Goodbye NZ

Today is our last day in New Zealand. We have had a brilliant time here and thoroughly recommend the people and country to other travellers. We are waiting in Opua Marina to see Customs on Tuesday 19 April. Today we saw our new wind speed indicator hit 50 knots!! But everyone says it will be much quieter tomorrow. We hope so as we have a 1299 nautical mile journey to the coast of Australia (we intend to make landfall between Brisbane and Gladstone, but the wind will decide where. And then we need to learn a whole new language - Oz! The picture is the sun setting from our anchorage in the beautiful Cavalli Islands. Thank you NZ for being so welcoming.

Bay of Islands Revisited

The trip to the Bay of Islands was harder than it ought to have been. We stopped at Tutukaka Harbour to let ex-Cyclone Bune pass. Unfortunately, Bune left a 4.5m swell, which entered the "swell free" harbour and gave us 2.5m waves on anchor. Just after midnight when we had 2 feet of water under the keels, we had to re-anchor - THREE times! No damage was done and a couple of days later we were enjoying a beautiful walk to Cape Brett, just behind Jeremy's left shoulder. On our way out of Whangamumu Harbour, just south of Cape Brett, Jeremy caught a kahawai fish, possibly the biggest fish he'd ever caught. We shared it for 2 lovely meals.

We sheltered from 40knot winds in Opua Marina for a couple of days. Here we met with old friends. I needed to have my eyes examined as I'd been having some trouble for about 6 weeks. The only opthalamists this far north was in Kerikeri. We negotiated 3 or 4 miles of river, the echo sounder giving us 1.6 metres to a huge 6.0 metres all at high tide. (We need 1.0metre to float). We arrived in the pool below the Kerikeri Stone Store (built in 1836 and the oldest stone building in NZ). My eye test was successful and it appears that I now have "floaters" which will remain with me, but not affect my eyesight - the joys of getting older.

Sailing again

Here is Sal Darago all ready to be launched. For the past month Jeremy has been hard at work repairing and renewing the equipment on board. At times this has been quite frustrating as some suppliers have not met their promised dates. SD now has new rudder bearings, a new log, a new wind sender unit, new antifoul, a new solar panel attached to the backstays(can you see it?) and her new sails which were put away in La Palma are now up. Kathy meantime was at home visiting family. She saw Emily and Ben, Simon and Erin, Gavin and Eileen and, of course, Ellen, Sara and Pat, as well as most of the IOM Denham gang. It was a whistle stop tour which included a brief visit to Lancashire where she saw Ruth and Frank and stayed with Pat C. On her return she was allowed two days to adjust to NZ time. On Thursday 24 March, Sal Darago was launched from Norsand Boat Yard. She leaked a little from the toilet cock, but considering the number of through hull fittings which had been removed, repaired or replaced, that was not bad. It then rained for about four days. That was when the leak through the stern rails' feet was noticed. We dodged into Marsden Cove Marina and replaced the sealant on the offending feet. Today is our 36th Wedding Anniversary. We celebrated by going out to sea - well Pacific Ocean really. It was a lovely day, but the seas were confused and lumpy, 2.5 metres lumpy! Sal Darago safely took us to Tutukaka Harbour where we will stay for a couple of days to let Tropical Storm Bune pass by - apparently quite close. Here's to an enjoyable season's sailing to everyone.

Barnacle Bill

Never had Sal Darago had so many barnacles. She was covered in them. This was from two months in Whangarei Town Basin. Kathy and I set to scraping and, in an hour, most of the little beasts were off. A power wash by Keith removed much of the rest of the muck, but those barnacles had left their mark. By the time we were in our new and elevated position to the left of the slipway, it was late on Thursday. Kathy spent all day Friday packing and on Saturday she went shopping in the morning. I did not start any jobs on SD as there's not much space for all the tools etcetera and people's luggage.
At 1900 we set off for Auckland Airport. I dropped Kathy off at ten and she travelled for 27 hours to be successfully picked up by Emily at Heathrow. I continued driving south. At 0130 I stopped in a layby and slept until 0500. I continued, arriving in Levin at about noon and booked into Levin motor camp where I hired a cabin. Unlike the one Kathy I and had had at Tokoroa, this had four bunks and nothing else. In the morning I went to Buckingham Motors and packed Stan. I drove the hire car to Levin and caught a bus back to Levin. I now had the 700 mile drive back to Whangarei, after which I would start scrubbing off the remains of barnacles for a week.
The trip back took 24 hours including an idyllic evening camped at Lake Tirau (Chicken stirfry and white wine), where I met one man and his dog and a small JCB on a trailer? The traffic around Auckland was as bad as the Thelwall Viaduct on a bad day. Stan the Van got me home and is now for sale. - Any Takers!

Cylinder Head broken

We are safe. We were nowhere near Christchurch when the earthquake happened. We give our best wishes to those people who are involved in the aftermath.
This is Kathy on the ferry to the North Island. Stan made it to the ferry but, on the big hill out of Wellington, he boiled over yet again. Kathy and I decided to stay in the nearest campsite for two nights and set off on Monday morning for Whangarei. We did this, but had to fill up with water every 5 to 10 minutes. After 90 kms Kathy refused to go further without calling the AA. When the patrol manarrived, he led us to the nearest AA approved, Nissan garage. Dene of Buckingham Motors confirmed that either the cylinder head gasket or the cylinder head had failed. It could be fixed by Friday/Monday next week. We had Sal Darago to haul out on Thursday and Kathy had a flight to the UK on Saturday (check in 2200). We again phoned the AA and after a while, they found a hire car for us for three days from Palmerstone North. We were in Levin, but the AA had a chauffeur bring the car to us. We packed everything into the car and took the chauffeur back to Palmerstone North (52 kms). We arranged to keep the car until Monday. We then continued our 700kms journey back to Whangarei. At 1900 we pulled into a campsite in Tokoroa. We hired a cabin with a double bed, a bathroom and our own kitchen. Such luxury! By Tuesday afternoon we were back on SD. She started first time and we had confirmed we would haulout at Norsand boatyard on the Thursday. Dene from Buckingham Motors phoned to say that the cylinder head was cracked in several places and a fitted new one would be over $2000. We asked him to go ahead.

Farewell

The South Island was rapidly becoming circumnavigated by Stan. We hastened to the very end of the island and on a fabulous day walked a few hundred yards to Cape Farewell. The Tasman Sea is behind looking fairly aggressive.

To return to Picton ferry port we should have gone East, but we turned west to see the beautiful Whanganui Nature Reserve. At three o'clock we set off up Knuckle Hill for a 500 metre high, 360 degree view. It was a two hour climb with the last part a scramble. The views were spectacular. The following day we decided to buy two new tyres and book the ferry. First we had to climb the severe Takaka Hill. Stan boiled over and a water hose was found to have split. We had this replaced in Motueka. We bought tyres 40 kilometres on in Nelson and booked the ferry for the next day. 20 kms further on Stan boiled over again. We had many miles to cover before the ferry terminal, but fortunately we had a great deal of water. We used most of it and arrived in Picton in the dark. At least we should be able to catch the ferry the next day and be on the North Island.

Cobb Valley and Ridge

Here I am sitting outside the only house I could afford in NZ, also known as Chaffey's Hut. Access is via a 27 kilometre gravel road followed by a tramp (NZ word for hike) of one and a half hours. The accommodation inside is basic: a fireplace (collect and cut your own wood) a cooking area (bring your own Primus) and 2 bunk beds with dusty, foam mattresses. To be fair, this hut had not been in service since 1994, which is why it's in my price range.

Jeremy's house was renovated this century and had 4 bunk beds with plastic covered mattresses. Access is rather tricky, on foot through a disused asbestos mine.
The real name of the house is Asbestos Cottage and it was the home of Henry and Ann Chaffey for 40 years until 1953. He carried all the provisions here over the mountains and finally died carrying supplies home when he was in his 80's. On both days we saw the sun but the sandflies were worse than the Mull midges.