Nelson and Wellington

After resting for a day or so in Nelson we assessed the damage done to the boat during this season’s boisterous passages.
We discovered that some fibreglass had broken off from under the nacelle in the front of the boat and upon further inspection it appeared that it had totally delaminated and would need to be rebuilt. We located a fibreglass repair man who was reputed to be the fibreglass guru of Nelson who agreed to do it with the boat in the water and would charge us $40 an hour---a bargain indeed.
As we now had to stay in Nelson for longer than anticipated we had the mainsail repaired and new trampolines made. We chose an open weave mesh fabric so hopefully will withstand the massive power of the big waves for some time. The stitching on the bimini had UV damage so we had that sewn again. All of this took us the best part of a month but Nelson is one of our favourite places and the weather was lovely so we were able to enjoy biking, walking restaurants and movies and ease our way back into the first world.
During that time I caught a bus and ferry across to Wellington to visit my mother for a week. Our friend Harvey had located a station wagon for us to buy so I was able to catch up with family.
We finally had everything finished and were ready to head out but the weather changed forcing us to delay an extra couple of days but finally we were underway with our new scallop dredge and instructions where the best scallop beds are and how to use the dredge.
We sailed into Croselles Bay and dropped the dredge in 30 feet of water where we slowly dragged it along the bottom for 20 minutes. When we pulled it in much to our delight we had caught a huge pile of scallops. We threw back the undersized ones and still had 40 left the second drag netted an equal amount and so we took them into the anchorage and after having massacred the first batch as we shucked them we got proficient and they started to look pretty good. You are allowed 50 per person per day so we dated and froze them so we could have another try in the morning before we headed off to make our way closer to Wellington. That netted us another 90 so we were pretty happy with the dredge which was a cheaper less fancy style than most serious scallopers have leading us to doubt it would even work.
We needed to time going through French Pass into Pelorus Sound with the tides but once through we stopped at several fishing spots catching several blue cod. The notorious winds were forecasted to come up the next day so we tucked into a secure anchorage. We would have to remain here until the winds abated and we could go around into Queen Charlotte Sounds and ready for our crossing of the Cook Strait. We did try scalloping there but the catch was meagre compared with Croselles.
The wind abated and we took the opportunity to go around into Queen Charlotte late afternoon and left at 4 30AM the next day and arriving in Wellington with no trauma.
Once again our time in Wellington is busy with friends and family and we enjoyed sharing scallop dinners with them.
The weather continued to be windy—now the norm for us in Wellington but it was throughout most of the country but perhaps was preferable to blizzards in the northern hemisphere and floods in Australia.
Our friends, Bruce and Alene on Migration with whom we had been travelling on and off since Mexico managed to find a window to cross from the Sounds having arrived there from Opua.
We had a great reunion with them and had an enjoyable bike up the Rimutuka incline on a lovely day. We had them for dinner on the boat—yet more scallops---we drove them back to their boat downtown Wellington and visited the Xmas tree. This is a huge tepee shaped structure of strings of lights under which you lie on bean bags with the lights changing colours and patterns. It is a little like lying looking up at a fireworks show and is quite stunning.
Kristen and Kyle are arriving on the 4th January and will join us for 2 weeks in Abel Tasman on the boat we got fishing rods and various toys to amuse Adelyn and Grayson so we can all keep some form of sanity.
Xmas was spent at Warrens café with a crowd of 25 family members which was fun and Warren true to form made enough food for 50.
Boxing day we went up to the botanic gardens where Bruce who participates in Morris dancing---we had never heard of it before but it is a type of folk dancing originating from the agricultural sector in the Cotswalds in England. It involves rows of people energetically jumping in time to the concertina with bells attached to the bottoms of their pants. Bruce who is always so enthusiastic with everything he does plays the concertina and jumps with more vigour than most. The last dance involved inviting the audience to join in and I was able to experience how much energy is used .
My birthday was spent with Alene and Bruce starting at our boat, continuing on to a Malaysian restaurant and finishing at Migration where they had gone all out decorating and getting a cake---wow was the first cake I have had for my birthday in a long time.
New Year was spent on their boat again with some of their friends. We went in search of the advertised entertainment around the downtown waterfront. This was very mediocre and given that it was a beautiful night with a lot of people wandering around it really was a shame that they did not utilise the beautiful setting better.
We returned to the boat where our energy level was high to welcome in the New Year followed by charades. An enjoyable way to greet 2011.
We took the opportunity of favourable tides and winds on Cook Strait to cross again to Queen Charlotte Sounds as Kristen and Kyle will meet us in Nelson in a week and we want to be sure we are there for them.
We are now in the Sounds enjoying sunny weather and will do some hikes before we continue to Nelson.