Bark Bay is my favourite beach. You can only get to it by walking for a couple of days or by sea. I prefer to kayak to it but until James is old enough the water taxi will have to do.
On the way we passed Pinnacle Island and saw these shags sunning themselves on the rocks. In the distance are the moutains of the Marlborough Sounds.
Today we are catching a water taxi to Bark Bay, in the heart of the Abel Tasman National Park.
James and Sandra bought this smoker for my birthday but I haven't had a chance to use it till today. But now I have salmon to smoke!
Kaiteriteri beach is great, the sand is golden, the water is warm without any rips and there is a great lagoon for swimming in.
We are off on holiday to Kaiteriteri. The drive up through the Lewis Pass was wild with strong winds on the east side and torrential rain on the west. The Maruia waterfall was much bigger than normal with all the rainfall.
The finished result came out far better than I had hoped. The wood just needs a few coats of danish oil to seal it and I will strip the sashes in the new year.
I machined the sill at night school but the real work is fitting it into place. I borrowed this drop saw from a colleague. It has a laser marker for perfect mitre cuts.
I need to cut away part of the mullions so that the sill will slide underneath. I have screwed a piece of wood the same thickness as the sill to the frame and am sliding a tenon saw slowly back and forth across this to get a precise cut.
Back home and I have more DIY to do. I have stripped the paint from our big bay window but, as the picture shows, there is no sill, just the bare frame. I am going to build a new sill and arcitrave to match the other windows in the house.
We had a great day in this forest, it was one of the best walks I have done. As we got to the end we saw kaka (forest parrots) flying between the trees.
James had a great time, he walked at least half the way and spent much of the time hunting trolls.
