April in the Queen Charlotte Sound

These dolphins weren’t interested in riding Picara’s bow wave. Instead the pod of 8 or so blasted past on some kind of important mission!

Check out the baby!!!!

  Maybe it’s been the progressively shorter days that have made April seem to go by so quickly. The weather here has been blustery but we were still able to make our way off the dock a few times for a little sailing and a little walking on the Queen Charlotte Track.

View from the Queen Charlotte Track above Torea Bay – that’s the Interislander ferry steaming in from Wellington on the left.

Mamaku or Black Tree Ferns line the Queen Charlotte Track

A slow downwind sail with the last of the afternoon light.

Picton at left, and Waikawa to the far right, with the trail-filled “Domain” park in the middle: a view from the Tirohanga lookout.

 

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from Onahau Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound, Marlborough, NZ!

At anchor in Kumutoto Bay with the lights of Picton in the distance.

This has been our first weekend out of Waikawa Harbour in more than a month, and it’s exciting to explore many nearby anchorages and to get a chance to set foot on the famous Queen Charlotte Track that extends 70 km along this convoluted peninsula north of Picton.

We spent our fist night at anchor in Kumutoto Bay, which was lovely but didn’t give us access to the main trail. Friends Tracy and Mike on the lovely cold-molded Kauri boat Allegresse joined us that evening, having sailed across the infamous Cook Strait from Wellington for the weekend.

Allegresse hauling anchor in Onahau Bay. She is a lovely example of the Kiwi-designed and built boats you see here - she is of triple-planked cold-molded Kauri. And she's pretty quick too. They sailed down from Northland to the Cook Strait at the same time we did in January.

Saturday brought strong, gusty winds from the northwest. We wanted to get onto the main track, so we moved a few miles southeast to Onahau Bay where we explored a good section of the trail both north and south of here. The peninsula is very narrow and hilly along this section, providing views down into both Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds.  The other cool thing about the track is that for most of the year, mountain bikes are allowed on it as well as hikers, and in fact on this busy Easter weekend at least half of the trail users were on bikes. 

Looking SW along the Queen Charlotte Track - Kenepuru Sound on the right and Queen Charlotte Sound to the left.

There is a lot of territory to explore here,  and if all goes according to plan we’ll have all winter and spring to do that....

Best Easter wishes to everyone!