Tim's 40th Birthday

Sunday felt like my first real day of holiday – a slow start to the day, cleaning the mess that the seagulls had left on the deck and stringing up some tape and plastic to keep them away, and a wander into Dunedin (Kevin, the manager of the Otago Yacht Club actually gave me a ride and I walked back). Real go-slow mode, which made a welcome change from the busyness of the last few months. And then I got a message from Tim to say he was on his way down, already in Timaru, fantastic! So back into action, cooking a late lunch, making the yacht all ship-shape, wrapping presents, baking a birthday cake and cleaning up. Yes, that was me baking a cake – without a kitchen whizz, using Honey's gas oven and with my lack of baking prowess, it didn't end up looking fantastic but edible, just!

Honey's cabin - my home for the next 3 months

Tim arrived down and on his birthday (yesterday – Monday), we had a relaxing day – took a drive over the Otago Peninsula and walked out past the pyramids to Victory Beach. And passed a rather tetchy sea lion along the way! Very windy SW, looking out to the open sea we could see how wild it was, we were both really pleased that I was tucked up in a sheltered mooring rather than facing those seas! The pyramids were quite impressive, extinct volcanoes and an interesting rock structure, very similar to what I have seen before in Iceland.

Otago Harbour

The Pyramids

Victory Beach

In the evening we went out into Dunedin for a birthday dinner, hunted around and found a popular Thai restaurant and had a lovely meal out, then home to Honey for birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Tim!

On the weather front, it looks like there is a break in the SW winds on Friday, so my plan at this stage is to leave early, about 4am with high tide. This should get me to the Nuggets by end of light on Friday and then by daybreak I should be in Foveaux Strait and arriving into Stewart Island early afternoon on Saturday. Its hard to predict the weather with any confidence 3 days out, but hopefully this is what pans out. Until then, Tim and I plan to visit Taieri Mouth today – a fishing village a little way south and the start of the Catlins, and probably a visit to Moeraki tomorrow.