Video of our Subantarctic Trip

A bit of playing last night and we now have the video of our trip in three 10 minute video's. Hope you enjoy.

Southern Voyage Part 1

Southern Voyage Part 2

Southern Voyage Part 3 is on the post below.

The video above is part 3 of our trip to the Subantarctic. I will rework the first parts to fit on the website.

Labour Weekend

Labour weekend and we managed to get out on the boat for the first time since arriving back in Auckland. We left work early and after a good evening's sail we were anchored in Owhanake Bay with a cold beer in hand just after six. The next day we arrived at a friend's place during a 6th birthday party -not the best timing! A meal later in the evening was a much better idea. We also made use of the nice day to dive on the bottom of the boat. The forecast for Monday was SW 30 which is fairly standard after an Auckland weekend ensuring a beat up the harbour. However, what we acctually got was a N/NE of about 15 and we had a great sail round the back of Rangitoto and got home just before the rain. We tried out our new main, which replaces the old one which you could poke your finger through.

Auckland

Well its been back to work in Auckland for us. First Jim who had been given a year off from his job and then me (I got my old job back). I did a bit of sailing on the Spirit before getting employed and hopefully will do a couple more voyages (despite the job!). Jim put in a new diesel heater (just in time for summer) and we've been out to Piha kayaking.

Some more photos

Wind farm on the Wellington coast


Sunset on the passage from Wellington to Gisborne (NB mothers please note the life jacket!)


On the piles at Smokehouse Bay in Great Barrier Island


Outside bath at Smokehouse, you can see the yacht masts in the background


Lower Kauri dam, GBI (no Jim isn't holding a beer it just looks that way- honest!)

View of Kaiarara Bay, if you get out the magnifying glass you can see 'Elenya' anchored in the bay

View of Port Fitzroy and Little Barrier Island from the top of Hirakimata (Mt Hobson)

Endangered pateke (brown teal) pay a visit

Sunset anchored in the Broken Islands (just after Jim was heard to say well we won't see the Spirit again now!)

Hot springs the second time we went, the first time we tried the river was in flood, this time the water was at least hot enough for Jim to get in!

Back to Reality

Well, we are back in Auckland and already it is starting to feel like we never left, apart from the fact we keep walking down the wrong pier! (we are now on a different berth). We had a great last few days around Waiheke with brilliant blue skies even if the southerly did have a bite to it. We’ve enjoyed some good sailing, clear water and dolphins, some relaxing and a bit more relaxing! Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and Jim goes back to work next week and I will have to start looking for a job. I haven’t quite worked out how to combine chemistry with square rig sailing but I’m working on it (and open to suggestions and/or job offers)!


Crossing our outbound path on the last day as we pass North Head on our way back to the Marina

Cold! This is still warm.

It's kind of weird to be sat in the Hauraki Gulf,the years shortest day quite close, with the news of severe cold weather and snow over NZ. It's still alot warmer now than our 'summer' and we have all the anchorages to ourselves (just as we did down south). The day is quite superb with blue skies, a warm sun, and a lovely 15 to 20 knot beam wind. A great sail across to Waiheke was had a bit of maintenance this afternoon.

Civilisation

Well that does depend on your definition of 'civilisation'. After a quick trip into town to do some shopping for fruit and vege's we decided to return that evening for a beer or two and some food. Forty feet by 12 feet of space does get a bit small after ten months with only a few hours ashore on the odd day (Tori reckons its more to do with the 'odd' person onboard).

The tide was high at midday for our shopping trip, and was therefore low when we headed back in for the evening. Low water here exposes lots of very soft mud (we have witnessed our friend sink up to his thighs here once before. We helped him get unstuck by offering support i.e. rolling around in hysterical laughter in the dinghy. He's never forgiven us and we ensure he never forgets!). Going ashore this evening we did run out of water before we got into the creek so paddled off in a few inches of water towards the commercial jetty. This was reached with little time to spare. I did not cherish a couple of hours sat in the dinghy, on the mud, waiting for the tide to return.

A couple of Kms walk saw us in town enjoying a nice pint. A peruse of the menu, food ordered, and we decided to have a game of pool. This was a bit of miracle for us as most places in NZ seem to play in a manner where the winner stays on. This means one of you has to beat the local pool shark to get a chance to play against your partner. Not a realistic option with our pool skills. Our luck was in here as the pub patrons consisted of Tori, myself and one person drinking shots and sitting outside smoking. For the next three hours we managed to play the worst pool ever seen in the history of bad pool playing. Our youth was obviously not 'misspent' enough!! The white ball spent more time in the pocket than out. I'd like to say our skills improved as the evening (and beer consumption) went on but it would be fairer to say we just didn't notice our abysmal efforts anymore.

Tori was up two games after I potted the black twice. I convinced her to play on and caught up by one game after Tori potted the black and twenty whites. It went downhill from there and I don't think the final score is important!! It's the taking part that counts. Our evening was cut short when all (both) the pubs in town closed at nine O'clock. Oh well just as we were warming up.

On our way back to the dinghy we noted the sign next to the wharf. This boldly stated "Warning deep mud. Risk of drowning". We couldn't resist a photo to send to our friend. I wonder if I should ask the council to put some on warning signs on the mudflats to warn people trying to get ashore from their dinghy? Better not or they just may do it!!

Not too sure we are looking forward to getting back to Auckland. The road in Coromandel town seemed busy enough let alone the northern motorway at rush hour. We will be heading to Waiheke for the weekend then on to Bayswater marina for Monday 22nd. All down to cleaning the boat out, drying stuff, buying a car etc. before I go back to work on 1st July. Tori has managed to organise herself so she is off sailing on square rig ships as soon as we get back (while I clean the boat) and again for a couple of weeks in July as I head off to work. I also find something unsettling in her reassuring me that she will be unable to find a job in this current economic climate........