Hector goes to Port Levy

Port Levy wharf

Last weekend Hector went for his first overnight trip. With Nana here and the weather looking glorious we decided to take advantage of my supervisors' bach just an hour and a half away on the Banks Peninsula. So, with the boxes and bags of stuff we would need and the canoe on the roof, we drove off over the hills. While Port Levy is not far from Christchurch, the road follows the curvilinear path of Lyttleton Harbour and therefore takes the better part of an hour and a half to travel a mere 45km. But the road passes some gorgeous places and the views from the tops of the hills are always lovely.

Nana drawing Hector

Eventually, we rolled into Port Levy and found the green roofed house at the start of the bay. A glorious little place tucked in against the edge of the hill with a sprawling grass yard down to the rocky beach. Having left early we arrived well before lunch and proceeded to unpack our stuff. Stephen set up his newly crafted baby gym for Hector on the lawn and with a few blankets draped over it, it made the perfect sun shade. We lounged on the grass with our books, knitting, and some lunch. As the afternoon drew on, we explored the surrounding bay along the gravel road which clung to the hillside just above the bach. In the evening, after a tasty BBQ dinner and a relaxing evening doing nothing we settled down into bed and listened to the waves on the rocky beach outside.

The next morning, waking at Hector o'clock, Stephen and I set to making breakfast/entertaining Hector. We have found that the morning is Hectors' smiliest part of the day and we have enjoyed it to no end. I would never have thought I would so happily get up at 5am, but here I am. We ate breakfast at the more reasonable hour of 8-ish and decided to get out on the water while the wind was still calm. So while I prepped Hector, Stephen got the canoe down to the water and Jan got the kayak out from the rack by the bach.

Jan out for a paddle

The water was lovely and placid. With Hector fast asleep in his bassinette in the middle of the boat, we paddled out to the island in the bay. Long and narrow, covered in pines, the island stretches from our weekend home out towards the inlet entrance. We found a flock of cormorants nesting in the tree tops at one end of the island and a boarded up bach tucked away on top at the other end. After a couple of circuits of the island and a trip down towards the ocean, the wind started to pick up and we decided to head for shore.

As the morning quickly passed into the afternoon, we ate some lunch and slowly started to pack our stuff. Because, while Jan and I had nothing to rush back to in town, Stephen had school to prepare for the next day. So we piled everything back into the subaru and headed down the road towards home.

Daddy working hard