Duvauchelle Dalliance & a Ceilidh

Saturday 11 July

Duvauchelle could not lay on the sunshine, but our hosts Matt & Emma continued to make us feel so welcome. There was a hint of blue sky as we looked out over the harbour from their upper windows - but the clouds did not bother to part for us.

Matt’s mum, Joan, joined us from Halswell around 10ish and we set off for a bit of local exploration round at Onāwe Pā - an old Māori stronghold on a slim peninsula near Barry’s Bay - leaving Matt at home doing odd jobs.

Erosion has almost made an island out of the end of the peninsula and the tide was in so we just walked/scrambled to the end of the first section along the foreshore and then back. The coloured stone markings here are quite spectacular with warts and nobbles and rings of stone patterning - all in deep rusty & light cream tones. So many fascinating shapes, colours & patterns in the rock - they looked almost alien. There were beautiful seaweeds too - the one Emma picked up ticked all the boxes with ribbons, fronds and bead like seed pods - stunning!

Tui had a lovely swim beside us in the super chilly waters, and fetched a few damp sticks before they sank to the bottom! After checking out the cormorant tree, which was like an apartment block for Otago Shags, we returned to Duvauchelle to visit the wharf and the colourful boathouses there (and of course so Tui could swim a bit more!) The jetty by the boat ramp pointed out across the bay to the Pā we had just been exploring, and the clouds parted a fraction to enhance the view.

The seaweed we found over here by the boathouses was shiny and stunning and reminded me of rosary beads. The boathouses were painted a huge variety of vibrant colours - but in al honesty, nature's colours in the seaweed won the day.

We all had a lovely lunch at the house then we said our fond farewells and drove back to Banjo. Can't wait to visit again - maybe in the summer?

Finally a splash of blue skies as we left, and by the time we reached Tai Tapu the sun was out and warming us all up again. Had a smooch with Rusty the adorable dog belonging to Gary & Sandy in the Jayco opposite and said farewell to them and the South African family in the Malibu - Stefan & Gina - as well as our hosts - however old cranky & dangerous Carol & Geoff may be!

From here we trekked about 20km in to town, to Woolston to stay at the Working Men’s Club where they have a $10 POP in one of the car parks.

A week or so previously Facebook had flashed us an ad for a fundraiser ceilidh in nearby Redcliffs and we’d bought tickets. We weren’t sure quite what to expect but it was a brilliantly fun evening of Scottish dancing with about 100 others and an accordionist and a caller. Theo & G got everyone up and dancing, which was impressive given the number people (many newbies) and the size of the venue. We were pretty hot and sweaty after just the first dance and I had to rush to the ladies to strip off some of thermal layers!

We threw ourselves into the fun and learned/mastered/massacred an assortment of dances, met a few locals, had a haggis dinner and laughed ourselves silly! The haggis was "piped" in by an accordion, paraded around the room, addressed with the traditional Rabbie Burns "Ode to the Haggis" and then served up along with homemade oatcakes and salmon pate, tots of whisky and shortbread and cranachan to follow.

What a blast! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿