We decided that Alex would sail the boat to Lyttelton (32hrs) by himself, while I drove our rental car (5hrs) down to meet him so that we would have transport for a few more days.
I waved him off at 8am on Monday morning and set off on a very pleasant drive, about half of which was along the scenic east coast.
While Alex was enjoying a windy (20’s – 30’s kts, gusting 40kt) and bumpy ride, I made a few scenic stops to enjoy looking at seal colonies and then checked into a Christchurch hotel for a good night’s sleep. The next morning I relaxed in the seafront library at New Brighton, while Alex continued to ride a fresh northerly. Finally, around 4:30pm, I caught his lines and welcomed him to Lyttelton marina.
The next couple of days were a blur of boat jobs, shopping and packing. A highlight though, was meeting Jim and Tory, a few boats down from us. Jim is the Harbourmaster for the NZ Subantarctic Islands and he and Tory have been to the Auckland Islands many times (Tory more than 30!), so you can imagine what a wealth of information they were to Alex.
Too soon it was time to say goodbye. Lucy and Alan arrived and, before they had a chance to even say hello to local friends, there was a whirlwind of boat and weather briefings and (on my part) a handover of the purser’s role. Alex was keen to set off for the 48nm trip to Akaroa on the other side of the Banks Peninsula – the start of the push southward!
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