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