Transport as a Good Deed for the Community

Because it is a cold damp day today, I thought it would be a good chance to post my Blip Community Transport Challenge entry before time runs out.

Yesterday we were transported on a very special fundraising activity to circumnavigate D’Urville Island on the Eastern side of Tasman Bay. For the second year, Rotary have organised this initiative with four trips over four days and the help of a couple of very generous local firms. The Knapp family donate their time, boat and lifelong knowledge of the area to this local fund raising cause. Another local firm, Talleys I believe, donates the fuel.

Our boat, the Crusader, shown in my Blip, is the Flag ship of the Abel Tasman Sea Shuttle fleet built, owned and managed by the local Knapp family. Its main purpose is ferrying tourists, trampers and locals up and down and in and out of estuaries and bays in the Abel Tasman National Park.

For those interested, the purpose built Crusader is a 24.9 alloy catamaran built by the Knapps and has two 485 Kw Scania diesel engines. The official capacity is 150 people and on our trip we carried 85 folk so plenty of room for everyone on the day long trip.

The cost of the trip was $100 per person and the four local charities benefitting from an expected $8000 each were Hospice, ROMAC (Rotary Medical aid for Children), The Jack Inglis Friendship Hospital and The Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter.

In the extras is a map of D’Urville Island. We travelled up the left hand side of the Island, through the small and extremely rough passage between Cape Stephens and Stephens Island (top left) and back down the right hand side of the island to the D’Urville Island Wilderness Resort at Catherine Cove, where we had lunch. From there, back through the very narrow gap of French Pass with its whirlpools and turbulent waters and a straight run through to Nelson.