15-18 February 2024

Leader: Steve Hudson

Over a lovely long weekend in February four of us being Cathy, Brandon, Kate and myself headed down to Picton on the Thursday afternoon Interislander sailing from Wellington for the annual club kayak trip around the Marlborough Sounds.

This year numbers were less than normal so the four of us met at Wilderness Guides on Friday morning, loaded up and headed out. The weather was just like previous trips, calm and sunny. Once it was safe to cross the shipping channel we made a line direct to Mabel Island then to Wedge Point and across Queen Charlotte Sound to Lochmara Lodge. After a coffee and a cheese scone it was getting close to lunch time so burgers were on the menu and some other refreshments. The rest of the day was spent heading to Mistletoe bay where we booked into our accommodation for two nights and went for a swim.

Saturday was calm again, so the decision was made to head south and check out Anakiwa at the southern end of Queen Charlotte Sound via all the nice coves and the lovely large DOC campsite at Davies Bay. Early afternoon we retraced our route back to Mistletoe Bay. Once again the rest of the day was spent chilling out, swimming and eating Kapiti ice creams from the camp store.

Sunday was another stunning day so with plenty of time to catch the 3:15pm Interislander to Wellington we took our time departing and had a lovely morning kayaking out and across Queen Charlotte Sound. As we turned towards Picton we could see two cruise ships in town so we knew Picton was going to be busy. A short break for a snack at one of the bays saw many people out and about enjoying the stunning weather that we were experiencing.

Once back in town we dropped off the hire gear and chilled out around town before heading home.

Those on the trip were:

Brandon Holman, Cathy Hudson, Kate Livingston, Steve Hudson

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.