HMNZS TE KAHA
- We’re Off to the Falkland Islands?!
TE KAHA is currently operating off the Australian East Coast, taking part in the ‘Fleet Concentration Period’ with ships of the RAN and aircraft of the RAAF and RNZAF. She returns to NZ in mid-March. But while the frigate’s company practise their warfare skills, they still enjoy spinning yarns of their recent voyage south. On board TE KAHA, a recent Lateral Recruit (ex-RN) and now ‘trainee-Kiwi’, POMT(P) David Griffiths, recalls his shock at being told…
A wave of despair washed around my ear holes and gurgled despondently down my steaming boots. In the RN I had been there already - a rain-sodden bleakness, inhabited by quiet farming folk who all look disturbingly alike. Hang on though…I’ve misheard. No, not the Falkland Islands... it’s the Auckland Islands we’re bound for! Or to be more precise, the Snares, Campbell and the Auckland Islands.
So what are they like then? All palm trees and dusky maidens I’ll bet. All these South Pacific islands are like that aren’t they? That’s what I was told when I signed on in rainy London. In TE KAHA’s MCR*, Kiwi eyebrows are raised in unison...”Yeah right”.
No, no palm trees, far too cold for that, I find out. We’ve been tasked with going to NZ’s sub-Antarctic taking a combined group of DOC, Royal Society and environmental assessors together with stores to inspect and re-supply these remote southern islands. So, after two days Christmas leave (well, at the end of any leave period it always seems far too short) and a packed week’s preps, TE KAHA left DNB for Bluff, NZ’s southernmost town. I’ve only been in the RNZN since April and not long in TE KAHA, so I still have a slightly different perspective on things, and even going to Bluff is “exotic” to me.
On the way to Bluff we met up with CANTERBURY, and it was good to see her out on the Big Blue with a bone in her teeth. We got alongside at Bluff and uplifted our guests and 30 tons of wooden walkways, timber, stores and even a large septic tank. The islands are protected off-limit reserves and are only visited a couple of times a year. Most of the work will be to extend the existing walkways and to assess the impact tourism might have on the local flora and fauna.
After a couple of days in Bluff, with the quarterdeck and fo’c’sle now stacked with timber and the septic tank atop the hangar looking like a new aerial for the WE dept, we left for our first stop, Campbell Island.
A day later, anchored in Perseverance Harbour, it was only too apparent how tight an anchorage we had, to enable us to carry out our tasking. With the steep hills around, we always had the real danger of a squall hitting us out of the blue. They also restricted the envelope the helo was going to have in order to uplift all that wood to where it was needed.
Our RHIBs went in on the first of many trips ashore to the permanent DOC jetty and were promptly ‘mugged’ by the gang of large bolshy sea lions that had taken up residence there. Throughout our visit they seemed to enjoy the game of fronting up to the strangers on their turf. Meanwhile, onboard it was literally ‘all hands in’ to get the stores ashore quickly, not easy as we had to manoeuvre 16 tons of 4x2 timber through the ship whilst helo ops were on, but with a typical TE KAHA team effort we ‘got it done’.
About 50 of the ship’s company were lucky enough to get ashore and have a look, including some who did an 8 hour trek encountering more sea lion gangs, albatrosses and a disgruntled 1½ ton elephant seal. A squall made for an ‘interesting’ departure as TE KAHA sailed, then we made our way to the Auckland Islands where our divers took part in an ongoing survey to monitor the spread of the invasive ‘Undaria’ seaweed, while the majority of the ship’s company and guests visited the large seal colony at Sandy Bay. Due to bad weather we could only spare an hour to stare at Snares Island before sailing for Dunedin to disembark our guests, leaving them with a good impression of the RNZN and a well-earned respite from lumpy southern seas.
All in all it was a successful 3 weeks and I know a lot of TE KAHA’s ships company and our guests have had an enjoyable time. I’m glad we came. I’ve seen a lot more of my new country, a part that few Kiwis will see.
*Machinery Control Room
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