Cook Strait Survey 1983-1984 a Drogs
Perspective.
This is a resume of the survey from my perspective, as an
LHA onboard HMNZS Monowai.
I was involved from the earliest part of the survey, January
1983, with CPOAHS Terry Ashdown, MW’s Chief H.
At the time I was Coxn Astrolabe. We were tasked to drive (Monowai’s LWB
Landcruiser) down to Wellington and start the process of the reconnaissance. On the way we took the Western Access and
halfway down the steep approaches to Lake Waipawa we saw a car stopped on the other
side of the road and stopped. They want
to be towed up to the top of the hill which we did. We got on our way and a
Germen couple waved us down by the Lake Waipawa ablutions block. Their car had been stolen. Sigh.
Anyway, when we got to Wellies, the next day, Terry boarded
an Air Force Sioux and flew over the Rimutaka’s to Wairarapa and identified a
suitable Hi Fix 6 Site near Lake Ferry. Regrettably
the wind climbed to Gale Force from the Norwest and the Sioux couldn’t fly into
the wind back over the Rimutaka’s and was forced to fly up the Wairarapa to the
Manawatu Gorge, and onto Ohakea Air Force base to fuel.
Next day found us heading out to Makara (northwest of
Wellington) for the second Hi Fix 6y site. With both secured we took the Ferry
to Picton and based for phase two of the Recce at Air Force Base
Woodbourne. I should say it was as per
for January, very hot, very dry, and hard ground, which was great for driving
in Marlborough.
The next 3 days found us at Cape Campbell (Lighthouse),
White Bluffs (near Blenheim) and Fighting Bay (near Cook Strait Cable Bay),
establishing the last three Hi Fix 6 sites.
A fair amount of 4-wheel driving, especially Fighting Bay, which we
needed to drive up a long Fire Break. A
little story to come.
So what was a Hi Fix 6 (aka Slave) site? By and large there
were up to 6 sites erected by Monowai on large scale surveys. Northern 3 sites were two unmanned (portable
generators to power site) sites and one manned site and same for southern
sites. A manned site had two large
caravans, one a large generator caravan and one accommodation caravan (3 pax).
For Cook Strait survey there were five, Makara (Manned) Lake Ferry (unmanned),
Cape Campbell (Unmanned), White Bluffs (near Blenheim and Manned) and Fighting
Bay (unmanned).
Soon after, me and Terry rejoined Monowai and presented our
data. Monowai sailed forthwith
(February) for the Strait and on arrival teams were set to task to erect all
five sites. All caravans had been
delivered by road and were ready to be tasked to their Hi Fix 6 Sites. I wasn’t personally involved with the Wellington
sites but had a hand in the Cape Campbell and Fighting Bay site erections.
Cape Campbell site was close to the Lighthouse and for
probably the first time ever, a large power cable was buried in the ground from
that Lighthouse to the nearby Hi Fix 6 position. A straightforward erection. This site never needed any follow up maintenance.
Fighting Bay was different.
The site we had chosen had a small stand of Manuka on it. We had chainsaws and slashers, but some
bright spark suggested we place the Landcruiser’s winch cable around the stand,
bend the hook back onto the wire and heave in.
Worked a treat. However, during
the erection of the site, someone miscued a shackle supposedly meant to land at
the side of that vehicle and it went clean through the windscreen. The drive back to Woodbourne was bitterly
cold.
As I stated earlier, I was an LHA and Coxn of Astrolabe and
soon after Monowai’s Bulk Survey Storeman (BSS). The first Boats Survey was the
coastal areas of Palliser Bay. With the
weather in the strait being very changeable we had to be very careful about the
wind as we would invariably be hoisted in a choppy sea. The other issue was all
the craypots in the whole Palliser Bay area.
There were several instances of SMB’s (Survey Motor Boats) fouling the
props with buoy lines. The water was
always bloody cold (the Sub-Antarctic Current flowed into the bay.)
On the other side of the Strait (Cloudy Bay) the SMBs always
had Bull Kelp to contend with as well as rising winds.
As stated, I was BSS, and most of my job was to construct
our Current Meters for deployment and recovery.
My CO (Commander Ken Robertson) asked me how long I would need to
construct and deploy a current meter in toto?
Confidently I said 30 minutes. I oversaw
the evolutions and deployed 7 in total throughout the Strait. All had a timer release mechanism which
allowed us to deploy many heavy weights and chains which were left on the
bottom. Of the 7, one never
surfaced. The hard hats (buoyancy) were
located near Port Underwood, and it was found one of the key bolts had
cross-threaded. Just an aside, NSD had
very little stock of 1/34 Hundred Weight sinkers, so we sourced a large stock
of railway bogeys. They arrive don Queens Wharf, Wellington just as I was
crossing the brow in civvies. Wrong,
lol. Next few hours had me and duty
watch loading them onboard and securing them outside the BSS.
Another cool duty as BSS was a strange one. When the SMB’s started surveying from
Sinclair Head around towards the Cook Strait Cable site shore marks had to be
placed so those SMBs could sextant survey. Typically Whitewash paint. I was tasked to drop bombs (plastic Bags with
Whitewash paint) on prominent spots, from a hovering WASP. Fun time.
Part of mine and Terry’s recce job was to establish tidal
stations. One site we identified was at Port Underwood. The spot was ideal as it had a fence going
into the sea from the land. When we
approached the landowner (farmer) a Mr Strang (without an e) denied us
access. Terry got his copy of the Lands
Act out and let him know we had rights to occupy. Later, when a few of us landed from Monowai to
erect the pole and Guage we had to spend 25 hours on site to complete
erection. The farm had a woolshed nearby
and we went to settle down for the night.
Nope. Evicted. We had to sleep on the beach with just a
sleeping bag each.
Anyway, back to HI Fix 6 sites. As stated, two were manned. Usually an LME/LMM, an LRF, and a spare bod
(driver/cook) Sometimes that spare would be of any branch with a 4X4
ticket. You could find anyone from a
writer to a seaman to an SA. Usually an
AB, but on occasions a Leading Hand. It
was deemed a perk. In late 1983 I was
deemed lucky enough to be posted to White Bluffs site. Every day we would check all three sites
(234km round trip) We were also on hand if Monowai had issues with their
beacons.
A little aside, HI Fix related. After SOPAC 1983, Monowai redeployed to Cook
Strait and teams were deployed to resurrect all the manned sites (located at Woodbourne
and Trentham). My team was deployed to
Trentham. We had the short wheelbase for
living caravan and long wheelbase for Genny.
I had the Genny and had done all my checks and preparations to commence
the journey. We got onto the Hutt Motorway
and missed the Makara turnoff. My load I
was thinking was very heavy. I was lead
caravan and we turned off at The Terrace.
As I turned into the street the guys in the rear radioed to tell me our
four wheels were on fire. Got the fire
extinguisher and dealt to the flames.
Turns out the brakes were locked on.
I checked the brake mechanism and someone had put it on. I never trusted
young Subby’s again.
Every fortnight The Ghost would go to Wellington, Napier or
Nelson for R&R and we also had R&R.
LME Sedge Sedgewick and I would go into Blenheim (the No 9 Bar) or
Baggies Bar at Base Woodbourne (our LRF was teetotal). The No 9 Bar was also
the Police Bar, and we all had a great time.
Due to this liaison, we’d have the cops out to White Bluffs for some
beach fishing and a few beers. On one occasion, the cops picked me up in a van
(10 folks) and we headed south to Christchurch to watch the French play AB’s at
Lancaster Park. We had front row seats.
There was no shortage of booze as they had a duty driver.
We ate like kings. It
was 11km from SH1 to the site on farm tracks. There were heaps of Turkeys on
the road and the cocky said help yourself.
We did and fair to say we got sick of Turkey. We never got sick of Koura though. One of the cops said pop into the factory not
far from us, as they don’t keep the cray bodies.
That is basically it.
Apart from seeing firsthand the major Faultline that spread from Te Ika
o Maui to Te Waipounamu, massive.
Ka kite ano, nga mihi
Zaps
1976 – 2000 Survey Rating
Monowai, ML Takapu, ML Tarapunga, ISC Tarapunga, Resolution,
Tui
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