Queen Charlotte Sound

Our son arranged for us to explore the Queen Charlotte Sound with his friend Tussic aboard Tussic’s little fizz boat. We were quite excited about this and met Tussic down at his yacht at 8 am. Our ride was tied up along side. First stop was to collect some cockles for lunch in a near by bay. Tussic, dressed in shorts and a short sleeved shirt jumped in and was quickly picking up our quota. Not to be outdone I stripped off my shoes, pulled up my jeans and jersey sleeves and bounded over the side. The cold was excruciating. There was no way I could stay in the water and rushed to the shore to watch Tussic calmly filling the bucket. I tried a few times more to enter the water but was unable. I was pleased when Tussic  finished gathering and we were away again. My thoughts were that if we ended up in the water I would probably last 10 minutes at most, but at least with the life jacket I was wearing I would be found and my poor frozen body over heated at the crematoriam.

Looking at my feet hoping they don’t snap off.

Speeding up the Sound. We couldn’t have had a better day. Sunny all day and with little wind. Sea was very calm.

The plans were that we would head out into the Sound and meet Tussic’s friend on his launch for lunch and a couple of beers. There was no sight of the launch so we continued out to Ships Cove where Captain Cook careened his ships and restocked his water supplies at the stream. Recaulking of the hulls and general maintenance was carried out. He had several animals on board including pigs and a cow. The Maoris who had never seen these animals were amazed.

Memorial to Cook and his expedition.

The stream where Cook could restock his water supply.

The very rare Long Tailed Kiwi. Well that’s what Tussic informs gullible tourists. Another gem from Tussic was that if I double clicked the button on my phone it instantly went into camera mode. Saves having to unlock it and select camera. By that time the opportunity has normally passed.

Heading back into the Sound we.kept an eye out for the elusive launch but it was no where to be seen. We headed into Furneaux Lodge where we thought it might be but no luck so we had a drink in the lounge and headed off again into the Sound. Suddenly Tussic spotted through the binoculars something that might be the.missing boat. As we drew closer we could see that it was and we drew up along side. Wal the owner was fishing off the stern and his wife was inside with their young daughter. As we talked Wal drew up several Blue Cod fishes from the depths. Those that were a legal length were kept and filleted for lunch. A large Blue Cod was barbarqued whole and the fillets crumbed and cooked. Along with the steamed cockles it all made for an excellent lunch.

Furneaux Lodge.

The illusive launch. Found at last.

Lunch. Can’t get fresher than that. Time for crumbing and cooking.

Back into the little fizz boat and back down the Sound and into Picton. A spin around the marina to look at some boats we will never be able to afford and then to watch several Fur Seals as they did their thing in the inner harbour. Leaving the boat we went up into Picton for dinner at a local restaurant. A very enjoyable day was had by Judy and myself. Thank you to Tussic and to our son who arranged it all.

The Atatu 1919. Seen as we explored all the little bays on our way back to Picton