Sounds familiar?

Tennyson Inlet, Marlborough Sounds

So that was decided then. But before we could head back up to the Sounds there was the minor matter of popping across the ditch to Sydney for a couple of days to do a talk - as you do! The plan was that I would fly over to Oz on the Monday, do the talk on Tuesday, fly back on Wednesday and then leave for the Sounds on Thursday morning. Simple but hectic and sounded like a bit of a recipe for disaster to me!  However, Howard assured me that he was OK with the idea of having to pack the boat and generally get everything ready for such a quick turnaround, and, as he so rightly pointed out, we had very little choice if we wanted to get a break in before Easter.

Darling Harbour, Sydney

 Sydney came and went in a bit of a blur, a 6.00am start at the Convention Centre to do a presentation at a breakfast meeting adding insult to injury (I don't do mornings - or late nights, come to that - I'm more of your afternoon person!). And as I sat on the plane winging my way home after a very brief dalliance with Australia I was satisfied that my trip across the ditch, in spite of all the early mornings, had actually gone pretty well. I just hoped Howard had not had too heinous a time with organising and packing for our trip to the Sounds.

Dunedin International Airport!

A very relaxed-looking Howard greeted me off my flight at Dunedin Airport. Yes, everything was OK and he'd got most things ready, he told me. We just needed to sort out our clothes, which with the best will in the world wouldn't take very long. We'd have a nice cruisey evening - no rushing about - and then a leisurely departure the next day. He reckoned that if we were away by mid to late morning that would be just fine. My last few days zapping to and fro across the Tasman were beginning to catch up with me so I wasn't going to argue with any of these ideas - they sounded absolutely perfect to me.

So having arrived back at the caravan, a fabulous cup of tea was followed by a spot of packing as we sorted out suitably autumnal gear for the next couple of weeks - after all we were a good way into that season now so we weren't likely to need our summer clothes (although, dear reader, as you will soon discover, this reasoning would prove to be somewhat flawed).



Paia Point camp site south of Kaikoura

Thursday dawned fine and clear with not too much wind - always a blessing when you have a long journey in front of you, towing a boat. Late morning saw us driving out of Dunedin and heading to Kaikoura. Following a bit of a hold up as we fought with traffic in Christchurch we reached Kaikoura in the early evening. We spent a suitably relaxing and restful night there before carrying on up to Picton and Waikawa (but not before calling in at Hunting and Fishing Kaikoura to treat ourselves to a couple of Wettie wetsuits. Don't ask - it's a long story!). By late afternoon on Friday we had booked ourselves and the boat into Parklands and were enjoying ourselves planning our next few days.
So this was the plan so far. Metvuw.com had been telling us that it would be fairly windy for a couple of days (20+ knot winds) but that they would begin to ease on Sunday, dropping to 10 knots by Monday. It reckoned that the winds would then remain light until the following weekend. This forecast had been consistent for a few days now so we had arranged to catch up with some friends at French Pass on Tuesday with the aim of taking them out for a spot of fishing on Wednesday. Apart from that, we were relatively free spirits. Going to D'Urville Island really sounded appealing especially as it is so close to French Pass so that was definitely worth considering. But then virtually everywhere we looked at on the chart was worth considering. Decisions, decisions - not exactly our forte!

 

Waikawa Marina

 Because of the windy forecast, Saturday was to be a rest day - well nearly a rest day apart from needing to get all our provisions for the boat trip and pack them on to the boat. We decided that we would also go for a bit of a mooch around the marina - always a good way to pass a wee bit of time. Now, since returning from Oz the weather had been amazingly warm (remember my comment earlier about not needing summer clothes?) and as we crawled out of bed on the Saturday morning it looked as though we would have another warm day. Mind you, there was a fairly brisk wind blowing so that would moderate the temperature a bit. Off we went into Picton to get our provisions ("You won't forget that we need ice will you dear?" "Of course not!") and of course there was also the obligatory cup of coffee that accompanied any trip to Picton.

We returned to the campsite, had a leisurely lunch and then walked from Parklands to the marina at Waikawa. Howard nearly had apoplexy at the prospect of having to walk, but he soon recovered when a beer was offered as a reward! Once the beer was consumed, we ambled along the jetties looking at the boats. We got hotter and hotter until I felt as though I was in imminent danger of melting. I had stripped down as far as decency would allow but it didn't really seem to achieve anything. Here we were sheltered from the wind and the mercury was rapidly and remorselessly heading towards 27 degrees! It was autumn, for heaven's sake and it was 27 degrees. Why hadn't I brought any T shirts with me? There was only one thing for it. We'd have to have another nice cold beer. Suitably refreshed, we ambled back to Parklands, made tea and then planned our Sunday. The forecast was still insisting the wind would drop by later in the afternoon so the decision was made to head over to Elaine Bay where we would launch the boat and begin the trip up to French Pass.

Elmslie Bay, French Pass