Great Barrier Island Things to Do

If you are going to be on Great Barrier Island in January the Great Fitzroy Mussel Fest is not to be missed. I believe that it is New Zealand's only mussel festival and is held around 10 January. Port Fitzroy mussels are harvested fresh from the sea and are cooked in a variety of ways from hot off the barbecue to seafood chowder and smoked or even fritters. Washed down with a cold beer this is an experience not to be missed. (don't worry you don't have to bring your own - someone else has done the hardwork for you). There is always a band and stalls where you can spend your hard earned money.

If you are making your own way from Auckland you can come in by ferry or plane and there are a number of buses or private transport that will take you to Fitzroy. If sailing in, get in early for an anchorage not too far away and then row or motor in on the trusty dinghy.

Another walk, this time an easy one, is up to the waterfall. Mostly flat, there is some walking across rocks on a couple of the stream crossings. There are a number of water holes for swimming on the way up, otherwise save yourself for the main pool. We were here this Jan 2011 and there hadn't been much rain so the waterfall was a shadow of its former self. Access to the walk is from Forestry Bay just across the road from the DOC office.

You must try some of the walks on Great Barrier, a number are accessible from the various bays around Port Fitzroy, a very sheltered part of the island on the western coast which is protected from the elements by Kaikoura Island.

If its a hot day and you don't feel like a walk uphill, explore some of the streams - lots of nikau palms in some areas

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A real favourite with boaties, particularly yachties who don't have much water to carry around for showers, is to stop off at Smokehouse Bay and have a bath. The bathwater is heated by a stove which you feed with wood you have chopped yourself (its considered bad form to use the wood and not replace it). Nothing better to start or finish the day.

The other alternative is the outside shower with a beatiful view.

One of the more worthwhile walks is up to the well preserved remains of one of the Kauri Dams. It is approximately a two hour walk (depending on fitness) from the Kaiaraara Track and a bit longer if you enter from Bush’s Beach. We anchored in the bay and took our dinghy to the beach and walked from there. At Bushes Beach there is the remains of a “lawn” a picnic table and a long drop toilet. It is also possible to join the track from Port Fitzroy and I believe to come down from Windy Canyon and Mt HObson.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) have over the last few years spend a lot of time repairing and improving the track and its suitable for most ages and levels of fitness and they have put in quite a few steps on the steeper bits and bridges over some of the streams. I recommend walking sandals or shoes, but not jandals as I saw some people wearing.

Kauri driving dams were built by loggers to drive large quantities of kauri logs downstream. This allowed access to areas that were too remote and steep to remove logs by other means. Because the Kauri forests were usually well inland and there was no easy way to get the logs to the sea the logs were dragged to a convenient stream bed with steep sides and a Kauri Dam was constructed of wood with a "trapdoor" near the bottom large enough for the logs to pass through. It sometimes took up to 2 years before the dam was full enough with both water and logs to be able to be released and drive the logs downstream to the bay where they were held back by log booms, before being taken to the mills.

Over the years the lower dam has been falling apart, but DOC have been doing restoration work to try and preserve this piece of history.

The dam was huge and you can get some idea of the size by the people sitting on the rocks below.

A real favourite with boaties, particularly yachties who don't have much water to carry around for showers, is to stop off at Smokehouse Bay and have a bath. The bathwater is heated by a stove which you feed with wood you have chopped yourself (its considered bad form to use the wood and not replace it). Nothing better to start or finish the day.

After a storm a few years ago the place has been rebuilt and now features a brand new bathhouse plus an outside shower. Great for washing off that salt and sweat after your walk up to the Kauri dams.

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Ghost Bay is a popular spot that boats and yachts aim for for the night, as it is generally calm and quiet. A gently curving bay, the pohutakawa trees reach down to the high tide mark. The bush is home to lots of bird life, and so my early morning swim was to the sound of kingfishers, bellbirds and tuis. I'm not sure about the naming of the place, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any ghosts there! If there are, they are peaceful ones.

The pohutakawa tree is also known as New Zealands native Christmas tree, as its red bottle brush type blooms appear around Christmas time. This was the 3rd year I have been fortunate enough to visit at this time, although this year the blossoms were not so prolific for some reason.

Port Fitzroy hosts an annual celebration of the mussell. There are a number of mussell farms around the Barrier, and this is a great opportunity to experience them in different ways, fresh from the water.
The mussels on offer are the large, succulent Greenlip Mussel, and the waters around Gt Barrier are clean and clear, which makes for very tasty mussels!
The Mussel Fest is usually held in the early part of January each year. The most recent one was held on January 7th 2006