Author: Justine

S46°13.15' E167°21.76'

49km paddling against a weak headwind finds us at Port Craig. Another calm day, saw lots of birds. Staying in a nice hut tonight.

[alex on behalf of jc]

S46°22.77' E167°53.10'

Stopped at Colac Bay after 50km paddle. Calm day with lots of tide at the start. Staying with Tim and Jack so able to have great bath and lots of nice food!

[alex on behalf of jc]

MERI HELPING US CARRY OUR STUFF DOWN TO THE KAYAKS IN BLUFF THIS MORNING

We were sad to say goodbye to Meri and her husband Ian in Bluff this morning, they were lovely people, great fun and very kind – doing a great service to the seafaring community. We lingered for longer than intended but still caught a lot of the ebb tide west, travelling the first 20km at almost 5 knots. There is always some swell in NZ but today it wasn’t much, a few feet from a few different directions and we made good progress towards Colac Bay. We landed around 3pm and phoned up Tim an Jacqui Anderson, local kayakers just down the road in Riverton. They immediately came and picked us up, drove us to the supermarket so we could buy the last few supplies before leaving the road system and heading into the sounds, then they brought us home to their lovely house with beautiful relaxing garden. We’ve been thoroughly spoilt with a hot bath, lots of hot drinks, a delicious dinner and a banoffee pie to die for. Freya and Babs stayed here too, so you’d think they’d be sick of looking after foreign kayakers by now, but they have been incredibly friendly and helpful, as have so many Kiwis that we’ve met.

The forecast isn’t so good for tomorrow, westerly winds will slow us down but they aren’t meant to be that strong so we’re hoping to do another approx 50km day to Port Craig or perhaps a little peninsula a little further south ( and less ‘out of the way’), but a little less protected. We shall see what the weather allows!
BARRY AND TIM ENJOYING TEA ON THE VERANDA THIS EVENING

AFTER DINNER AT THE NUGGETS
JUSTINE ROUNDING THE OTAGO PENINSULA
JUSTINE SURFING TO NUGGET POINT
hurrah! A day off after 6 days on the water in a row. The mission for the day is to catch up on sleep and build up Barry!! Those people that know Baz will know he’s not exactly fat, so although we are eating well, what few extra pounds that he has have been used up on long days of paddling. A hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast this morning, has been followed by meat pies, chocolate brownies and fruit. Later on we’ll have fish and chips and ice cream! And we even bought some guiness … for the iron, you understand! We’re off to see Meri now and film her doing one of her radio buletins for the fisherman. Then it’s probably back to sleep, hopefully we’ll paddle again tomorrow, although we haven’t checked the forecast yet.
LUNCH ON THE WATER FROM FLEURS RESTAURANT IN MOERAKI!
JUSTINE ROUNDING NUGGET POINT

SHELTERED CAMPSITE AT WAIPAPA POINT YESTERDAY