Wellington to Abel Tasman and back again

After leaving Wellington we had time to spend a couple of days on the remote D’Urville Island which is extremely rugged but although quite spectacular we were frustrated by the lack of trails therefore lack of opportunity to get off the boat.
We once again stopped in Croiselles Bay to dredge our scallop limit—100 per day—to take to Nelson where we will pick up Kristen, Kyle, Adelyn and Grayson.
They arrived in Nelson after the long trip from Ottawa, having taken a few days in Wellington on the way to recoup before the ferry and bus ride. We were all unsure how the children would manage with the rules and confines necessary for a safe life at sea.
After a couple of days in the lovely city we set off for the glorious Abel Tasman Bay which offers miles of golden sandy beaches and hiking trails. This coast is the kayaking centre of NZ and allows kayakers and hikers to be dropped off and picked up at will,
We had a great sail with the children who adapted quickly becoming used to life on the boat.
We were able to go to shore every day to play in the sand and sea and had fun collecting shells, making sandcastles and walking the beaches. We had borrowed a kayak so along with ours were able to transport everyone. Kristen and I did a number of hikes and Ken and Kyle had time to fish.
It was lovely being able to have our family sharing our lives with us—we have been so far away and it is difficult and expensive for them to join us so we did appreciate having some of our “little people” with us. They did remarkably well considering the upheaval of their lives in the last few months and we all had a great time.
We met up with Lindy, Graham and Locky, our friends of last year on the small catamaran Little Blue and enjoyed spending time with them again.
We had lovely weather until our last day when a cyclone north of NZ gave us winds of 40 knots from one direction and then switched to 40 knots from the opposite direction in the middle of the night the night causing us to drag our anchor. Fortunately another boat checking their anchor noticed us drifting and yelled loudly and we all jumped up and re anchored at 4AM. Several other boats were coming in from other bays to shelter so a sleepless night was had by many.
After ten idyllic days it was time to head back to Nelson to spend a couple of days allowing time to attend the great Saturday market. Kristen and Kyle left to catch the bus and ferry back to Wellington where Kyle will look for work and they will attempt to set up their new lives. We started our sail back once again to play the “Cook Strait roulette” to get back across to Wellington.
We had planned a reunion with Alene and Bruce as they headed to Nelson and we headed to The Marlborough Sounds in Croiselles Bay where we would see if we could replicate out scalloping success.
They came onto Cop Out in the morning and we set off dragging in the vicinity which we had marked on the chart. We were all delighted to get the 200 limit and that night Bruce outdid himself by cooking scallop and mushroom crepes, a Thai scallop dish and an Italian grilled vegetable and crepe dish—yummmm!!!
The next morning it was time for us to head in our separate directions and Ken and I did one last dredge netting 80 more before leaving. We then passed the dredge to Alene and Bruce who also got a good haul which they intend taking down to Betsy and Richard from Qayaq who are presently living in Oamaru.
We made our way through French Pass and managed to get a great weather window to go all the way to Wellington in the next two days with favourable winds enabling us to have a fast passage.
Now that we were back Ken prepared to go to Calgary for three weeks to meet Aaron’s daughter Grace for the first time and of course visit other family members and friends. I will remain in Wellington visiting with NZ family and friends and having extra time with Adelyn and Grayson.
Before leaving he set up work to be done while he is away on the alternator which is still not putting out enough amps—gave up on this in Fiji as we were running out of time but need to address it here. Also and engine leak and the engine driven freezer is not working again!!!
The pipes from the heads were blocked once again so we had the enviable task of cleaning them—boat chores are never done.
I will go through every locker on the boat and get rid of whatever we have buried and have not used in the five years we have now been living on it—those who think our lives consist of sipping pina coladas under the coconut palm need to come visit for a week or two!!!
We went downtown and watched the parade for the “Seven’s”. This is the intense rugby game which has seven aside for seven minutes each half and is incredibly fast. There were 16 teams involved –including Canada—the whole city gets into the spirit—both interpretations applicable. Everyone dresses up in crazy costumes with office staff dressing with a particular theme. There is an amazing electric atmosphere for the weekend which was capped off by NZ winning this sector of the series. It is in about 8 venues and they are off to Las Vegas next. It does not appear that any other city embraces it as enthusiastically as Wellington does.
Next was Waitangi day—the celebration (?) of the signing of the original treaty between the Maori and European in 1840. The Maori people have issues with land claims and Waitangi day has become the day for them to protest. Wellington, however is always very peaceful and we watched some great Maori “kapa haka” performances—the dancing and singing which has become a source of pride for them. Grayson who has decided after leaving Canada and therefore his NHL career he should become a “haka boy” so was enthralled and his performances have become more dramatic—he just needs to gain a bit of weight as they are usually large men!!
Wellington is an incredibly energetic city and we attended several of the local suburban street fairs with lots of music and food.
Kristen and I went over to the Martinborough fair which is one of the largest hand crafted fairs in the region—I am collecting home made jams and mustards to stock up for our upcoming season.
I had a visit from Canadians’ Lynne and Don who are in NZ with friends and it was lovely to spend the .day with them. Lynne and Don had been working in Saudi Arabia before he retired. I took them on the prerequisite tour of Wellington, up the botanical gardens, the cable car, museum and waterfront. They had a visit to the boat and were all very impressed with Cop Out and the comfortable lifestyle it offers us.
The same weekend I visited Tony’s sister, Janet, who is back in Wellington now that John has retired from his world wide diplomatic career having spent the last five years in London. Having spent time with all of these most interesting people it made me marvel how small the world has become and how fortunate our generation has been to have been able to take advantage of these incredible opportunities in a peaceful and affluent way.
Next was a visit with my high school friends Jenny who is living in LA and Kathy who this year has visited China. Once again confirming my observations about our fortunate generation, it was fun to reminisce about old times and long forgotten events.
I spent time also with Anne, my primary school friend who lives close to where the boat is moored. Life in Wellington is certainly very social and it is easy to fit into the relaxed lifestyle.
I had a morning each week with Grayson while Adelyn slept on the boat on Friday nights. Dropping over to my mothers place regularly especially Tuesday mornings when my brother takes cream cakes over for any who show up.
Mum finally resigned herself to the fact that if she wants to get out and about she will need to accept our urgings of a wheelchair. The last few weeks in Wellington have been wonderfully warm and sunny and so along with Kyle and Kristen we took her down around the waterfront and she was able to relive her past. She always loved to walk downtown and her mobility issues have become depressing for her I am sure.
Kristen’s family has settled in a rental place nearby and Kyle has started work. The kids are both in kindy—NZ’s version of preschool and Kristen is studying for her exam for her Project Managers course she took before she left Canada. Their lives have effortlessly set into a pattern and they are enjoying living in this beautiful city so close to the harbour.
Last week was one of tragedy’s—the earthquake in Christchurch which has devastated a lot of the city and probably 200 dead. It was very sad and will take a long time to rebuild. Both Lynda, my sister and Lynne and Don were there and are all safe. Our friends on Little Blue are also from there and I have not heard from them yet. I trust they are OK—a of the city has no power or communications yet—already 5 days ago but I will feel better when I hear from them. NZ is a small country and everyone has a story of someone they know who was there.
The US yacht Quest was hijacked and the four sailors killed off Somalia—confirming our decision not to go through the Suez. Although the other 100 boats going through at that time are safe I do not want to have the 5 days of terror as you travel the region. It is terrible that the pirates are able to hold the world hostage and it appears that Al Qaeda is now becoming involved and will use ransom money to fund more terror.
We also heard from friends Zeke who had been with us in Vanuatu to tell us they had been robbed twice in the Solomon’s—once when Al was asleep—and they lost there camera, computer with all of their photos on and a wallet and watch.
We have decided to go ahead and sail to Indonesia and Malaysia this season and will either go on around Sth Africa or head back across to Australia and then up to Hawaii and back to Canada. Once again see where the wind and our feelings lead us.
Ken is due back on Tuesday and we will ready ourselves for the passage up the east coast to Auckland and haul out again in Whangarei and will wait a weather window to cross to New Caledonia and then onto Cairns early in May.
I hope all of you in Canada have weathered the winter and will be happy that spring is on the way—I must admit that a life of eternal summers has something to be said for it!!!!