The Hits: Easter trip turns into a rough ride

Sarah Van Der Kley

There are certainly much worse places to be stuck than Hawke's Bay, but when you're supposed to be catching a plane to go on holiday with your family, it's not ideal.

This was the case for me when Cyclone Cook paid us a visit just before Easter.

I had booked a flight to Christchurch on the Thursday afternoon where I would meet up with my sister and her family before driving up to my parents' bach in the Marlborough Sounds.

The weather had other ideas of course and not only was that flight cancelled, but so was the next flight I booked, due to leave early on Easter Friday.

The third flight I booked did manage to take off and I arrived in Christchurch at 1pm, where my sister met me at the airport and we started the seven-hour drive north.

My parents' bach is in a bay you can only reach by boat so I rang a water taxi in Picton, only to be informed they weren't doing trips at night because of debris in the water after the cyclone.

My dad, bless him, told us not to worry, that he would bring his boat over and we would just take the trip really slowly. His boat is made to take about six people, not the three adults, four children and two large dogs (plus luggage) that made up our group.

There were enough lifejackets for everyone and we had little choice as it was 8pm on Easter Friday when we arrived in Picton, so we all squeezed on to the boat and started chugging our way slowly through the Sounds.

Then the fog descended. Fog so thick I have no idea how my father and brother-in-law knew where they were going (they later admitted they had just guessed) and which turned a 10-minute trip into one that lasted well over an hour.

After many, many verses of The wheels on the bus we finally made it to Lochmara Bay were we all fell in to bed and slept soundly.

Until 5am the next morning when we awake to someone yelling "Fire!"

The next door neighbour's bach was ablaze, so a bucket chain was formed from the sea to their house until the fire service arrived on the Coastguard boat and managed to get it under control.

The house was very badly damaged but thankfully everyone escaped in time. As for me, I'm thinking that next time I have some time off work, I'll probably just stay at home. - _ Sarah