Saturday 15^th. March. 

The beautiful sky of the previous evening was probably produced by the approaching storm, which is a decaying cyclone from up north in the Pacific. In my post of Thursday 13^th. I mistakenly called it a hurricane, but of course they belong to the Northern Hemisphere.

Anyway it is decided by the Wilsons staff to take all precautions, and they make provision to bring in all clients and staff from outlying areas to sit it out at this Torrent Bay Lodge, before the boats are prevented from running up and down the coast.

There is time for the group here now to walk and kayak out as planned, as it will take till early afternoon only, and if they had all stayed put, those brought in from further afield would have to camp on the floor. I had previously been scheduled to come out late afternoon by boat which would have given me an easy day with plenty of time for lazing around and swimming in the sun and sea of the beautiful little bays, but it is decided that I walk out with the group to further down the coast where they are going out by bus, so once again I am part of a group with plenty of time for chat.

The group dynamics here are interesting in one particular aspect, as an American and an Aussie have formed a double act that has a way of combining individual conversation into group dissemination, by acting as double talk show hosts interviewing a guest and then disseminating this information to the group in a brash American manner. This is known as Wilsons FM, and works well at times, but there is a lot of channel switching and tuning out.

 

This isn’t the whole group, and doesn’t include the guides, who have gone ahead on a bend having stolen all our cameras. John and Ted our Talk Show Hosts are next to me in red and the big one the back 4 in from me. Click on the picture and then you can zoom in. 

Have time for a one hour lunch stop in the Apple Tree Bay that I had been due to be picked up from in the late afternoon, and at least get a swim, but I am the only one to do so. The Kayakers come in here and will walk out with us in case the final large bay gets choppy in the afternoon.

The sky is clouding over but not threatening, but the picture opportunities are not as brilliant as the previous day

 

Again not the whole group. The guides are in the black Wilsons uniform, Connie sitting on the left and Sam next to me. The other guide, Ben, is taking the photo.

Walk on, catch the bus, and sadly have to say goodbye to my companion of the previous evening, as I am staying in my digs in Kaiteriteri, and all the others are going on to Nelson.

As it is the weather doesn’t turn bad for another 24 hours.