NZ sailing trip

The following report was received from Rob hill in New Zealand.

In April, Rob and Jan headed off for a sailing trip in Pelorus Sound, one of the Marlborough Sounds of NZ's South Island. We had explored a different area of Pelorus the previous year, but it is a vast area of relatively sheltered sea inlets, and needed another trip.
We launched our 6m. yacht at Havelock, and followed the channel markers out until we were in the Sound proper. Then followed eight days of exploring bays and bush, mostly in relatively fine weather. The last two days, however, required some fairly serious festering in heavy rain, after which a forecast of a 45-knot Southerly made the decision for us that it was time to head out.

St-Omer Bay

A surfeit of adrenalin was never a problem on this trip, as compared to some other sailing trips, as sheltered anchorages were never far away, but pottering round new stretches of water and bays is always a very pleasant way to spend time.

Meanwhile, back in christchurch, this week saw two more large aftershocks, magnitude 5.5 and 6.3, an hour and twenty minutes apart. This fortunately resulted in no serious injories, but more building damage (including one of the remaining walls of the cathedral falling down), more loss of water, sewage and electricity services, and more liquefaction- i.e. sewage-contaminated water and silt rising up from cracks in the ground and flooding homes. These quakes affected principally the same areas as the major quakes of September and
February. One can only imagine residents' state of mind now. Aftershocks of varying magnitudes have been a daily occurrence since September. It is certain that some areas of the city will have to be abandoned, due to
damage such as the level of the land having been lowered, and so making flood risk too great, and possibly some hill suburbs, due to instability.