Relaxing
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Mon 14 Sep 2026 06:36
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At anchor Urupukapuka Bay, Urupukapuka Island
Wind: calm Sea state: calm Swell: nil Weather: overcast, mild
It is very peaceful in Urupukapuka Bay. Two large cruising boats left this morning leaving the anchorage to just three boats:
Sylph, a modest looking motorboat by the name of Lady Vee, and a small sailing craft that came in yesterday evening, its large skipper sitting in the cockpit making it look smaller still.
This morning I devoted to a bit of paperwork then this afternoon went ashore for a short walk. Urupukapuka Island must be quite a tourist attraction in the summer months as the camping ground and the many paths are very well maintained with extensive areas
of manicured grass. I wandered up the hill towards Kapurarahurahu Point (I hope I have transcribed that right) with ewes and lambs giving me quizzical looks as I passed, then walked down the other side to Otehei Bay where there is a gift shop, a store, a restaurant
with numerous outdoor tables and benches, and a modern jetty and pontoon structure extending out from the beach providing access for the tourists that visit here.
The tourist area was all closed up; I was the only person there. I sat down at one of the tables to watch a small brown sparrow trying to court a little hen; fanning his tail, dancing about and fluttering frantically but sadly with little success. I don’t think
the little hen even saw him as she fossicked about the grass looking for food.
As I sat watching the display, a man opened up a clear awning behind me and enquired whether I had missed the boat back to Paihia. I explained that I had my own boat and had just walked over from Urupukapuka Bay. We had a short chat and he kindly provided me
with a glass of red wine, gratis, which made my walk over the hill all the more satisfying, before closing up again and then heading back to the mainland in an outboard powered aluminium punt.
After I finished my wine, I strolled back over the hill and rowed back to Sylph. The camp site in the Bay has a fresh water supply and I took the opportunity of rowing back ashore again to fill two ten litre containers. (There is no potable water available
back at Russell so I haven’t had the opportunity to refill Sylph’s water tanks since leaving Sydney.)
As I rowed across the still water looking back at the green hills, I felt the area had a serene, almost sacred feel to it, and wondered whether other people might feel this way and perhaps that is why today it is a tourist spot, or then again perhaps
I have been spending too much time by myself. Regardless, it has been a nice, relaxing day.
All is well.
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