Date: 22/04/15 Position: Millar's Beach, Prices Inlet, Patterson's Inlet
On Monday we continued north to Patterson's Inlet from Port Adventure. We had a pleasant sail north with a gentle southerly breeze behind us. We broad reached with just the headsail set until the wind lightened and we then raised the mainsail. We were visited by many Cape Petrels as they skimmed over the waves. They are lovely looking birds about the size of a pigeon with a dark brown/charcoal and white feathers. Their head is full colour but their back and wings are quite distinct with patches of darker feathers amongst the white, like someone has tried to paint them but has missed lots of areas. We also saw many different varieties of albatrosses including White-Capped, Shy, Chatham, Grey-Headed and Buller's. It was a great day for bird watching and we continued along this theme when we dropped anchor in Sydney Cove at Ulva Island inside Patterson's Inlet. Here we rowed the dinghy ashore and followed the tracks around the island for a couple of hours spotting many interesting species of birds. Ulva Island is an open sanctuary managed by DOC. After returning to Ambler we motored across the calm waters to Golden Bay on the northern shore of Patterson's Inlet and dropped anchor for the night behind Iona Island.
On Tuesday we walked along a lovely bush track from our anchorage at Golden Bay to Oban, the township of Stewart Island. The weather was very calm and about mid morning the sun burst through and the sky remained a cloudless blue for the rest of the day. We wandered around the small, friendly town for a few hours. Oban is a picturesque place on the waterfront of Halfmoon Bay which is dotted with mooring buoys and a variety of boats. It is a peaceful place with a school, one supermarket, various outlets catering for tourists, a museum and library. Houses are dotted throughout the bush on the hills that rise up around the town centre. In one of the gift shops we found a fantastic book called 'Their world, their ways, albatross' by Tui De Roy. We purchased it as books solely about albatrosses aren't easy to come by. It is a marvelous book and hopefully we'll learn even more about these magnificent birds. We also visited the DOC visitor centre which was very informative about the flora and fauna of Stewart Island. We learnt that the sea lions we have been seeing are one of the rarest species in the world and found only in NZ. There are less than 10 000 left and they have been listed as nationally critical, the highest threat classification in NZ. Surrounding Oban there are many short walks to do so we incorporated a couple of these and wand our way back to Golden Bay.
Today (Wednesday) was a cracker of a day, warm sunshine and blue sky. It must be due to the high passing over us at the moment. About mid morning we weighed anchor and motored further into Patterson's Inlet to Prices Inlet where we dropped anchor off Millar's Beach. It is a beautiful spot surrounded by low bushy hills and a few beaches. There are a flock of terns diving for fish, shags grumbling on a rock nearby and occasionally the squark of a passing penguin. After lunch we went kayaking around Prices Inlet and Kaipipi Bay exploring all the small coves and waterways. Back on board with the sun setting, the temperature is plummeting and we are in for another very cold night.
All is great on board. Kathy and Wayne
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