First, apologies to all
our readers for the long delay. We'd like to say that we were too
busy having fun but mostly, we have been carrying out boat projects!
We spent our first 6
weeks in NZ in Opua marina working on the boat! Our list of projects
was 3 A4 pages long so we started to work down the list. The mast was
lifted so that all the rigging repairs could be done and the boat
looked very strange without any rigging. We now have a much improved
and stronger rig. We also wanted all the wire on the rig replaced .
Unfortunately, the riggers could not get parts from the US in the
time we were there, so the mast got put back in with part of the old
rig so that we could leave Opua before Christmas. We then had to get
the remainder done when we were in Whangarei.
The first week in Opua
there was a cruisers regatta with lots of events such as talks on
boat issues and get togethers in the evenings. It was a very social
time with lots of friends we had made across the Pacific arriving
safely in NZ.
Between the chores we
managed to do a little sight seeing. We had a lovely day visiting
Hokianga harbour on the west coast and walking to seeing the giant
Kauri trees. We also drove further up the Bay of Islands which was
very pretty. The car we had borrowed from Richard and Dawn was very
useful for our trips and for all our shopping trips into Kerikeri.
This was until it suddenly stopped! We had seized the engine.
Unbeknown to us the car had a water leak. Richard had never checked
the water and neither had we, not being used to old cars. So that was
the end of the car but fortunately it happened just before we were
due to leave Opua.
One of the big jobs
while we were in Opua was to have new davits fitted to carry the
dinghy on the back of the boat. Chris from Simply Stainless has done
a great job and the new davits look strong enough to lift the boat
with! Hopefully this will remove a lot of stress from our sailing as
we often sit watching them wondering if they will break and if we
will lose the dinghy!
We finally left Opua a
few days before Christmas which left us no time to explore the Bay of
Islands. We sailed straight out and headed to a lovely bay down the
coast called Whangaruru. We are hoping to stop there again as we only
got to spend one night before having to leave for Great Barrier
Island. Our rush was due to the remnants of Cyclone Evan which had
hit Fiji and was on its way to NZ. We had one beautiful day at Great
Barrier before the rain and the wind arrived.
We spent Christmas day
at Great Barrier with our friend Chris off 'Ladybug'. We both had to
re-anchor first thing in the morning but then we opened the champagne
and the eating and drinking began. After smoked salmon for breakfast
we had roast lamb for dinner, yummy!
On Boxing Day we had to
leave as we were meeting friends in Auckland the following day. We
had a great sail and arrived at Rangitoto island just off Auckland
for the night. The following morning we collected Sally our friend
from the UK and Steve, Jackie and their son Connor, friends from
Wellington. They all spent 2 days on the boat with us. We went to
Waihiki island and had great weather. All the girls even had a swim
in the sea!
We spent New year at
Rangitoto island and had a very quiet evening except for the horns
and fireworks going off at midnight!. During the day we walked up the
volcano which has views across Auckland harbour. We then started to
head north spending a few days on the Whangaparoa peninsula. Then we
met up with friends Cameron and Catherine from Auckland who were
camping on a little island called Motuora. We spent the day with them
and all had dinner on the boat. We were hoping to go Kiwi watching
that evening as the island is predator free but the weather was not
good for leaving the boat unattended.
Then we headed to
Kawau, another popular cruising destination, to sit out more bad
weather. It was sunny so we did some walks on the island with Chris
from 'Ladybug'. Then we bid farewell to Chris and headed to Whangarei
and the next round of boat projects. It was a very bouncy trip but
fast and so we headed up the river for 2 hours and moored the boat at
the marina in the Town Basin.
Next instalment will
follow in a week or so as we are just off on a 5 day canoe trip down
the Wanganui river!
