Day 48 of Lockdown, Queen Charlotte Sound

Blue Hound
Phil Marks & Rosy Jensen
Tue 12 May 2020 01:03

Two weeks ago the Lockdown level was lowered to Level 3. This meant no changes for us as we were still not free to move from the area, so life has continued as before. We have continued to enjoy the different bays, there are so many to choose from but we now have our favourites, either for maximum sunshine and light, or for a sticky muddy bottom when the wind blows (and it does!) – and for walking!

 



Projects

At last I have finished the dinghy chaps to the satisfaction of the Project Manager, say no more. Amazing what you can do with an old sail cover and a few scraps!


 

I also stitched up a new windlass cover last week. Brownie points, yes, but goodness knows when I'll be able to redeem them in a proper restaurant. I live in hope...


Grocery Surprises

We have continued with our on-line orders being delivered to Jeremy and Sue's jetty. The substitutes have been enlightening but one surprise was white school bread arriving instead of brown.  Always for the positive Phil made a very good bread and butter pudding! He made too much of the custard mix and turned that into crème caramel. Yes, we even have vanilla flavouring aboard.


 

Some of the substitutes were not so good - a 3 litre box of 'sweet and soft' red wine to replace a 3 litre box of Cab Sauv. No way could we drink that. The Fresh Choice supermarket were very good about it and sent the van back to collect it from, us at the wharf in Waikawa. Done and dusted with a refund in less than half an hour.


Fishing Surprises

We took Blue Hound in to Picton and walked up to the supermarket. Phil treated me to a box of frozen squid for bait, from the supermarket. He is such a romantic!

A bit of a surprise when we landed this small shark on the squid. I expect he was surprised too! We put him back in the water and hopefully we won't meet him again when he is bigger!



Today we're in Governor's Bay and still in search of the elusive blue cod. We have a new blue cod rig kindly given to us by Greg & Gill who  have a bach nearby together with a 'proper' offshore sports fishing boat.


Walking

My friend Sue guided me up the steep hillside from their Bach (holiday home pronounced ‘batch’), winding through the natural vegetation.  Here's a typical bach:



30 minutes later after a few breathers we were on the Queen Charlotte Track. This walking track is 72 km long and runs the length of the Queen Charlotte Sound winding through lush vegetation, around bays and also along the skyline/ridge. This track is like the Camino in northern Spain but it was deserted (no pilgrims here) as we enjoyed the walk along the 'flat' track with the magnificent views of the Sound.


 




Wildlife

One of our favourite bays is Ngakuta as it has good holding for the anchor, an open northerly aspect to the sun, a public wharf and access to the Picton-Havelock Link Trail with a section through wetlands.



It's a popular holiday spot but very quiet just now, can't think why. Here's a large moorhen I saw there, known as a Puketo



Lockdown Latest

Yesterday (Monday) we heard that Lockdown level will be lowered to Level 2 on Thursday, which means that we can then start sailing north to North Island as all boating and inter-regional travel will be permitted. We’re planning this carefully as wind and tides have to be just right for the Tory Channel which leads out into the Cook Strait. The Strait is a bit like the Straits of Gibraltar as the wind only blows in 2 directions - and usually hard. The channel is a busy ferry route and the tides run at up to 7 knots. We hope to make the first leg of the passage north to either Napier or Gisborne next week.

Here's a sunset pic to end this post. The dead trees on the skyline are known as 'wilding pines'. They are an invasive species in the Sounds and are being eradicated with poison by the Park Authorities. Stay Safe!