and thinking laterally to problem solve our situation; not giving up, essentially, but believing there was a solution and just needing to find it.
There were physically challenging times too, like day two when we battled away in Doubtful Sound with 30-40 knot headwinds on the points, edging our way up the fiord, not knowing if we would reach our destination that day or be forced to turn back. Neither of us thought we had that sort of day in us that early in the trip, but I think we drew on each other’s energy and resolve and it was a very satisfying day once it was over - type 2 fun...
You expect to have tough times, times when you need to dig deep. That is part of the experience. The warm glow of success is the prize, coming away realising you are stronger than you thought you were. This is part of the equation with adventure. When you explore the dimensions of a mountain, of your country or of the Fiordland coastline, in this case, you discover something of your own dimensions. Your perception of self changes. You never go back to your old dimensions.
DW: What was the biggest surprise?
MJ: Seeing a skua flying above us. I had never seen one in NZ and didn’t realise they frequent our waters. They do apparently. Also the albatrosses which piloted us up the coast. I hadn’t really been expecting to see so many at such close quarters. It made it a whole lot less lonely out there on the big wild ocean swells seeing those fantastic mariners working the wind.
DW: Favourite hut?
MJ: Hard to pick...
Deas Cove for the amount of leftover food that we could bolster our meals with and we got our first kaimoana (sea food) here.
Big Bay Hut for its spaciousness and charm.
Caswell Sound hut for its historic character (built 1929). We got our first venison from there, arriving back after dark, wet and bedraggled, to a nice warm fire and good company.
Kaipo Bay hut for the resident falcons that woke us up in the morning with their cries.
We liked to stay in the huts, especially if rain was forecast, but not having a hut was often more rewarding. Turning a patch of rough into a home for the night is very satisfying because it uses many more campcraft skills. Cunning and resourcefulness become the most valuable commodities. It’s a lot more creative, especially down there where there are so few places that afford a comfortable camp opportunity.
DW: Advice to others trying a similar endeavour?
MJ: Do it. Research well, prepare well, go into it strong, leave your ego at the road end, and listen to what the land and the sea have to say.
Mark Jones and Hannes Schultz paddled the Fiordland coast to raise funds for the Mental Health Foundation. The fundraiser is still open and you can donate here: fundraise.mentalhealth.org.nz/oneinthewilderness20
If you’d like to see more of Mark and his wild as adventures, check out his Facebook page ‘One In The Wilderness’.