A 12 hour paddle yesterday puts kayaker Tim Taylor in the shelter at Kisbee Bay, Preservation Inlet, ahead of gale warnings forecast for the area over the weekend.

Tim set out from the eastern end of Te Waewae Bay shortly before 7am on Thursday and paddled all day to reach Kisbee Bay at dusk.

Tim Taylor.

There is a DOC hut nearby, a two bunk ‘A-frame' called the Te Oneroa Hut, but his mum Lyn Taylor says Tim may take up an offer to say in a private lodge further up the sound.

Phone coverage in the remote area is patchy, says Lyn.

'Whether he just paddles to find the lodge up the inlet further, I don't think he's moving,” says Lyn.

'He did a huge day yesterday, because of that coastline. He couldn't stop, nowhere to pull in, it's as rugged as. He will be resting up today.”

Tim phoned his parents on Wednesday night and was on a high, says Lyn.

'I think the mental side of just getting around Stewart Island and getting across and back across Foveaux strait. He's uphill now. He's doing real well. We are very happy with his progress.”

Tim is also looking forward to travelling northwards to catch the remnants of summer he's been missing down south, says Lyn.

'I think he said the day before yesterday was his first fine day since Dunedin.

'He says ‘I'm not having any summer'. It hasn't been good at all down there, and cold, so much colder.”

The marine forecast for the sea area Puysegur has a gale warning in force with 45 knot northerlies this morning changing to 20 knots this afternoon and tending southeast 30 knots tonight.

A northwest swell three metres is expected for a time. Southwest swell two metres easing. Poor visibility in rain, heavy at times, developing in the west this morning.

The outlook following three days is for wind from the southeast rising Saturday to 30 knots. Turning Sunday northerly and rising late on Sunday to 40 knots with very rough sea. Monday it swings round to become a 25 knot southerly. The southwest swell is expected to moderate on Saturday. The northerly swell is expected to become moderate on Sunday, and eases on Monday.