Wednesday, March 27: Becoming cloudier during the day, overcast by lunchtime with a stronger north wind
Kayaking: 16.2 km
Tramping: 1.0 km
Lane Cove Cottage
Dawn was just beginning to show around 7:00 and that is when all of us decided to get up. Breakfast was two fried eggs with tomato and mushrooms with a couple of coffees for me, and fruit salad for all at the end.
Then it was time for today’s excursion. The boats basically remained empty except for lunch, and I had my camera and the GPS with me, but they disappeared into the dry bag at a stop just before the heads because I could already see the waves breaking. Pushing off from the shore I scraped a finger on a mussel shell, a scratch which had to be attended to when we were back at the hut.
Slide Show
Click on the image to stop/start the animation
Anyway it was out past the heads into the wind and the meter-high swell. Quite an experience! Don’t think I’ve experienced waves that high except as wake waves in Sweden. Didn’t really feel like falling out of the boat, and the pace was not punishing. We reached a tunnel where there was a pep talk about getting through – one at a time. I was the second last to go through. It was like a very narrow river with hills on it – the waves were somewhat dampened but still quite present. At the end Magnus decided we wouldn’t go on to the further arch (Jellicoe’s Cave) but return to the harbour where a grassy clearing was chosen for lunch (salami, cheese, quinoa salad with tomato, cucumber and onion, with various sauces). Then it was around Milford Island and back through a very strong and gusty wind to the hut. This time I thought I really might fall out if the wind had hit me from the wrong direction.
Interactive Map
We made it back without further incident and proceeded to laze around a bit. Still the mountain (Kairewa Rock) had to be conquered and by late afternoon sox and shoes were donned, the camera loaded onto the belt, the tripod strapped on and the pol filter pocketed, and off we were. The last twenty metres were a steep climb up a rock face and I started on my bracketed panorama and other images. Even Edgar made it up with his iffy toe, and he also made it back down again.
| Where | When |
| Leave Lane Cove | 9:00 |
| Picnic at Milford Island | 12:00-13:00 |
| Back at Lane Cove | 14:15 |
| Climb Kairewa | 16:00-17:00 |
Time for dinner. Sausages and mash this time, with a green salad, which was preceded by crackers, cheese and salted almonds. The piglets who call this place home became quite excited by the smell of the sausages and had to be shoved away a couple of times. Dessert was rice pudding with sultanas and almonds.
Sitting on the balcony we noticed the pigs going out onto the beach and starting to inspect the boats so I had to go down and shoo then off again. They were after the lollies in Anaïs’s deck bag, so that was detached and brought up to the cottage.
Edgar had brought out his first aid kit and I said to him, “Time for Shortland St,” and that had to be explained to him.
