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........

Interviewed by the 'Authorities" !! (Again)

Well we were minding our own business when this big grey boat came up to us! A lovely morning had dawned (well before we finally got out of bed) and we were enjoying the day when the aforesaid boat appeared alongside. Bristling with aerials and high tech 'bits' stuck on it, the word 'CUSTOMS' written down the side. I had a look through the binoculars, not really required as they were about 3 metres away, and was looking directly at a Customs lady looking at me with binoculars. A quick glance at the badges on the overalls of those onboard showed both Customs and Police officers. Tori has obviously been up to mischieve when she heads of running each day!

This will be the third time we have been interviewed in the last four months! Once in the Subantarctic by a patrol plane, once in the Marlborough Sounds and now here and also the Harbourmaster's patrol vessel 'interviewing' us on our departure from Auckland a year ago. We were asked the usual questions of who we were, where had we come from etc. Once the authorities were satisfied we were ok I was able to catch up with the rather 'rough' looking Police officer and find out what had been going on at work. You just can't go anywhere in New Zealand without seeing someone you know!

On the subject of meeting people we know we have now seen the "Spirit of New Zealand" three times (voyages) whilst we have been in Great Barrier Island (each voyage is 10 days, so that's far too many days in one spot for us). It has been good to catch with with our friends onboard the ship each time. Our best example of meeting friends was our meeting one in Campbell Island. Middle of the Southern Ocean, we were only there a few days and we met a friend on the Met. Service vessel.

What have we been up to for the many days we have spent around Great Barrier Islands Port Fitzroy? Quite a bit really. Tori heads off most days for about an hour to hour ten minutes running. This is in addition to her normal swim of about one KM. Water looks far to cold to me and I hear the fish have pee'd in it, and worse! A few nights during our stay have been spent in the bath at Smokehouse Bay. We use the outside bath, stoking the fire during the afternoon to give plenty of hot water for the evening. Just add a cloudless night, lovely stars, no other boats, a bottle of wine and pleasant evening is had. I did try a bit of fishing (that's if you can call hanging a hook and "flash' over the side and bringing it in four hours later after ignoring it 'fishing') while sitting in the cockpit listening to national radio. You'll be surprised to hear I caught no fish and was ridiculed (publicly) by locals at the shop when I went to buy some fish fingers for dinner. Oh the trials of being the great hunter-provider.

Whilst anchored off the 'township of Port Fitzroy' (one shop, nurses house, boat club and two houses) we went to the 'boat club' on one of it's few noghts open. The club is run by the locals and opens when the weekly ferry comes in. This event brings lots of people (20 max) to the wharf to pick up there stores and bits from the mainland. Its not a bad way to spend and evening chatting and watching the world go by. After chatting with a family looking after their parents property they invited us to the local duathlon the next evening. I went as support crew rather than participating. The event took place at the OPC (Outdoor Pursuits Centre)base at the Orama Christian Community. We arrived a bit lat so the kayaking part was canned as light was going. The running course was explained, as was the 'handicapping' system. In general the idea was to arrive at the finish together so each runner started at the point they felt would allow them to finish with the rest. All very honest! and yes points were awarded for finishing positions and recorded. Great fun. After the run and a quick clean up a meal was served, with the bring-a-dish style being followed. This was a great chance to meet some of the locals and have a chat.

A nice day (well they have all been great actually with plenty of sun, if not a bit cold at night) saw us walk up to the top of Mount Hobson. This is a small peak of about 630 metres or so. It's about 2.5 hours each way of good path and a scramble in other spots. A great view is to be had from the top. The downside of the view was that we could see Auckland about 50 miles away! After a good time enjoying the view we returned to the boat via the same track we came up. DOC have made great improvements on the lower part of the track and its great to see they are being given funding.

We are now anchored out in the Broken Islands on the west side of Barrier. A nice sunset last night, with the Spirit of New Zealand motoring through it. We will be of to Whangaparapara either today or tomorrow and take a walk to the hot springs. Then we will work down to the Coromandle Peninsular before going into Auckland on 22nd to get ready to go to work, horrah horrah (honest)!