Back in the land of electronic communication.

In OBAN, Half Moon Bay, Stewart Island. Notes below from the last couple of weeks.

Monday 14/02/2011

Left Otago Yacht Club at 1330 and reached the heads at 1500. Beautiful sunny day though a little cool as the south westerly wind is still blowing a gentle 10 knots as we motor down the southern side of the Otago Peninsula. Beautiful white sands of Victory Beach abeam of us. Pete prepared a pot of beef stew which simmered away nicely until we were ready for dinner. Conditions gradually deteriorated as the night wore on and the swell increased making the sea lumpy and uncomfortable. We passed Nugget Point light around midnight.

Tuesday 15/02/2011

Daylight arrived as we cleared the bottom of the South Island and Fouveaux Strait soon lived up to its reputation for horrible seas. It was a day that seemed to go on for ever. The variable 10 knots that was forecast did not eventuate until we were snugly anchored for the night. The sea was uncomfortable with a large southerly swell which we bashed into all day and with the tide against us most of the time it was slow going, speed sometimes dropping off to just over 5 knots. Grey and overcast and cold.

We decided to enter Port Pegasus by the Southern Passage which is one of three channels that takes you into the almost enclosed shelter of this magnificent natural harbour. It was absolutely awe inspiring to see the vista before us of ranges of the Tin Range mountains to the east and in front the domes of Gog and Magog and Bald Cone to the fore. These are massive granite domes which reflect the light and look like white marble. All through the ranges there are massive escarpments of this smooth granite appearing through the forest and scrub.

Southern Passage to Port Pegasus  - Gog and Magog in background

We motored into an almost totally enclosed haven called Disappointment Cove, passing the Stop sign advising all vehicles must Stop, that somebody has propped on a small islet at the entrance to the cove. This cove provides excellent all weather shelter for up to six vessels.

Disappointment Cove

 We dropped our anchor and after setting it motored back to pick up a stern line that is permanently rigged in the cove. Kuri came alongside us and we celebrated our arrival to Stewart Island with a few drinks. We were pretty wobbly after the tiring passage and the rums made the legs even more so.

Wednesday 16/02/11

Woke up around 7 and the day was looking to be a good one. After a bit of breakfast we launched the dinghy and fitted the outboard and we went for a look around the cove.

The only downside to this little paradise is the bumblebees. This little fat monsters apparently love the colour blue and Gunner having a blue roof and blue sail cover seemed to be a prime attraction for them. They also seemed to take an intense interest in Peter (or he an intense dislike of them) as there was a lot of hand waving and bad words as they kept alighting on his blue t-shirt (we told him to get changed)!

After lunch we took off to Billy’s Cove which is where the track to Bald Cone starts from. It was a narrow inlet that went for quite a way into the bush and at the end we tied the dinghys up and started out on the track which was marked at intervals with bits of coloured tape. Pushing through head high scrub, (manuka and dracophyllum) we then came out into open tussock land which gave us a great view of the huge granite summit and massive granite boulders strewn across the valley.

We came across many tarns containing brown tannin stained water but which would have been pure enough to drink. We contemplated a swim as the sun was brilliant however we are in a subantarctic area the air temperature remains quite cool.

 We reached the area called the Chute where ropes have been rigged up the steep granite face by which one can pull themselves up to the summit.

Absolutely breathtaking on reaching the top and seeing the view and rock outcrops. It is hard to describe these massive structures, some appear to teeter on the edge of another and looks as if it would take a mere shove to send boulders weighing many thousands of tons hurtling into the valley below.

We enjoyed a snack and drink on the summit and then reluctantly had to make our way back down the chute and back to the inlet to find the dingys high and dry up the creek as the tide had receeded. More drinks and a lovely fish dinner before we retired for the night.

Thursday 17/02/11

We woke up to a dense fog which lifted as the day warmed up and after breakfast we went in the dinghy to a small bay to the west of Disappointment Cove and took the track through to Boat Cove which is in Broad Bay on the southern end of the island between South West Cape and South Cape.

The track started with us having to climb up and alongside a small stream which was running down over moss covered rocks into the cove. Once clear of the stream we followed a well marked track through forest with large Rimu trees and the forest floor smothered with mossy logs and ferns.

Lots of evidence of deer in the forest where we spotted hoof prints in muddy patches and trees that had the bark scraped. Also signs of kiwi where we saw places that one must have poked its long beak into the moss to hunt out worms.

The walk was easy going on the flat but I had to keep my eyes down on the track so as not to trip over roots which crossed the path. We came out into the open to the very pretty Boat Harbour which has a beautiful golden sand beach.

Walking along the beach there was evidence that deer had been on the beach and slept in the long grass like reeds on the edge of the beach.

We found a Yellow eyed penguin nestled under a bank near the beach and further round saw a sea lion which was as interested and fearful of us as we were of him. He was in shallow water and raised his head and barked and bared his teeth at us but would then retreat if we came near.

Later in the day we went for a dive near the entrance to the cove to find some scallops. After anchoring the dinghy on a rock outcrop we struggled into our gear and descended only about 10 feet. The scallops we saw were plentiful and huge and there were plenty of fish amongst the kelp. I turned round to check where Peter was and saw him just above me and then I saw coming up behind him a shark. It glided past him and then around me checking us out with black eyes. We immediately decided that we would leave the area and swam back and surfaced at our dinghy. We both thought it was a Thresher shark- size, about 5 - 6 feet. It seemed to have quite a long tail fin but on later checking we agree it is not a thresher however there is still discussion as to what it could be. Maybe a Sevengill. Trevor and Barbara were out fishing in the dinghy a little later on and said that the same (?)shark had come up to the dinghy and eyeballed them, sticking its head out the water and nudging the dinghy. Maybe just curious…. Luckily the two other divers who had gone into the water before us had collected the limit of scallops in 20 minutes so there were plenty for all of us. We decided to leave that area for the shark and try again another day in a different location. We did however go out in dinghy a little later and got our limit of blue cod in a fairly short time.

Finished the day off with a huge dinner of cod and scallops. Yum.

Friday18/02/11

Time for a new location so we up anchored and headed out across to the other side of the harbour for a brief look at Shipbuilders and Evening Cove and then dropping anchor in Islet Cove. The plan was to go and have a look at an area where there were ruins of an early settlement of shipbuilders. The north easterly wind however was howling by this time and we set off up Cooks Arm only to find that wind was screaming down the narrow channels making the water look like something that white water rafters would enjoy. We instead nosed around a few of the more protected inlets in this large cove eventually deciding we had suffered enough of wind and cold and headed back to the boats.

Luckily Trevor had stayed on board Kuri as their anchor had dragged and we found him further out in the bay.

We continued up the Pegasus Passage into the North Arm of Port Pegasus. The wind was really howling by this time and seemed to change for a while to the South and screamed up behing us at we went through the passage.



Kuri following us through Pegasus Passage



Passing Observation Bay we could see a camp which is set up for hunters or fishermen. After a look in at Bens Bay and deciding it wasn’t suitable for the wind conditions we arrived at Waterlily Bay. There was a yacht anchored there already and we nosed in to have a look if there was sufficient space for two more boats. Shortly a dinghy came over to us and the skipper of the yacht told us there was enough depth of water if we anchored and stern lined in close to them. After getting us all settled in we enjoyed meeting David and Marcie off the yacht, Nine of Cups. They are an American couple (from Denver) who have been cruising extensively for a number of years and had some great stories to tell.

Another dinner of fish and scallops (did I mention that we also had fish for breakfast) and rhubarb jelly for dessert.

Saturday 19/02/11

Awake at 5.30 so I got up to listen to the forecast and decided to stay up and get this blog up to date. It is now 6.45 and only just starting to get light. A single Tui is calling in the trees and the wind is blowing outside this snug cove. Its pretty chilly so I guess its still coming in from the south.

1130 – Still inside – its very cold today. We just had a breakfast/brunch of fried fish and a good pot of coffee. Nobody is moving much today.

We did eventually get moving, donning our full wet weather gear and taking to the dinghy for some exploring around the many inlets that make up North Arm. The day had improved and was lovely and sunny but still pretty cold and blowing from the north and east up to 30 knots. Several rivers terminate in this area and we were able to explore up some of these. While the wind was howling at 30 knots down the arm, once up the rivers and into the narrow bush lined channels it was calm and still. Once again we were awed by the beauty surrounding us. The tannin stained fresh water near the heads of these creeks is dark and mysterious but still crystal clear in the shallows showing sunken logs where huge trees have fallen. We reached rocks and a small waterfall at the head of one of these tributaries and left the dinghy and followed the stream for a while upstream until the bush became too dense. There was an amazing variety of mosses and ferns – spaghnum moss covered fallen logs in great mounds.

On returning downriver from one of these we found a family of sealions basking on a lovely white sand beach. The guardian bull sealion was ready to make sure we didn’t get too close and threatened to challenge the dinghy. Later on when we were back at the boat this bull gave a great display of how aggressive these mammals can become. Our neighbours had been filleting fish and throwing the carcasses overboard and the bull was recovering these from the bottom and tearing them to shreds as a shark would by holding them in his teeth and thrashing them backwards and forwards on the surface. He proceeded to swim around the bay and under the boats and decided that our dinghy also needed a bit of tossing around.

During the afternoon we also located an almost hidden and totally enclosed cove known as Smugglers Cove. The entrance is through a split in the rockface and once through the hundred metre channel the cove opens out to a tiny secret harbour. A white sand beach at the head and trees all around and above create a magical scene. Unless you know where the entrance is you would never find it from the outside.

This is just so typical of the many spectacular features of this area.



Inside Smugglers Cove

 On the more mundane side of things, on our return from exploring we did a bit of laundry, filling up a bucket with fresh water from a hose attached to the stern line that we are tied up to.

Forecast for tomorrow is NE35 so we may not move far.

Sunday 20/02/11

Lazy day with a bit of exploring the beaches around the cove and doing odd jobs on the boat.

Later in the day we made the short trip to Twilight Cove an anchorage a little further north. First off we went up to have a look at the Belltopper Falls at the head of North Arm, passing by an old concrete wharf which was the site of a small settlement in the late 1800’s and a fish freezing plant. There are still the remnants of a rusty old compressor up towards the falls.

The falls are so called as a gentleman who came out on an excursion when the fish freezing plant was opened lost his top hat (Belltopper) overboard at the falls which were until that point unnamed.

We went out in the dinghy to see if we could spot any scallops or oysters in the bay (looking through the bathoscope). While we were doing this a local fisherman came over from his boat anchored in the Arm and gave us some advise as to where we would find oysters and scallops and also gave us four Pauas (abalone to some). After removing them from the shell and bashing them with a lump of 4x2 for a while, Pete sliced them thinly and fried them with some finely chopped onion and bacon. They were pretty good eating.

Monday 21/02/11

Woke up to a very rainy day but we wanted to see if we could get some oysters so it was a very miserable me that climbed into a soaking wet wetsuit and clambered into the dinghy for a cold ride up the bay. After struggling into our scuba gear Pete discovered his BCD (buoyancy vest) wouldn’t retain air so he stayed in the dinghy while I went for a dive. Not a very fruitful area – we think maybe the fisherman was protecting his area by pointing us in this direction! I did manage to get a dozen or so scallops and oysters and that evening we made a large pot of chowder for a communal dinner with the Kuri crew.

We went on another excursion to look at the falls which were much more impressive after the night and days rain. Huge amounts of foam were coming down the harbour almost making you think it was icebergs coming downsteam!

Tuesday 22/02/11

After getting more information on the location of scallops we went for another dive. After an hour in the water we were freezing and even after a hot shower I couldn’t stop shivering – I think that hypothermia must have been setting in!

Kuri departed and we decided to head up the bay to a water hose and wash our dive gear and fill up with water.

Settled into The Nook in Lords River.

A stunningly beautiful place to hear such devastating news. Over the SSB radio we heard that Christchurch today at 150pm experienced a 6.3 magnitude earthquake with a shallow epicentre very near to Lyttleton where we spent several days just a fortnight earlier. 65 people dead and maybe hundreds still trapped in collapsed buildings. That’s big for New Zealand, we are not used to catastrophes like this and Christchurch has had a tough time. Thoughts are with friends in that city and the lovely people we met in Lyttleton and Akaroa.

Wednesday 23/02/11

First thing of the day was to take advantage of lovely sunshine and a fresh water hose in the cove. We filled up a bucket and did a bit of laundry and also spread out the washed diving gear to dry. Then we went to gather cockles, digging into the mud to find them just below the surface. We got a sack load and left them soaking to spit out the mud.

We then set out for a trip up the Lord’s River. While you can probably get a largish boat up river for some way at high tide we opted to take the dinghy. Our track took us about 6km up the river which is wide for quite a way up and pretty shallow in places. The water in the lower reaches was very clear on a sandy bottom, however as we went further upstream the water became dark with tannin. The thing that we had to look out for was submerged trees as anything below the surface was difficult to see in the almost black water. Since Pete went up the river 15 years ago there have been some major changes in the landscape. Obviously some large floods have occurred resulting in huge wash outs and collapsed banks where huge trees have fallen into the river. We reached an area where a rock shelf spanned the width of the river preventing us from going further.

Back at the boat we tidied up, got the washing in, put the dinghy on board and raised the anchor for the hour and a half trip around to Port Adventure.

We went into a bay in Port Adventure called Abraham’s Bosom where we picked up a fishermens’ mooring. Kuri rafted up alongside and also in the bay were our Aussie friends on the MacGregor 65’ Rum Doodle II who we had previously met in Dunedin.

Thursday 24/02/11

Woke up to a rainy day in Port Adventure. Got the recipe books out and spent a good part of the day baking bread and muffins while Pete attended to some mechanical chores on the boat. Steve and Pauline from RD II came over for a coffee and invited us back to their boat for Happy Hour at 5pm.

Ended the day with a late dinner of massive scallops and oysters (from our dive at Port Pegasus).

Friday 25/02/11

Kuri crew were up early and took off for the next port of call being Paterson Inlet. We followed on mid afternoon and arrived around 5pm.

Parked up the boat in a totally enclosed little harbour called Sailors Rest. This is an all weather anchorage which gives no indication whatsoever of what the weather conditions are like outside this tiny haven. We are the only boat here and its like being in a different world.

We launched the dinghy and went ashore where we found very fresh deer tracks on the beach. Pete had brought his gun and tracked the deer into the dense bush but conditions were too thick to continue following the signs. We then proceeded to try and locate a track to take us through to another bay but couldn’t find a track and were soon lost in the heavy bush. Luckily we had a hand held GPS which enabled us after a fair bit of bush bashing to get back to the dinghy just as daylight was fading. Much prefer a night on the warm boat than a night in the cold bush!

Although many signs of kiwi were seen and later heard, we still have not seen one.

Saturday 26/02/11

A beautiful sunny day and we stayed put in our little cove, pulling out all the bedding to air as things tend to get pretty damp and musty. About 3 o’clock we decided to head over to the other side of Paterson Inlet and anchor the boat in an area of small islands called Faith, Hope and Charity Islands. We then walked over the hill into the town of Oban in Halfmoon Bay. First stop and pretty much the only place to go is the South Seas Hotel and being a Saturday night the place was packed with locals and visitors. We found the crew from Kuri there and had a great dinner of steak, egg and chips and Lambs fry and bacon. What, no seafood?

More another day..and photos later.

Heading for Stewart Island

Monday 14/02/2011
Have had a busy few days in Dunedin, shopping, sightseeing and re-provisioning.  Also enjoyed a trip on the Tairei Gorge Express yesterday which is a half day train trip from Dunedin to Middlemarch, a distance of about 77km.  Fantastic scenery through the gorge and into the Central Otago plains.  Not much happens in Middlemarch but it is the beginning of the Central Otago Rail Trail which is a great 3 day cycle ride.  Thats one on the "to do" list.

We are heading out of Dunedin harbour now.  We are taking advantage of a forecast which is excellent for the next few days and heading directly to Port Pegasus on Stewart Island which is at the southern end of the island.   We should arrive Port Pegasus around 1700 tomorrow evening - about a 25-26 hour trip.

We will be out of communication now for some time so don't expect to see any activity or hear anthing from us for the next few weeks, however if by any chance i get some coverage i will certainly let you all know what we are up to.

I hope to bring you reports of more fish, crayfish and scallops..

Bye for now
Kate and Pete

Akaroa - Dunedin

Tuesday - 08/02/2011

Up at 0330 and away by 0400. We followed Kuri’s stern light down the pitch black Akaroa harbour. Good lead lights kept us on track and by the time we reached the heads daylight was starting to show. Venus was also bright in the sky.

There was about 5-10 knots of NNW wind which soon dropped and the sea was glassy for a couple of hours before the northerly built up to a steady 10 knots or so. At this point we put up the sails and for the first time pulled everything out of the bags. Mainsail, mizzen and jib. It has been a good couple of hours of pleasant sailing but now the wind has died and the sails are flapping uselessly.

The visibility today is incredible, on the coastline which is about eleven nautical miles off (that is about 20km) we can see trees and beyond the coast we can see the Southern Alps range and unbelievably the very distinct Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain at 3752m, at a distance of 190km.
I have now identified the beautiful huge birds that are gliding around us and sometimes sitting on the surface as the Shy Mollymawk. There are 3 subspecies and I think this is the Salvins mollymawk. They have been quite numerous today, drifting on the water and lumbering into flight as the boat approaches. Once in the air they are magnificent as they glide for ever without a wing flap.

Peter decided to tow a lure to see if there were any fish willing to take a bite. The only ones that did were small Barracuda (or to the South Africans, Snoek). While smoked Snoek in South Africa is quite a delicacy here in NZ people turn up their noses at this fish, mostly because the larger fish tend to have worms in their flesh so nobody is that keen on it. After we arrived in port Pete decided to try filleting a fish and fried some up to see what it was like. Flavour was good but in the end we decided it was not worth the trouble as there were so many bones in pretty small fillets and the remainder will be used as bait, hopefully for tastier fish another day.

We arrived in Timaru at 1700. Port control advised us that the port is not really set up for pleasure boats so we would have to tie up to the wharf against big tires. Kuri went in ahead of us and we were able to raft up alongside her again. 

A hole in the wharf to access the boats!

After a beer and some dinner we all went for a walk down town. Unfortunately none of us had dressed appropriately and found that the southerly wind that had kicked in just as we arrived was absolutely freezing. Still it was good to have a walk and the little we saw of Timaru around the Caroline Bay area is lovely. There is an amazing war memorial walkway and rose garden and also an aviary with a variety of birds, mostly brightly coloured Austalians that looked pretty miserable in the cold – well that’s how I would feel if I was an Aussie that landed up in this weather.. Towards the beach it has been planted with dune plants and there is a good boardwalk.

Back to the boat for a good nights sleep and the plan is to wake around 4am to see how strong the predicted southerly wind is.

Wednesday – 09/02/2011

Awake early and the general consensus was that we should take off , so after a cup of tea and some toast we cast off around 0445. Once clear of the port we set a course for Dunedin with waypoints to clear areas off the coast that are shown on the charts as unsurveyed.

A little bouncy once again to start with and the southerly wind started to increase and the sea state was getting rougher. About 3 hours later a front passed over us and the wind and seas increased. We had to reduce our speed in the big, short steep and confused seas as the boat was pounding hard as we hit a wave and green water shot over the bow and rolled up the deck covering the cockpit windows.

Dark clouds of the Southerly front after it had passed over us.

After about 4 hours of hard going the sea moderated a bit but remained pretty lumpy for the rest of the trip to Tairoa Heads at the entrance to Dunedin harbour where we arrived at 7pm.

We had a close up look at the Albatross colony under the lighthouse on Taiaroa Head. Along the rocks on the shore there were numerous seals and on the steep banks there is a huge colony of cormorants with burrows in the cliff face. Albatross were nesting in the grassy areas and countless other shearwaters and terns flew around the area.

Port control had advised that a gas tanker was on its way out of the harbour and when Kuri arrived at the heads we continued into the harbour following the excellent bouyage system to Port Chalmers where we tied up at the fishermans wharf.

Thursday 10/02/2011

The forecast for the next few days is pretty horrible for trying to go further south so we are going to enjoy a few days around the Dunedin area. Having arranged a berth at the Otago Yacht Club which is further up the harbour and not being able to get in there until closer to high water at around 7pm we went for a walk around the town of Port Chalmers.

Port Chalmers is the container wharf and while the town used to be pretty grotty it is now filled with some alternative shops – mostly second hand retro stuff, now quite in fashion.



Chicks Hotel



Interesting things to see...

 

Images of Port Chalmers


Also had to check out the Carey’s Bay Hotel which is an old historic pub that has been refurbished. It houses a great art collection, most notably a number of Ralph Hoteres who is a very well know New Zealand artist. (eat your heart out Jude!!)

Carey's Bay Hotel

We filled up with fuel and then headed up the harbour and scraped into the yacht club. The depth sounder read zero under the keel so we must have been dredging a new channel in the mud – luckily its soft mud. We  were met by Kevin who looks after the visiting boats and shown around. The OYC makes visitors very welcome. Also here is a Macgregor 65’ yacht just arrived from Tasmania. They had a good trip across the Tasman, reaching Puyseger in just over 4 days.

More on Dunedin in the next few days - looks like we won't be rushing out of here until we get some settled weather, whenever that may be. 

Link to Route map

Graham and June asked for a map of our route.  Below is a link to a map i have saved in Google Maps.  You should be able to zoom in on this map and check out the various routes i have put in.  So far have only got from Auckland to around the Marlborough Sounds but will finish it off soon.  Let me know if it works okay.
Thanks
Kate


http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=216042001789247313289.00049ba8182c114433775&ll=-40.871988,174.918823&spn=1.906625,5.388794&t=h&z=8

Lyttelton-Akaroa

Friday 04/02/2011

After tying up in the inner harbour in Lyttleton we enjoyed a great nights sleep, and in the morning after speaking with the harbourmaster we had to move Gunner from the floating pontoon and tie up alongside Kuri on a wharf in the fishermans area. Apparently the wharf has been condemned as it was damaged in the big earthquake that hit this area (Christchurch) in September last year but safe for us to tie up there.



Port of Lyttelton

 We took a walk into town and the earthquake damage is very apparent around the town. There are some magnificent old buildings as the port town dates back to 1849. Lyttleton is the main port for Christchurch which is about 20 minutes away via a long tunnel through the Port Hills. The earthquake of course had made headline news around the world but it is not until you see damage first hand that it really brings it home to you. Many houses have lost chimneys, old buildings around the town which housed thriving businesses now sit empty and some are shored up with timber or steel frames. The oldest church in the area, the Anglican St Johns shows signs of cracks around its windows and another church across the road has lost its steeple.

The old Post Office

In spite of the damage the town has a real good feel and people are super friendly and there are posters all round town advertising various events – farmers markets, lots of live music and theatre. Buskers in London Street provide some great music and cafes with excellent food are plentiful.


The old time signal station

We finished the day with drinks on Kuri’s aft deck.

Saturday 05/02/2011
After a slow motor around some of the bays of Lyttleton Harbour we left to motor the 40 mile round Banks Peninsula to Akaroa Harbour on the southern side of the peninsula.



Purau Bay, Lyttelton Harbour



Banks Peninsula extends eastward some 40km out from the coast and deep bays cut inland right around its circumference.
It has been a day of dramatic scenery with sheer cliff faces looming majestically out of the low clouds which shrouded the peninsula.

The day started out with drizzle and low oppressive cloud but by the time we reached Akaroa the sun was out in full force and it was a stunning sparkly sea day. Around the coast there were areas where gigantic rocks lay at the bottom of cliffs, maybe slips as a result of the earthquakes? Steep sided valleys finished at sheer cliff faces some with a stream dropping down into the sea.

Hectors dolphins followed us all day, playing in our bow wave, sometimes leaping out of the water and sometimes darting off in another direction before circling round and once again riding the bow wave. These small dolphins are light grey in colour with a rounded top fin and a white underside which they would show as they rolled over on their sides in the waves. They are only found in New Zealand waters and generally only round the South Island.

Still trying to get the perfect photo but its not easy with moving targets and moving boat...

We also saw seals, blue penguins, and shags flying in long formations.
Entering Akaroa harbour which is about 15km from north to south there are huge cliff faces on each side which rise straight up from the sea and in other parts there are enormous caves cut into the rock. The low cloud is clearing and the sun coming out as we proceed towards the township of Akaroa which is about two thirds of the way up the harbour. This area was settled by French settlers in the 1840’s and the French influence can be seen in the French street signs and some of the architecture. It is a lovely village but in my opinion has become somewhat tourist orientated and not nearly as nice as Lyttleton.

We tied up at the town wharf while Trevor from Kuri went off in search of a bloke he knew that was in charge of moorings in the area. We picked up a mooring and then went ashore for a fish and chip dinner.

Sunday 06/02/2011

Went ashore around midday for a walk around town. The first thing that hit us in the morning was the heat of the wind. It was intense and the day just kept getting hotter. The weather reports had 40 deg in Timaru, a little south of here, and I imagine that temperatures here were probably close to that. After a traverse of the shops from one end of town to the other searching for the perfect ice cream we decided there is an opening in Akaroa for a good ice cream shop. We did however manage to get a reasonably decent cone which we ate sitting outside a shop in the main street watching the people passing by.Had to be really quick eating though as the hot wind  was melting the ice cream as fast as we could eat.

We then retired to the boat too hot to do anything useful. The northerly wind picked up and started to blow up to 40 knots in the late afternoon and evening and then changed to a cooler southerly during the night.

Monday 07/02/2011

We are now waiting for the southerly to ease before taking off for the next hop down the coast to Port Chalmers and Dunedin. Today is a total contrast to yesterdays heat – the southerly change brings rain and cool weather so today we are rugged up inside the boat.  Pete is watching a movie while I am typing this up. Will need an early night tonight as we plan to up anchor and depart for Port Chalmers at 4am hoping to get there before another Southerly front arrives. Port Chalmers is about 25 hours away..