A few more photos from our car camping trip in New Zealand. The first few are from an area called Craters of the Moon, which is full of steam vents and mud pools caused by geothermal activity. The remainder were shot in Napier, famous for its Art Deco buildings. Napier was flattened by an earthquake and rebuilt beginning in 1931.

Chris and Mike (from 'Chapter 2') being naughty

This whole area is active - especially since the geothermal plant down the road began to siphon off water, increasing the steam produced in this location.

Rani enjoys a steam bath

Napier store front

Classic cars and dress are part of Art Deco Days, which were slated to begin in a few days.

Another Art Deco commercial frontage

The Anglican cathedral. Built, like most of Napier, after an earthquake flattened the old town.

Lilies in the fountain at a park in Napier

Even the cathedral stained glass exhibits Art Deco motifs

Climbing Mount Doom re-post with better pics

We hiked the open half of the Tongariro crossing a few days ago and put in a side trip up Mount Ngauruhoe, which was used as Mount Doom in some scenes from Lord of the Rings. It was Rani's dream to do this hike since her last backpacking trip to New Zealand in 1997. We were fortunate with the weather as the sunshine and blue sky added to the enjoyment.

Near the start of the Tongariro crossing hike.

Starting up the scree field of Mount Ngauruhoe (aka Mount Doom)

View across the scree field back towards the red crater

Rani and Chris at the crater summit

Rani climbing up beside the scree field

Rani and David (an Irish hiker we met on this climb) at the plateau below the crater 

Crater view

Another crater view

Chris and David head back down

I think this is the actual summit - above the crater.

Rani screes downhill

Back down again - the scree field is the area to the right with the light 'scree runs'

Continuing to the Emerald Lakes lookoff

Lunch break over-looking Emerald Lakes

Heading down for a better view of the lakes

Red Crater with Mount Doom behind

Mount Ngauruhoe is always present on this hike

We climbed that!

Crossing a 1975 lava flow on the way back

Did I mention that we climbed that?!

Pictures from Whangarei area

We have access to wifi today at the library, so I am posting a few pics from the last couple of weeks:

We found some time to hike near Whangerei Heads. This is a view from Mount Manaia.

Rob and Chris working on the deck at McLeods Bay

Jo and Rob - our friends off 'Blue Moon' enjoy a break on what will be the first floor of their new house

I am not actually allowed to start the new mower at Homeport because I was instrumental  in ending the old mower's life.

Avocados at an avacado farm

Roz and Holger at their off-the-grid home

My favourite window at Homeport -all the windows were hand made by Holger, including the stained glass work

Holger helps me replace the gutter after I pulled it down - I have been  very helpful around the house...

Rani talks to Roz from the patio at Homeport. The kitchen is built almost entirely from  native macrocarpa.

Holger in the 'music room'

Peter and Jan are excellent folk musicians and organizers of a New Zealand folk festival.

Pleasant days in Whangarei

We have been spending the last couple of weeks preparing for a car camping trip around New Zealand and arranging our spring flights home. Our cruising friend's from 'Blue Moon', Rob & Jo, have graciously allowed us to use their home and internet connection for this. Jo has a busy work schedule teaching yoga and doing personal training and Rob has been flat out building their new house/health retreat, so unfortunately, we have had only a few evenings together during this time.

Rob has been working on a large wrap-around deck on the new house. He is very experienced and manages to do virtually all of the building on his own, using cunning rather than brute strength, for example, to move into place the heavy beams that are required by the local building code. On a few occasions I have lent him an extra pair of hands and enjoyed working with someone who is so competent. Rob also helped me bring our rusty anchor chain into Whangarei to be re-galvanized. New chain is very expensive and most of it now comes from China and is of doubtful quality (several boats have had chain failures with the Chinese chain links parting). Galvanizing costs about $3 NZ per kilo and re-galvanizing our 200 feet of chain will probably set us back between 300 and 400 NZ dollars.

We have also enjoyed visiting Homeport - the off the grid farm where our friends Holger and Roz live. They have gone back to work now out of Russell, about 2 hours drive north of here. They live on their boat on a mooring near Russell and go to work as painters on various jobs in the area. We spent the weekend with them and they kindly allowed us to spend a couple of days here on our own getting ready for our trip. The weekend was packed with music and good food. Holger is an excellent electric guitarist and played several original compositions for us. Holger and Roz's friends, Jan and Peter, dropped by bringing their guitar and mandolin. They are accomplished folk musicians and we had fun jamming with them and listening to their beautifully harmonized singing. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is a truly lovely place and being here makes us yearn for a more settled life. Maybe we will build our own Homeport some day in Canada.

Rani bus'd her way into Auckland a couple of days ago and returned with a Nissan 'Sunny' - a nice little sedan that will be our magic carpet for the next 6 weeks. We plan to spend about 10 days on the North Island and will then take the ferry across Cook Strait to the South Island where we will travel for 3-4 weeks. We are basing the trip mainly around hikes as well as a few days in Napier (famous for Art Deco architecture) and Christchurch. More on this when we are on the road.

Tentative Cruising Plans

We have been grappling with the tension between travelling, time with our families, and re-establishing a home/work base back in Canada. After much debate and working through a dozen different scenarios, we have decided to continue our travels for about another 18 months. We will start a 6 week car camping trip through New Zealand in a couple of days. In April we will return to Canada and the UK to visit our families and in May I will haul out  Ladybug and repaint her bottom.

From New Zealand we plan to sail in May to Fiji and on through New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Kiribati, to the Marshall Islands , which we should reach near the end of 2013. We will spend a few months in the Marshalls, which are relatively safe from Hurricanes and then sail north via Midway Island to Prince Rupert in BC. From there we plan to return to Duncan via the Queen Charlottes and the outside of Vancouver Island. We should arrive in Duncan in late summer/early fall.

All of this is open to change, but at least we have a rough idea of what the next couple of years hold! 

Photos from our first 2 months in New Zealand

Following are some pictures from our visit to Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf plus a couple from the Whangarei area (McLeod Bay)

View from our friends Jo and Rob's window in McLeod Bay. Ladybug is anchored in the bay  in the centre of the image.

Boat sailing into Auckland, off Devonport

Mount Manaia from Jo and Rob' s home - a wonderful hike

Auckland waterfront

Sky city tower from the anchorage south of the Bay Bridge  in Auckland

In the lava tubes on Rangitoto volcanic island

Lava tubes on Rangitoto Island

Lava flow - Rangitoto Island

Pohutukawa  (Christmas) tree in flower

Hiking on Kawau Island

Weka - flightless bird on Kawau Island

Old glass at the remains of a dairy on Kawau Island (replaced as found, of course!)

Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island

View from the mansion window 

Tree ferns  towering over Chris - Kawau Island

Old  Pohutukawa Tree on Kawau Island - note the gnarly aerial roots

Blustery Days

We set off to Great Barrier Island on Friday early in the morning (6.30am) to avoid the heavy winds expected later that afternoon. It took us a couple of hours' beating to sail away from Kawau Island and we set a GPS waypoint off Horn Rock. The wind varied from 10-15 Knots from the east with short choppy seas. Chris was busy reefing and un-reefing the main every 15 to 30 minutes until around 10.30am when it freshened up to over 20 knots. The seas were building and the rail was awash shortly thereafter. The sky was darkening to the east and we could see dense rain following. The Hauraki Gulf forecast was for 25-30K SE winds but it was definitely from the east and in our face. So we hummed and hawed for a few minutes and made a prudent decision to head for Whangarei instead. The wind was consistent and we were making 6-7 knots plus until we double reefed the main to take some pressure off the wind vane.On a beam reach with some of the jib furled we were still managing to average 5 Knots. Occasionally the sea would wash over the hood of the main hatch so we tried to stay inside the cabin with Chris timing his forays into the cockpit with care to adjust the steering vane or jib. We only saw one other sailboat during the passage, also heading up north and much faster than us. It was bigger than Ladybug, of course.

The river mouth at Whangarei was stirred up like a cauldron with mist flying everywhere, making it very hard to see the entrance buoys. We had to resort to manual steering as the ferocious wind gusts screamed down Busby Head. I yelled out the distance to the buoys as Chris wrestled with the tiller to take us safely into the harbour. We had been thinking of anchoring at Urquhart Bay near the entrance but when we saw the whitecaps in there we carried on up the channel to McLeod Bay. We located a swing mooring belonging to friends of friends using our GPS.  Chris nearly had his arms pulled out of their sockets on our first attempt to secure the mooring line as I put the gear in neutral and the wind blew Ladybug backwards. I went to lend him a hand but tumbled backwards with his weight on top. Getting up quickly I sprinted back to the cockpit and put the boat into gear. Our second attempt was successful as I kept the boat going forward to counteract the force of the wind. It was such a relief to go down below for a nice of tea and know that we were safe!

This is the fourth day of swinging around our mooring, the wind sounding like a super jet coming down on a runway during the 35 knot gusts. Our rows ashore to visit our friends Rob and Jo on the hill overlooking our boats have been challenging but great fun. Maybe it will be down to 25 knots when we return tonight! Chris is helping Rob with his building project while I catch up with emails and other internet tasks at their trailer.

Hiking Again!

My six weeks in England were mostly restful, visiting my parents and sister. The typically wet and cold winter weather was hardly conducive to outings except for one Sunday when my niece drove us to a National Trust historic house. There we enjoyed a lovely ramble in the beautiful gardens and deer park.

So, back to the wilderness of New Zealand. I was overjoyed when we landed on Rangitoto Island for a hike up to the volcanic peak with a few diversions into the lava tubes. Our head lamps allowed us a closer look at the brilliant crystals embedded in the tunnel walls and prevented us from stumbling on loose rocks and roots underfoot. Surprisingly enough part of the trail wound its way through a fairly dense forest of ferns and trees, pohutukawa being the major one. Panoramic views from atop the volcano were somewhat dulled by the thick grey clouds over Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf.

The following day was sunnier and we trekked across Motutapu Island to Home Bay. This trail hugged the fences between undulating fields of golden grasses. The hilltops afforded spectacular views over the pastoral landscape of the island with cows grazing along the trail and under copses of trees. At the campground in Home Bay, the feisty north wind was whipping up the sea into surfy conditions. Most of the campers were sunbathing on the grass around the campsites but some were brave enough to venture into the water. I am gaining a new respect for New Zealanders - they obviously love the water and are not afraid of the cold. We sat a while gazing at the sea and enjoyed a picnic of crackers, aged cheddar, fresh vegetables and Cadbury's Roses.

I must confess that both hikes left my legs aching a little and I slept deeply at night.

On Kawau Island yesterday we ventured out shortly after supper and strolled along Schoolhouse Bay Road to a lookout over Dispute Cove. The trail reminded me of Vancouver Island as we trod on a springy forest floor covered in pine needles. However, the tall tree ferns and exotic bird calls were not in keeping with memories of home. A flightless bird called the weka crossed our paths many times and did not scare easily. It looks a lot like a small hen with chocolate and rust coloured feathers but it's jerky head movements are quite distinct. Our return at dusk was rewarded by sightings of half a dozen wallabies. Most were too fast and we just glimpsed a furry animal hopping into the bush. But a couple of them froze for a few moments as if we were playing statues and we made eye contact. They are about 3 feet in height, have small mouse-like faces, big eyes and ears. They are certainly not native to New Zealand and are survivors from a collection of exotic animals brought to the island by Sir George Grey in the 1860's. Sir Grey bought the island for $3,700 in 1862 and sold it in 1888 for $12,000. During his ownership he created a stately home which is currently under restoration.

This morning we hiked to the historic Georgian style Mansion House. I was most impressed by the variety of trees on the property, especially the giant Moreton Bay Fig, Bunya-Bunyas, Hoop Pine, Chilean Wine Palms, Queens Palms and Norfolk Pines. The house has period furniture and some beautiful engravings of royal paintings from the Victorian era. There were many visitors to the site today from Auckland, enjoying a picnic in the gardens or a cooked lunch from the tea house/kiosk. We treated ourselves to an ice-cream cone with Flake chocolate bits which I had brought from England - yummy!

Tomorrow morning we shall set sail to Great Barrier Island.

Sailing to Kawau

The passage from Rangitoto Island to Kawau Island is only about 25 miles as the crow flies. But with a head wind, a few corners, and moderate currents, we probably sailed more than 35 miles yesterday.

Most of the boats in Islington Bay were anchored on the other side of the bay due to the wind direction, which made it easy for us to sail out the anchor. The only complication was the arrival of a large vessel-carrying barge, which arrived at the ramp just behind us as we were pulling up the anchor. They were unable to line up their ramp with the land ramp, but the captain was good at his job and avoided little Ladybug as he backed out to try again. We used the main alone to sail out the anchor, which was heavy with the thick sticky grey volcanic mud that makes this anchorage such a secure one.

Despite the volcanic nature of Rangitoto, the waters around it are shallow and we had to take care with our navigation as we sailed downwind out of the bay and rounded the island. The waters between Rangitoto and Auckland are also thin and we were rarely in more than 40 feet. I would guess that two things account for this - the gradual slope of the volcano, whose sides run out in a gentle plane and a thick layer of sedimentary soil from the mainland. We made good use of our little navigation netbook computer, running OpenCPN with the recently updated New Zealand raster charts. Rani watched our 'progress' on the chart and called out warnings and adjustments to me at the helm.

To port, we had clear views of Auckland's skyline, with Devenport and its lovely sand beach in the foreground. As we rounded the south side of Rangitoto, a white and red striped lighthouse perched on jagged black rock was our guide to starboard. A northeast wind of 12-15 knots meant that we would be beating our way up to Kawau into a moderately rough one meter sea. Ladybug is not at her best in these conditions, but we tucked two reefs in the main, unfurled the full jib, and lashed the helm in place, leaving her to make her way towards the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. There were a few sailboats out but most were heading in the other direction, so we did not feel obliged to 'race'.

Near Gulf Harbour on the peninsula, we put in a tack and beat toward Tiritiri Matangi island. On this tack we noticed a large yacht flying the Maltese flag beating up from Auckland on the opposite tack. The big yacht was pointing at least 10 degrees closer to the wind than Ladybug and hardly seemed to notice the short steep seas. Swallowing our envy, we passed just behind her and tacked to follow her through the channel between Tiritiri and the mainland. The current in the channel was flooding and setting us back and to port and we barely cleared the evil looking reefs on the end of the Whangaparaoa Pensinsula.

Once past the peninsula we were able to crack off the wind a few degrees and another 8 miles saw us weaving through the maze of little islands and reefs that guard the south approaches to Kawau Island. I pointed out to Rani where, in the 1920's the voyage of the Teddy had ended on a reef off Challenger Island. Erling Tambs and his wife and two very small children - a newborn girl and a toddler boy had swum ashore through the surf after their engineless sailboat was swept onto the rocks by a strong current. Here is a short quote from their book - "The Cruise of the Teddy". The wind had died out and a current had swept Teddy onto the point despite attempts to row the boat clear using a sweep:

"Now we were close against it. We felt the lift of the surge:
cold breaths of a moisture-laden atmosphere chilled us. My
heart shrank within me: Teddy's end was near.

We struck the first time. I felt how the rocks crunched beneath
our keel. Teddy heeled over hard, then, righting herself was
lifted again and carried onward, past the point, right into
the breakers..."

Enough said - I do recommend this book if you can get your hands on a copy - my copy is from the Mariner's Library published by Grafton Books.

One more tack and we ran into the mouth of Bon Accord harbour, where we turned on the engine, dropping the hook in peaceful Schoolhouse Bay in time for supper.

Auckland stay

Rani arrived a week ago in Auckland where I met her downtown at the ferry terminal/bus station. Earlier that day I had moved Ladybug from the anchorage near the Bay bridge into Pier 21 marina. This small marina is adjacent to the downtown and I was lucky to secure a slip whose owner was away for a few days.

In the following days, while Rani recovered from the 35 hour trip from the UK, we explored Auckland and re-provisioned for the voyage north to Whangerei. We visited the Auckland art gallery and museum - both of which I would highly recommend to visitors. The museum has a particularly impressive Maori/Polynesian floor with thousands of artifacts, masses of detailed information, and two large reconstructed houses. Entry is by donation to both facilities.

We found Auckland to be a delightful city with pedestrian shopping areas, many small parks, and a well thought out waterfront that blends working industrial areas with public spaces, restaurants, and walk-ways. On Saturday, we were walking through an area of grain silos on the waterfront where we came across a crowd of people sitting on blankets and in folding chairs. It turns out that each week a movie is projected for free on one of the grain silos - this week's screening was "Top Guns".

We also did some work on the boat including fitting a new head (toilet). The old one had a difficult to fix leak and a cracked pump housing. Replacement parts for the housing and a service kit would have come to nearly $700, so I opted for a new $250 Jabsco head. Few projects on a boat are straight forward. Because the new toilet has a different shaped base with different spaces between the bolt holes, this required me to redrill the stainless steel support plate. (This plate raises the head above the waterline, making an anti-siphon valve unnecessary). Stainless steel is very hard and hence difficult to drill. I was completely unsuccessful in doing this with my own drill and bits. Borrowing my neighbors drill and two sets of bits from other boaters was equally unsuccessful. Fortunately, our marina neighbor, Grant (whom I met out on Great Barrier Island) knew of a local machine shop and convinced one of the workers to let us use their drill press. The holes were still difficult to make, even with a large, slow speed drill press, sharp bits, and cutting oil!

We left Auckland a few days ago to visit Rangitoto and Kawau Islands en route to Great Barrier Island.

Some notes on sailing in the Auckland area

If you end up here, one of the best places to go on your way in and out of Auckland itself is Islington Bay on Rangitoto Island. The bay does get a lot of ferry wash, and it is best to anchor quite far in and on the west side to avoid rolling.

The other popular nearby island is Waiheke where I visited only two of the dozen or more anchorages. It is a populated island, being so close to Auckland and is served by a (very) high speed ferry. I stayed at Putiki Bay on the south side where there is an extensive anchorage outside the mooring fields. There is a funky community of house boats and live-aboards in an arm of this bay and apparently a good grocery store, which I failed to find on my walk around the area.

The other bay I visited on Waiheke was Man o' War Bay, which is on the east side of the island. This is wilder and there is a good hike up a very steep hill to a field filled with huge boulders, apparently dropped here during an eruption of a nearby volcano. Some of these rocks are massive - Stonehenge sized - and it would have really sucked to be having a picnic in that particular field on that particular day! The views from this area (called Stony Hill) are very lovely. You look out over turquoise waters of a bay filled with little islands, each having its idyllic looking sandy beach.

Sailing into Auckland, as I did yesterday, can be a challenge. It was a Sunday and every fisherman in the area was out anchored in the various channels between the islands. As a single-hander, I had my work cut out for me, dodging little anchored boats, and trying to stay out of the way of high speed catamaran ferries. The wash from these ferries and the large pleasure launches throws the wind out of your sails. Still I persevered and sailed right up Auckland's harbour past the container piers and right under the Bay Bridge.

On this passage, just about everyone overtook me, not just because Ladybug is slow and her bottom fouled, but because New Zealander sailors seem to use their motors even when under full sail. I was quite surprised by this at first, but after bouncing around at the harbour entrance in the repeated washes of a half dozen ferries, I can see why the locals hurry on past this point.

As I sailed up the main harbour, one the old New Zealand defenders of the America's Cup came past with its sails poorly trimmed and a paying tourist at the helm. She was concentrating like mad, but looked like she was having the time of her life. The boat was made of carbon fiber - all black except where she was plastered in advertising. The New Zealanders are rightly proud of their racing success and there is a whole exhibit devoted to the Americas Cup at the maritime museum downtown.

The wind came around directly in front of me as I reached the Bay Bridge, forcing me to beat through under the main span, narrowly missing the north column. Tacking Ladybug with her inner forestay can be a pain in a high wind and after a mile or so of tacking up the river, I gave up and sailed back down to anchor just to the south west of the bridge.

Anchoring under sail is a challenge I really enjoy and I am trying to get in lots of practice before Rani comes back to provide the voice of reason. In this case, she would have been quite justified, for the anchorage in question is a small area of reasonable depth almost entirely enclosed by shoal water, a small island, a prohibited anchorage pipeline area, and a mooring field. There was only one other boat with a crew on board to witness my entry. I came in under main alone and left the sail up but loose as I dropped the hook. Unfortunately I did not allow for a 1-2 knot current which sent me off in the opposite direction from the wind. The anchor sure dug in well with the full force of a mainsail drawing in 15 knots of wind! I tried to look like I had meant to anchor that way and I must have fooled the other boaters, because they came over later to ask me for information about mooring here, assuming I was a local.

The anchorage is close to downtown and today I risked leaving Ladybug on her own and walked into the city to scope out the marina where I will stay when I meet Rani in a couple of days.

Climbing Rangitoto Volcano

Rangitoto erupted in the first half of the 19th century, in what must have been a spectacular show for nearby Auckland. Sketches of the island from the 1840's show a 3 peaked black volcanic mass rising from fields of jagged volcanic rocks with only a thin scattering of brambles and bushes. The wife of a surveyor who made the ascent at this time described how her boots were ruined by the jagged rocks and her dress (of merino wool) torn to ribbons as they scrambled to the summit. It took them 3 hours of hard work and I am amazed they did it in this time, as even today with a good road, it took me more than half that.

The way to the summit from the anchorage at Islington Bay uses roads that I suspect were built by the defence forces prior to and during World War II. This island was a major part of the Auckland defenses, with an observation tower built at the top of the volcano at enormous expense (30,000+ British pounds in the 1930's). I can easily see the difficulty of getting materials to this point before the days of large transport helicopters. This post was established to direct gun batteries on nearby islands, but was used only for a year, after which it was moved to a more accessible location on Rangitoto. Other World War II building on the island included a mine storage depot (the waters nearby were mined to prevent foreign ships from entering Auckland harbour) and a substantial wharf and ramp, built by the American forces, which I used today to land my dinghy.

Rangitoto was also a summer vacation spot for many local New Zealanders who could lease a 'tent' site on public land for 4 pounds per annum. These so-called tents eventually grew roofs and walls and became bungalows. Most were built in the 1930's after which there was a moratorium on new permits as the government phased out construction of private dwellings on the public land. Some of the 'Baches', as the New Zealanders call their small summer cottages, are still occupied (under the terms of a life-time lease allowed in 1957) and the foundations of many are visible in the undergrowth around Islington Bay.

Getting back to the hike. the path follows roads through fields of magma and scattered rock. The vegetation that covers this island looks incongruous, for it is lush and green. Closer inspection shows that the smaller plants are all varieties with great ability to store water over long periods, having waxy, thick leaves. Even what looks at first like a grass or rush has thick blades that are closer in construction to aloe.

I left early and the Pohutakara trees glowed red in the morning light, bird song filled the air, and when I stopped I could hear the hum of insects in the background. A path off the main road climbs up through the forest to a series of lava tubes. The volcanic scree was covered here in mosses and the increasingly hot sun, tempered by the canopy.

At the lava tubes I met up with a young couple from Switzerland who were living in Auckland, studying English. They had come over for the day on the ferry, which makes several runs each day from Auckland. We explored the lava tubes together and then hiked the rest of the way to the summit. The view out over the crater is impressive, despite the vegetation, being nearly 200 feet deep and 700 wide. A trail winds around its circumference and at the summit there were viewing platforms. There were also many tourists from Auckland, including large contingents of Chinese exchange students.

The path down follows a well constructed board walk back to the road. The Dept of Conservation have done a fine job here as in all their other sites I have visited.

If you do this hike, I would suggest that early morning or later in the afternoon would be best to avoid the reflected heat from all the lava. Taking in the lava tubes on the way up and using the boardwalk to descend make sense, if you are coming from Islington Bay.

Good People

So far the New Zealanders I have met on the water and land have been delightful.

My latest acquaintances are Richard and Charlotte on the lovely motor yacht D'Urville. We had a spontaneous potluck on board their roomy 70 foot boat last night complete with two types of bubbly, and too much red wine. Richard and Charlotte are neighbors at the Pier 21 marina of Grant, Sebastian, and Lisa, whom I met out at Great Barrier Island just after Christmas. They were spending the holidays there on Lisa's boat, 'Bama Breeze'. Grant and his son Sebastian also live on board a boat in the same marina in central Auckland. I first met them while sailing the Walker Bay, because young Sebastian has the same type of dinghy and sailing rig. He is an excellent sailor and soundly whipped me in a race around the bay. Perhaps feeling sorry for me, Grant and Lisa invited me on board, offered me a drink, and sent me home with a freshly caught Kingfish fillet for supper. Since then we have had meals on board both boats and they have helped me line up a berth for Ladybug so I can meet Rani in a few days.

Another couple on a Beneteau 42 named George and Liz were also remarkably generous and helpful. I mentioned a few posts ago meeting them while hiking on Great Barrier Island. Well they sailed over to the bay I was anchored in after the hike and invited me to come into town (Port Fitzroy) with them on their boat the next day to do some shopping and refill our water jugs. Later they gathered clams and oysters and we had a fresh seafood potluck on Ladybug. They were both very helpful in suggestions about anchoring and cruising in the area as well as getting work done in Whangerei, where George comes from.

Other people I have met only briefly have offered me a place to stay if I visit Tauranga or the Coromandel. This after talking to them for maybe 10 minutes, telling them about our trip to New Zealand. I cannot think of too many places I have cruised where this would happen.

Kawau Island

Ladybug has been anchored in Bon Accord Bay on Kawau Island for the past few days. A strong south westerly wind will keep us here for another day, when the winds are predicted to swing into the north and help us to reach Auckland. Mike and Karen on 'Chapter 2' left this morning bound for Whangerei, where they have arranged to leave the boat while touring New Zealand by car.

Kawau Island was named by the Maori for the handsome white and black cormorant that nests here. The cormorant is a symbol of strength and leadership in Maori culture. The island was home to two distinct Maori groups and was the scene of intense fighting and competition over a type of small spotted shark that was harvested in the waters around the island and could be dried for year long sustenance. Maori sites on the island can be identified by being sited on points with cleared areas and earth works for defence.

The first whites to settle here established a sheep farm in the 1830s, but soon after manganese and then copper deposits were uncovered. The copper was found when people noticed a blue stain on the cliffs in one bay and the rocks in that area still show blue stains (copper oxide I think) where copper is leaching out of the rock. The copper mine shafts were dug under the ocean and a huge steam driven pump house erected to keep the ocean out. The sandstone pump house with its elegant Victorian brick chimney is still standing more than 150 years after it was built. The copper mine only operated for about 10 years in total, but resulted in various settlements totalling 300 people spread over half a dozen coves. A smelter was built across from where I am anchored because the ore was too dangerous to ship abroad due to its high sulfur content which could result in spontaneous combustion.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) owns and runs much of the southwest portion of the island and has developed an excellent network of trails. I have spent three enjoyable days poking around this end of the island, trying out new trails each day.

In the 1860s, Sir George Grey, governor of New Zealand bought the island as a retreat. He extended the copper mine manager's house turning it into an elaborate Victorian mansion. DOC is restoring this property and I went through the house, much of which is still open to the public during this work. The museum contains some original furniture (all rosewood) including several elaborate Victorian pieces with huge lion's claw feet. The panelling in the rooms is Kauri wood, stained red with ox blood. It is not a cozy house with its towering ceilings, dark furniture, and blood stained walls.

Governor Grey brought in exotic species of animals and plants in an effort to find foreign species that would do well in the area's mild climate. This had a predictably devastating effect on the local flora and fauna, but has left an interesting mix of local and foreign trees and plants as well as a few unusual animals.

Before arriving on the island, Grey had traveled extensively in South Africa and Australia. He brought in dozens of types of animals from these continents including 5 types of wallabies (small kangaroos), zebras (which he reportedly used to pull his carriage), deer, peacocks (from India), and monkeys. The zebras did not fare well due to the cold, the deer are now all gone, the monkeys did too well, were judged a pest, and were destroyed. The peacocks are still there and 4 out of the 5 wallaby varieties are still present. I had the pleasure of seeing two wallabies when returning from my walk yesterday around dusk.

The island is also home to two flightless birds - the Kiwi, which is nocturnal, but whose call can be heard at night in my bay, and the Weka, a bird of similar size and colour to the Kiwi, but with a shorter beak. The Weka is omnivorous and will eat just about anything. Active during the day, these birds are a common site, although rare on the mainland where they fall prey to cats and dogs.

The forests of the island are covered in huge pine trees - an introduced species that dominates the canopy. These trees are big - as big as the large rain forest trees on Canada's west coast. I measured one of the typical larger trees at 25 feet in circumference. I would estimate their heights at over 100 feet. Imagine my surprise when counting the rings on some of the fallen trees, to find they were only 45 to 70 years old! A local boater told me that they typically harvest these trees commercially at 25 years.

Tomorrow I hope to sail south to Tirititi Matangi - another nature reserve island, and then on to the volcanic cone of Rangitoto, which I hope to climb before I meet Rani in Auckland on the 16th.

Double rainbow

One of the advantages of living on the water is that I have seen a lot more rainbows than when I lived inland. As I write this, the bow behind Ladybug arcs over a wooded headland framing a small flotilla of local boats on moorings and the fields and suburbs of Auckland.

Yesterday, I sailed Ladybug across the Hauraki Gulf, leaving Great Barrier Island after an early breakfast. The anchorage had filled up the previous afternoon until I was able to count more than 60 motor yachts and sailboats. Still, I was able to hoist the anchor and dodge out through the fleet under jib. My immediate neighbors on 'Elysium' were enjoying a coffee on the flying bridge of their motor cruiser. They were floating almost over my anchor, so close that I quipped to them that I would have a coffee with cream and sugar, please, as I worked the windlass. Later, I passed them fishing off Motohaku island, as I beat slowly out of Port Abercrombie.

Great Barrier Island protects Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf from the full brunt of the Pacific, but the waters of the gulf can still be quite rough. It is about 50 miles across from the island to Auckland and I reckoned that I would stop that night at Rakino Island, which lies about 10 miles out of Auckland. I had some company on the passage, for several vacationers were already returning after New Year's Day to their berths in and about the big city. I recognized several of the boats with whom I had shared anchorages over the holiday week. Strangely most of the sailboats were motoring and sailing, despite a fair wind that was moving Ladybug along at a pleasant 4 knots.

In the afternoon, the wind and swell began to build and swing behind us into the north. We were soon rolling along at 5-6 knots and I switched over from the autopilot to the more powerful wind vane. A lighter more racy boat that had been gaining on us fell back as the bigger swells slowed her down, shaking the wind out of her sails. I poled out the jib opposite the main, for we were nearly running before the wind, and Ladybug picked up her skirts and settled into a rollicking downwind dance.

In the middle of the afternoon, I put out a call on VHF to Mike and Karen on 'Chapter 2' on the off chance they were still in the area. They answered right away and told me that they were anchored close by on the south side of the Whangaparoa Peninsula. They invited me for dinner, so I altered course 30 degrees and took down the pole (first rule of single-handed cruising is never turn down a dinner invitation!). The wind was building and I quickly pulled in a reef in the main. While Ladybug charged along at 6 - 7 knots, I hurried below to start a lentil/carrot soup for supper, using a good dollop of Rani's pre-made curry spice mixture. Less than two hours later I dropped anchor in Okoromai Bay after a 48 mile crossing - tired and ready for a relaxing evening with my friends.

New Years Eve on Great Barrier Island

It is 2013 in New Zealand and New Years Eve was one for the books. I moved Ladybug from Kiwiriki Bay to Kaiarara Bay so that I could access the hiking trail to an historical Kauri logging dam. It took two trips across the bay in the dinghy to find the trail head, which is located at Bushes Beach. Liz and George had told me that many thousands of dollars have been spent on trail upgrades, but I was still surprised at how 'flash' (as the Kiwis say) this trail is. From the picnic site at the beach, the trail rises gently - a full gravel path with a drainage ditch running its length. At intervals, pipes drain water in the main ditch under the trail, and sluices take care of surface run-off. Where the trail passes through wetlands there are beautifully built boardwalks and where it crosses creeks or river valleys, both fixed and suspension bridges. Most of the work is new and to a very high standard, using either stainless or galvanized hardware and plenty of treated wood.

From the beach, the trail runs along the side of a hill above the estuary, eventually dropping down to the river, which it follows first to the Kaiareara hut and then over a suspension bridge and up to a logging dam. The damn was built by lumber men in the early twentieth century to bring down the huge Kauri logs that used to cover these 2000 foot hills. Kauri trees can live for close to 2000 years and can grow to yards in diameter. The logs were floated in the ponds that resulted from the dam. When enough were gathered, a portion of the damn was suddenly released to allow a cascade of log-filled water to plunge down the mountainside.

Past the dam the trail steepened, ascending over 1000 stairs to reach the highest point on Great Barrier Island, the summit of Mount Hobson (Hirakimata in Maori). The visibility was quite good and it was possible to get a good feel for the overall shape of the island and the location of its bays, settlements, and beaches. Later, looking at a map, I saw that the hike I was on was just a tiny part of the extensive trail network that criss-crosses the Great Barrier Forest. You could spend weeks here just on the major hiking trails and forest roads.

I met some sailors who were also hiking the trail and they suggested an alternative route down that was more gentle and passed by a hut just under the summit. We descended to what proved to be a superb 'hut', with running water and gas stove tops. Two bunk rooms led off the main cooking and dining area and we enjoyed views through picture windows back out over the valley from which we had climbed. We had lunch here, sheltered from the chilly ridge-top wind. After a brief rest, I refilled my drinking bottles from the rain water cistern and followed my new friends down the trail. This led through a forest of red-tinged ferns and blosomming tea-trees and out and along the rim of a giant bowl. The views on the descent were remarkable, looking back across what may have been an ancient volcanic caldera. Rani will really enjoy this hike and I have told her to bring tea bags and dried milk to make a cuppa at the hut.

Back at the beach, the sailors I had been hiking with invited me to join them ashore later for a New Years Eve celebration. I took a refreshing swim, rinsed off, made a batch of Burfi - an Indian sweet - and went ashore to see in the New Year. We stood around a beach fire talking about life and our plans for the next year and drinking too much, and generally doing what people do at New Years.

A hike on Great Barrier Island

To celebrate the apparently successful leak fix, I decided to move over to the next harbour over, where there is better access to one of the island's many hiking trails. I am now anchored at the entrance to Kiwiriki Bay, between an off-lying island, which is little more than a tree covered rock, and a most beautiful tree-lined shoreline on my other side. The shore is fringed by the red blossoming 'Christmas Trees' - Putukaua, I believe they are named (although I am no doubt spelling this wrong) as well as Tea trees, which are also blossoming. The bird song in the small bay just to the east is remarkably varied and I spent 15 minutes just floating there and listening in the dinghy on my way to shore.

The hike to Mount Young (it also has a Maori name, which I cannot recall) begins at a beach near the head of navigation in the bay. It follows the bay to the mouth of a river and then winds along this river valley, crossing the stream once via a narrow ford. Tree ferns as tall as 30 feet and Tea trees shade the trail and give it a jungle feeling. Eventually the path leaves the river valley and scales the side of a hill, with little thought to erosion. A few switch-backs would have made this section much easier to climb and saved the trail from destruction. The soil here is a reddish clay and prone to washing away. It was also very slippy after all the recent rains.

I met a family on their way back down who were off one of the smaller sailboats anchored at Kiwiriki. They had set out to reach Mount Young, but found the going too rough carrying a very young baby as well as a 3 year old girl. I admired them for tackling even the first section of this hike with young children. The baby seemed quite taken by the whole experience, but her older sister was obviously bored.

A little further on I met an older couple, Liz and George, who told me they are training for a hike to Everest base camp in May. As we walked together, they told me that this year will be the 60th anniversary of New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary's ascent of Everest. A friend of their's, who is Hillary's niece, will be there for some sort of commemorative celebration later in the year. Liz and George are on a 42 foot Beneteau sailboat anchored a few harbours over from our anchorage. It is interesting how it is mainly the sail boaters who are the hikers. There are loads of power boaters here, but they seem to prefer fishing to hiking in general.

As the trail left the river valley, the flora changed to an attractive open mix of deciduous and coniferous trees - all second growth. Liz pointed out some young Kauri trees (valuable timber now protected and used mainly for fine woodworking and boat building). She also showed me a conifer whose male version has rough needles while the female is smooth to the touch. Reindeer moss appeared in quantity along each side of the path - a sign of a very healthy ecosystem, I have been told.

At a road intersection, I said goodbye to my hiking companions and wished them luck on their trip to base camp. A spur climbed quickly from here to the base of Mount Young's summit and the rest of the path was other rock. The views at the top were amazing - all the more so because most of the trail had been in the woods with only a few sections where there was any view. Mount Young, at 371 meters gives 360 degree views around the island and I could see beaches with smashing surf on the outside and the Coromandel Peninsula guarding the Hauraki Gulf to the south.

The forests in New Zealand are remarkably beautiful. I was told that New Zealand is very much like BC, Canada, but the forests in the north are quite different from those of BC - with a pleasing blend of textures and colours and a slightly tropical feel.

The trip down was much quicker, although I had to be very careful not to slip on the stretches of slick clay where the path must become a river when it rains. This is one place that a good hiking pole or stick would be invaluable!

Back at the boat, I dived in to wash off the sweat and scrubbed off 6 weeks of growth along the waterline. I also found a healthy coating of barnacles on the propeller, which would explain my slow trip between the bays.

I like this island, now that the sun has come out and the boat is no longer doing its best impression of a sieve. I think I may stay here until next year, although by New Years Eve, I have been told there may be as many as 500 boats in this bay! It seems unbelievable, because the place looks crowded to me now with only 30 boats...

Leaks and underwater epoxy

For the second time, I dismembered the aft starboard side of the boat to try to determine where a persistent leak was coming from. In modern fiberglass boats, keeping salt-water from entering the hull is relatively easy, but keeping rain or salt spray from getting below from the deck area is much more difficult. The hull on our boat is almost seamless. It was made in two halves which were joined down the middle - 'welded' together by resin and glass fibers. The deck, while also in one piece is pierced in hundreds of places by fasteners, windows, and hatches. One area that I had not had any issues with until now is the join between the hull and the deck. This is a flange, strongly through-bolted and bedded in a flexible compound. However it turns out that this is where the current leak was located.

Fortunately on our boat it is possible to remove panels from overhead. The Coast 34's were manufactured in one yard and sometimes fitted out - that is, they had their rigging, sails, and interiors completed, elsewhere. Unlike many mass-produced boats, the Coasts do not have a moulded interior liner, which would have made getting at the hull to deck joint virtually impossible without major surgery to the interior. Instead, I had to remove the single sideband and VHF radios, the GPS, release some wiring from its ties, and unfasten the wooden panel into which the electrical panel and radio are mounted. This allowed me to slide out one ceiling panel, which lies over the navigation station. The other panel over the quarter berth requires only removal of trim pieces and some electronic wire fasteners.

Once the panels were out, I could see that the re-bedding of the genoa track had not fixed the leak. When I had last done this, it had not been raining and I had foolishly assumed that water was getting in through the track, based on a pattern of wetness on the ceiling panels and from where it ran down the sides of the quarter berth area. I should have tested this with a bucket or two of water, but I was impatient. In fact, the work I did on the track only made things worse and I ended up re-bedding a couple of bolts in the track that I had not bedded adequately.

The real culprit turned out to be an area where the hull to deck flange was broken up by a moulded in scupper. The scupper is what drains the deck water outside and there is only one on each side. At this point the flange is not continuous and I saw patches of improperly bonded fiberglass on either side of the scupper. Either someone had tried to fix this leak before or the original glassing job was not adequate and had gradually lifted away from the hull. I could see that water was leaking from a small gap behind one of these patches where the hull and deck came together.

The fix I carried out was to cut away all loosely bonded fiberglass with large and small chisels and remove the excess sealant in this area. It would have been nice to use a small grinding wheel to really clean up the surface, but the access was too small for the smallest wheel I had as a drill attachment. This is where a Dremel type tool would have been useful. I then cleaned up the area with solvent and mixed two batches of two part underwater epoxy, which I applied and worked into the gap with a Popsicle stick and my fingers. Ordinary white vinegar can be used to clean up epoxy before it cures - very useful when your fingers are covered in the stuff.

Ideally, I would have waited for the area to dry more completely and used regular epoxy with fiberglass reinforcement. However, given the weather forecast for the next week, I would be stuck here waiting for at least that long with no guarantee I would have better conditions in the following weeks. Underwater epoxy allowed me to make a proper bond in the presence of moisture. This stuff has saved my butt (and my boat) a couple of times before and was also invaluable in repairing 'C'est La Vie' after she went on the reef in Samoa. I have applied it underwater to a damaged rudder and one of our friends applied it to underwater holes up to one inch in diameter on C'est La Vie's hull. Highly recommended for you boating toolkit.

Knock on wood, my repairs seem to be water-tight. It is now raining outside and I see no signs of water dribbling over the back of the radios or into the quarter-berth! Hooray!

Christmas at Great Barrier Island

I am anchored in lovely Wairahi Bay on Great Barrier Island. My friends, Mike and Karen, on 'Chapter 2' are anchored nearby and we are spending Christmas here together.

The passage from the North Island of New Zealand was slow but mostly pleasant. The wind died down around 1 am and swung into the SE and I tacked slowly out to the island, putting in a couple of extra tacks to avoid one end of Little Barrier Island. A 3/4 moon helped light the way and later when it set, my wake kicked up alarmingly bright jets of phosphorescence. Overnight sailing on your own is made difficult by the temptation to sleep. I took short naps starting around 5 am with the alarm clock set to wake me every 15-20 minutes. It was a good thing I did keep a watch as a freighter inbound for Auckland passed within 1/2 a mile of us around 2 am.

I dropped the hook first in Kiwiriki Bay around 8 am, having first looked into all but one of the inlets of Port Fitzroy for my friends on 'Chapter 2'. We had provisionally agreed to meet here for Christmas, but I had not received a confirmation from them and my last email to them had mentioned I would likely stay in McCleod's Bay. However, after I anchored, I tried a call on the VHF and they answered right away. They were anchored around less than a kilometer away, just out of sight of my casual reconnaissance. I pulled up the hook and slipped around the corner to Wairahi Bay.

Later that day I rowed ashore and hiked up the hill following a cow path. The trail came out on a 4WD road, which led to pastures on the south side of the island looking back towards Little Barrier Island. Much of the land here is over-grazed, with poor sandy soil that erodes easily when stripped of its natural vegetation. Several hundred acres of pasture appeared to support only a few cattle. I walked along the rugged south coast - fringed by sea cliffs, pebble beaches, and dotted with crimson flowering 'Christmas Trees'. The coastal trail ended at a pebble beach where a lone kayaker was camped, presumably enjoying a reclusive Christmas. He answered my greetings with a "How are you going?" (a common New Zealand greeting) and disappeared immediately into his tent. I found another road leading up from the beach that, by pure luck, led directly back to the pasture above my dinghy landing.

The rain began the next day as the remains of cyclone Evan passed overhead, My re-caulking job on the genoa track began to leak worse than it had before I made the repair and so far I have gone through 3 towels trying to stem the flow. Hopefully the rain will abate on Boxing Day and I can locate and caulk the leaks.

Christmas Eve was blustery and wet, but I prepared a dinner of Chicken and vegetable crepes, herbed rice, and a Greek salad which I shared with Mike and Karen. Today - Christmas Day - I spent most of the day on board 'Chapter 2', first enjoying champagne and smoked salmon for breakfast and later roast lamb and all the trimmings for dinner, topped off with a light repast of cheeses and port in the evening. In between all the fine dining, we watched a movie and discussed our plans for the next few years. I wish Rani could have been here to share this wonderful day, although she would not have been impressed by how far I have fallen off the wagon as a vegetarian!

Tempting Fate

Well it is Dec 21, 2012 - the day the world is supposed to end, at least by some accounts. However, I was recently informed that while the Mayan calendar ends today, in fact, it just rolls over and starts at the beginning. So all those 5 year plans we made back in 2007 in anticipation of this being the last day may need to be re-thought...

It is also a Friday (here on the west side of the date line), so the fact that I have left on a trip out to Great Barrier island could be seen as tempting fate in two ways. I guess if the world is going to end today, I might as well be sailing, doing something I enjoy, when it happens...

I had planned to lay low in McCleod Bay, but the weather is better than expected and my friends Jo and Rob have their own plans for Christmas, so rather than be a third wheel, I figured I would make tracks. It feels great to be on the ocean again. There is a long slow swell moving Ladybug in a gentle rhythmic roll and the wind is a perfect light North Easter. I left on the afternoon ebb tide and will make an overnight passage. I will probably heave to until dawn rather than try to anchor in the moonlight.

Merry Christmas

Rani and I wish all our blog readers a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2013.

Rani is visiting her family and friends in England and I am still moored in McCleod's Bay. I have been having a lot of fun visiting with Jo and Rob off 'Blue Moon' who have a place overlooking this bay as well as with Holger and Roz, from 'Melody' who split their time between their boat on a mooring in Russell and an off-the-grid farm a little inland from here.

I had hoped to go out to the nearby islands for Christmas, but the forecasters are calling for a week of wet and windy weather. There is a cyclone in the area (the same one that hammered Samoa and Fiji) so I will probably stay put for Christmas.

Manta Ray video from Suwarrow

The following video is from our friends Johanne and Camilla of s/v Flow. It is a beautiful montage of videography and still photos taken while the girls were free diving with the manta rays in Suwarrow. The mantas are incredibly graceful creatures, an illusion of birds flying under water.

 http://youtu.be/apIwZMnTvLE