Friday was a fine day and we set out for a putter around. There wasn’t much wind, but we did put the sails up for a little while.
We pulled into Double Cove, a cozy little nook not far from Picton, and enjoyed lunch while looking at the baches (holiday homes) surrounding the bay. Alex had to get in the water to remove some weed from the rudder, but we decided it was a bit too cold to swim.
Since we are now members of the Waikawa Boating Club we decided to go along to the club for dinner on Friday night. We met a number of very lovely, kind sailors there, including Liz and Dave who, within half an hour of meeting us, offered to loan us their car so that we could reprovision in Picton! We took up their offer the next day and restocked on essentials (beer, wine, and pies from the bakery). Sunday (rainy) was laundry day, interspersed with more friendly chats with boaties.
On Monday, with a forecast for light NW winds we set off to the outer Queen Charlotte Sound, which is considered to be the gem of the Sounds. As we set off we passed some hillsides covered in in dead pine trees, which was not very gem-like! A google search informed me that the Dept of Conservation is trying to eradicate the feral pine trees from some areas of Sounds to allow the native bush to regenerate. They do this by poisoning each individual tree – what a mammoth job!
Dead pine trees, pine trees yet to be poisoned!
Soon we were in the outer sound and it was truly gem-like! We approached Motuara Island, hoping to pick up the club mooring. It is a bird sanctuary and on the “must see” list, but we missed going there last time we were in NZ. Unfortunately the mooring was taken by a big motorboat whose skipper insisted that his boat was 35 tons (the maximum allowed on club moorings) and so we couldn’t raft up. Sigh… we’ll try again tomorrow.
Instead we popped around the corner into Resolution Bay (named after one of Captain Cook’s ships) and picked up a club mooring in front of a campsite along the Queen Charlotte track. There were a number of trampers/bushwalkers/hikers having lunch on the beach when we arrived, but they’d moved on and, by the time we’d dinghied ashore, we had the place to ourselves.
