Author: dommyp

Hi to everyone and welcome to another instalment of our sailing blog. Last time we were in Great Barrier Island and had the amazing Orca experience. This time we sail further south and visit Waiheke island and head to the Coromandel Peninsula.

So why is the title of this blog “Following Captain Cook” I hear you ask. Well, recently I was on Facebook and the Captain Cook Society popped up in my feed. I was fascinated to see a daily post with extracts from Captain Cooks Logbook as well as extracts from other members of his crew which detailed where James Cook and his ship Endeavour was on that particular day / date but in the year 1769, i.e. 256 years ago. Well as it happens, we found ourselves sailing his precise route (but in reverse) and visiting the same anchorages!

I had plans to visit many of the anchorages where Cook had anchored Endeavour, but this added a new context to this trip for me.

So lets get started shall we?

The wind gods were smiling on us on the 21st October and we pulled up the anchor in Great Barrier Island and made our way through the Man O’ War pass out from the protection of the inner lagoon. It was a very narrow pass! The sail was glorious as we left the protection of the island waters and out in to the channel. Behind us we left Great Barrier Island. To our starboard side was the imposing lump of Small Barrier Island, a towering volcano of an island, and to our port we could see Cape Colville the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula named by Cook on his passage through this area. We enjoyed the beam reach across the sea and a few hours later the other side of the mainland of New Zealand came in to view as we approached the Auckland area and Waiheke Island.

We were not prepared for the wind that hit us as we approached Waiheke! Jumping from 15 knots to 25, we were heeled hard over as we navigated our way past rocks and a lighthouse and in to narrow channel down the side of Waiheke doing 9 knots. Furling away the jib meant we managed to get things a little more under control and we sailed through a narrow gap in to much calmer waters on just the mainsail with a sigh of relief! We headed to the South of the Island to find an anchorage.

Out first choice turned out to be a non starter. It was shallow, and swelly and when we dropped the hook and tried to set it, we dragged back. Pulling up the anchor revealed that it was soft gooey mud of the type that we find it impossible to anchor in with our delta anchor. So we moved to the next bay along and found a place where the anchor would hold in Huruhi Bay anchored off the little village of Blackpool!

Being short on supplies, the next day we planned a shopping expedition and to try and find a place to get rid of all our rubbish we had accumulated for the last month. We use an app called Noforeignland, it is very useful as a source of information to cruisers such as where you can leave your dinghy, or where the nearest shop is, or where you can get rid of your recycling etc. We got some funny looks as we trudged in to town with rucksacks and shopping bags full of rubbish for the 2 mile walk to find the bins!

But find them we did and after that we headed to the pub for the first meal we had out in over a month, apparently the best fish and chips in town washed down with a glass of ‘Sav’ for Ailsa and a pint of Hazy Ale for me.

Restored then, we headed to the supermarket next door and loaded up with as much stuff as we thought we could carry the two miles back to the boat. More funny looks from the locals as we made our way down the beach and across some mud flats with bags full of shopping! Such is boat life.

With the fridge restocked, there was no reason to stay any longer in the relatively dull Huruki Bay, and the wind was threatening to make that place uncomfortable so we set sail slowly along the south coast of Waiheke to its East End in search of shelter and a better view.

When we are sailing we always have our VHF radio on tuned to channel 16. On that day, there was a Mayday issued by the local Auckland to Waiheke Ferry. The engine room was on fire and they were drifting towards the rocks on the west side of Waiheke! We were too far away to offer any assistance, but we listened in fascination as the event unfolded and other vessels came to their assistance. There were 30 people onboard and the Auckland rescue services were with them within the hour and everyone was rescued!

The west side of Waiheke was very pretty and we dropped the anchor with only two other boats in the bay off the beach in a place called Man O’ War anchorage. This is another of Cooks Anchorages.

We were to stay here for a week, mostly to ride out a gale that decided to blow through a few days later. That’s shown in the video above. Unknown to us, New Zealand was celebrating a bank holiday that weekend. This turned out to be the place to be for Auckland’s boating community. On the Friday night and Saturday morning this bay and adjacent ones filled to the max with all kinds of motor and sailing vessels and we were totally surrounded with a huge number of party boats. Everyone was in good spirits.

After the long weekend, everyone cleared out and we were pretty much on our own again apart from 2 or 3 other sailboats and rode out the gale. That was all going okay until there was a large bang at the front of the boat. We rushed to see what the problem was to find our trusty anchor snubber (a huge rope with a chain hook that hooks to the anchor chain and takes the load off the windlass) had completely snapped and the hook had fallen away. That rope was at least an inch thick! We guess that nearly four years at anchor had weakened the rope where it wraps over the anchor roller and this gusty gale had been its final death. Out with the spare and we were back safe again.

The wind eventually died and so we took the opportunity to go to shore and take a walk.

It was a very beautiful place. The walk took us up a steep gravel road to the top of the island where we walked past a second world war bunker called Stoney Batter and stopped for a sandwich at the top. We retraced our route back to the beach where we found the Man O’ War vineyard open for business! Never one to miss an opportunity, Ailsa was pleased to find herself in her natural habitat again!

We had some fabulous sunsets in this anchorage!

And one day a tall ship stopped in the anchorage called the Spirit of New Zealand. You could easily have imagined it was Captain James Cook in the Endeavour!

Not long after we arrived in New Zealand last year, our first road trip was to the Coromandel Peninsula for a camping trip and to collect some new (to us) sails from a sail broker to replace the ones we wrecked coming across the Pacific. Now it was time to sail to this stunning peninsula, and we would not be disappointed!

We headed to a place called Te Kouma harbour just south of the town of Coromandel almost directly west from Waiheke Island and across a stretch of water called the Thames Sound. Incidentally, another place that Cook had visited and anchored in almost 256 years to the day. We were to stay in this glorious place for the next two weeks! When you find somewhere you like, why move on?

Here is Ailsa’s take on the anchorage:

We pretty much had this place to ourselves for the whole two weeks other than a brief visit from some Aussies on a boat called Ella Ella. They were a very nice couple with whom we had a couple of evenings together.

How about this for an anchorage?

I took the opportunity to take the canoe out for many trips. We rigged up the dinghy with the sail and had a couple of trips out in to the bay. And we went for at least two walks along the peninsula to soak up the views of the Coromandel. It is such as special place, and one that we had all to ourselves too.

On one of the walks, we found this shaped stone. It definitely looked manmade to us?

And here is a video if you want to see some more of this magical place. Watch it on a big screen if you can!

After two weeks here then, enjoying the peace and tranquillity, one day the wind veered round and gave us the opportunity to carry on and sail around to the other side of the Coromandel Peninsula and visit another of Cooks Anchorages at Mercury Bay. We had a sail of two halves. The first half was champagne sailing. A slow meander up the coast with a flat sea whisking past a set of remote islands full of wildlife. Over the afternoon, the sky started to darken, and a squall appeared behind us. We watched with fascination as this tornado threatened to form out of the cloud!

From here the wind started to build! And the seas started to build too as we approached the formidable Cape Colville. This cape was named by Captain cook and it took the Endeavor two days and nights to tack hard against the wind to get round this cape in a gale. We had a downwind sail, but the wind picked up to 25 knots and the sea was rough as it snaked past this huge cape.

Here is Cooks map of the Coromandel and you can see his route around Cape Colville. Next to it is our route too. Cook generated all his maps as he went using just a sighting compass. he was surprisingly accurate I think! Thank goodness that we didn’t have an upwind tack like he had to!

Once we passed the cape, the wind did not let up and increased to 30 knots and we had a pretty exhilarating but bouncy broad reach all the way out to the east side of Mercury Island where we dropped our anchor with some relief in a very protected bay called Coralie Bay.

Here is a video of some of the highlights of the sail

Coralie Bay was the perfect place for a respite. Whilst it looked like the bay was wide open to the ocean, the realty was a narrow passage between treacherous reefs to get in to a wide horseshoe bay. Those reefs killed most of the swell from getting in to the bay making it a very pleasant place to anchor.

I climbed up the cliff next to the bay to take in the wonderful views and we went for a walk on the beach and even discovered a fossilised tree embedded in the beach at low tide. Its a remote and pristine place. Here’s a video of the highlights:

Well the wind never stays steady for long around these parts, and after a couple of days enjoying this place it was time to leave before the wind swung hard to the East and would put us on a lee shore.

Off we motored for an hour to the South of Great Mercury Island to an anchorage called Peach Tree Grove.

That place turned out to be horribly rolly. The swell came round the bottom of the Island and rolled right in to the bay. The wind dropped and we went side on to the swell for an unpleasant night.

Time to move again, but there were very few options to anchor in this area when the wind was blowing from the East. We settled on a place called Matapua Bay at the North end of the entrance to Mercury Bay. This anchorage was nestled behind an impressive rocky headland called Devils Point. We were hopeful the swell wouldn’t make it past that, but of course it did, and we had another night of rolling!

The next morning the fog rolled in and the wind died. Later we pulled up the hook and headed out in to Mercury Bay surfing down large waves in the mist heading for the town of Whitianga and a lovely anchorage called Flaxmill Bay. The whole of Mercury Bay shallows quite alarmingly towards Whitianga, and I watched with trepidation as the depth sounder shifted uneasily from 2m to 3m and back to 2m (under the keel) as each metre high swell lifted Azimuth up and down. We were relieved to find Flaxmill Bay swell free and we dropped the hook for a more stable anchorage. The wind would drop to nothing for the next week making this a very pleasant place to stay. The sandstone cliffs at the side of the beach had been deeply eroded leading to the these large overhangs.

We would take the dinghy to the beach, and then a short walk down the road bought us to a ferry across the river mouth and into the town of Whitianga. Whitianga is a vibrant place and we stopped for lunch a couple of times at a very nice Irish Pub called Grace O’ Malley’s where the portion sizes were big enough to last you for the entire day!

We took several trips to the local supermarket to stock up on provisions again.

There was a nod to Captain Cook on this mural that is painted on a shop wall in the town centre

Cook named the place Mercury Bay after he conducted a sighting of the transit of Mercury across the sun from the bay next to where we were anchored. He did this on the 9th November 1769 helping his astronomer Charles Green. Cook had previously observed the transit of Venus from Tahiti at the appropriately name Venus Bay, another place we have anchored too! The idea of these measurements was the first attempt to accurately assess the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

Another very interesting tribute to Cook was to be found right next to our anchorage at the top of a walk to Shakespeare Cliffs and a lookout point over Cooks Bay where the sighting of Mercury was conducted in the dunes at the back of the beach. There were a number of plaques to read and great views of the whole area.

Later that week, before we set off to head further South, we decided to go and anchor in Cooks Bay itself, just to tick the box! We were about 100 metres from the exact spot that Endeavour anchored which is marked by a buoy!

With the weather changing again, we had the opportunity to sail further South, leaving the Coromandel Peninsula behind and heading for the Bay of Plenty and the port town of Tauranga. The forecast was back to wind from the East, and not too strong, gusts up to 25 knots. We weren’t prepared then to be met by mountainous seas as well pulled out of the protection of Cooks Bay and tried to sail out of Mercury Bay. We fought our way down the coast for a few hours being thrown around like a cork and then found refuge nestled behind a pretty place called Slipper Island where we found some respite. This East coast was certainly proving to be challenging. The wind hadn’t been that strong, but the wave height and its choppiness had been very uncomfortable. We both felt a bit green!

The next day the wind swung more to the North East that had the desired effect of flattening the sea state and we sailed a broad reach 36 miles further South to the impressive entrance to Tauranga Port where we did battle with container ships and found ourselves briefly part of a yacht race!

The anchorage in Tauranga was not the best! We found ourselves anchored 200 metres from a busy cargo port that was working 24/7 with the sounds of crashing containers and squawking seagulls! Still, it was flat calm and very sheltered. We got a visit from a fellow liveaboard sailor called Aiden who lived on his 28 foot yacht in the anchorage. Only a young guy, he worked as a workboat captain on night shifts. His job was to go out on call when the cargo loaders accidently dropped a log in the port and he had to retrieve it. He was a happy soul, and that evening he appeared at our boat with beers, a steamed Octopus, and a bucket full of crabs for us to share! The poor guy had even had his bike nicked that afternoon from a local supermarket, but he didn’t seem to mind too much. We felt terrible for him. He had some interesting religious views and we ended up discussing the evolution of humans from apes which he categorically did not believe, but we had a nice evening together!!

Its been a long post! But I do enjoy sharing our journey with you all. Join us next time as we tell you all about probably our most challenging sail to date down the East coast of New Zealand from Tauranga all the way to Wellington.

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth.

Hi again to everyone. last time we left you, we were still in the Bay of Islands in the North of New Zealand. This time, we leave that and head south down towards Auckland, with the first major stop at the Great Barrier Island.

We left the Bay of Islands on a beautiful sunny day with nice Force 4/5 winds on a broad reach back down the West coast of Northland, following the track we had taken to come here a month ago but in reverse.

Our first nights stop was at a huge open anchorage in Puriri Bay where we dropped the anchor off a beach for the night. The next morning we set off again on a dead run south to the stay the night at the Marotere Islands offshore from the Whangarei Estuary and dropped the hook in a very remote feeling place called Starfish Bay. The wind squirrelled round the bottom of these islands as we approached and accelerated through tight passages giving us a fast beam reach to the anchorage as Azimuth heeled over hard.

You were not allowed to land at these islands, but they are thickly forested and impenetrable anyway. All we could here was the bird chorus from the trees, the birds were really thriving here.

After a peaceful nights sleep, we pulled up the anchor and headed on course to Great Barrier Island on an easy and lazy broad reach and arrived a few hours later to a gorgeous setting. The approach to Great Barrier is very spectacular. Its a large island and looks and feels like the island in Jurassic Park with thick forest, foreboding rocking shores and pinnacles of mountains in the interior. There is a narrow channel that takes you in to a sheltered and protected lagoon with lots of anchoring choices and a great place to hide from inclement winds and weather. Our first anchorage for the night was in a place called Stoney Bay.

I shot this video which summarises some of the highlights of the trip down.

We hunkered down for a few days as the wind picked up strongly from the North. This turned out to be a great anchorage that gave no sense of the gale blowing offshore with just a few gusts of wind making it in to the lagoon and the only waves coming from passing fishing boats and the island ferry.

After a few days we decided to move a mile of so around the lagoon and to one of New Zealand’s most iconic anchorages called Stonehouse Bay.

On shore here is a meeting place for sailors, bequeathed by a old sailor family who set it up for others to enjoy. We have never seen anything quite like it on all our travels. There was an easy place to tie up your dinghy, a firepit with seating area, a wood fired pizza oven, a smoking shed (for your fish), clothes washing place (complete with mangles!) barbeques and even a bath house (with wood stove to heat your water)!

We went to shore a couple of times, to explore. There was a track that took us up in to the forest to an old farm track where we went for a very pretty walk.

We came across this cool piece of machinery abandoned in the forest. Our thoughts turned to gold mining!!

On returning to the communal area, there were a number of other sailors arrived and we sat for a couple of hours meeting the locals and learning about Great Barrier Island and some of the other places to cruise in NZ. All very social!

We had been in Stonehouse Bay for a few days. I woke up early one day to an absolute millpond. I was sitting in the saloon having a cup of tea when I heard what I thought was a blowhole from a whale. I grabbed my camera and rushed out on deck and wow I was not prepared for what I saw next! Three or four Orca’s had swum in to the anchorage! I watched as they surfaced initially in the distance right near another anchored boat. Then I couldn’t believe it as a group surfaced right near Azimuth! They came right up to the boat, a group of three swimming together and then dived right under Azimuth with me watching from the deck in amazement. I have never seen anything like that. Luckily I caught this on video!

Speaking to some of the other sailors later that day, apparently its very rare to see Orca’s in Great Barrier Island Lagoon, so it sounds like we got lucky.

That weekend, the anchorage got quite crowded with boats turning up from Auckland including lots of small fishing boats. For a change a scenery we decided to move another mile across the lagoon to another anchorage which we had to ourselves called Kiwiriki Bay. Arguably, prettier than Smokehouse Bay and it also gave us access to the main island trails.

Here’s another little video to give you a taste of Smokehouse Bay and Kiwiriki Bay.

We took the boat for a long row to the shore and then what we thought would be an easy walk to a nearby peak to take in the views. It was a hot day, and we had packed plenty of water. The path was far from easy! We could have done with a machete at times to cut through the thick grass and undergrowth. There were lots of fallen trees to negotiate as well as a steep path that cut its way in to the side of a clay cliff. We never made it to the top and had to retrace our way back. It was still good fun though!

The rest of the time, we relaxed and enjoyed the view, and I decided to take the canoe out to explore some of the little islands further as well as discovering a mangrove swamp at the head of a concealed bay. The trees were alive again with birds, which I think the video below has managed to pick up. Its an untouched place, and full of wildlife.

it had been several weeks since our last shopping expedition and we were out of fresh vegetables and resorting to tins again. So, we decided to make the run south to visit the area near Auckland and in particular the island of Waiheke to restock and continue our exploration of New Zealand.

Join us next time then as we head to Waiheke, and then on to the Coromandel Peninsula.

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth.

Hi everyone, last time we left you we had just arrived in the Bay of Islands on the East coast near the top of the North Island in New Zealand. This time we will tell you about some of the places we have visited and the wonderful anchorages in this part of the world.

The weather is starting to get warmer now. Summer is just round the corner here in NZ. We have still had a few days of rain too for good measure, and had to hide to get out of strong winds and low pressure systems that like to spin across the top of New Zealand every few days. Still, we are not complaining, the temperature has not required us to run our diesel heater since we arrived in the Bay of Islands, which is a good job, as its decided to pack up (again!)

Our first introduction to the area was the gorgeous island of Urupukapuka, pretty much in the centre of the bay. We spent at least a week here exploring this island, the largest of all the islands in the bay. We were anchored in the South of the Island in a large bay, with good protection from the North and Westerly winds that had been blowing since we arrived. The bay was very shallow, so we had to stick ourselves quite far out and it was a long row to get to the great big beach.

We took the dinghy to the beach and did a short walk to get a feel of the place.

On the way in to the anchorage, I had noted all the sea caves on the east coast of the island which looked rugged and weather beaten. The day after we arrived, the wind dropped, the sun came out, so I dug out the kayak from the locker, pumped it up and set off along the coast to go and explore. It turned in to a real adventure, with lots of caves and sea arches to explore. The sea was flat and there wasn’t much wind. Some of the caves were really deep and scary when the kayak would get pushed in by the surf. I shot this video, so you can get a feel for this timeless and alien place.

The next day, we packed up lunch and headed on a proper expedition to explore the whole island and walk the many trails that criss-crossed the island. There is a lot of Mauri history here with pits were the people stored food and a ‘Pa’, old fortifications at some of the highpoints on the island. The place was teeming with bird life and bird song, and we chose a really good day to explore. It was hot!

As you can see, the vistas from the high points of the island were spectacular, and what about that blue sky!

We were eventually forced to retreat from Urupukapuka when a low came through the area and the wing swung round making the anchorage uncomfortable. So we headed for Robertson Island, which had a large protected bay on its South side. This island is famous for the fact that this was the anchorage where Captain Cook anchored on his visit to the Bay of Islands in HMS Endeavour in 1769. This is the second time our paths have crossed with Cook, the first being Venus Bay in Tahiti.

Robertson Island is only little and we were anchored off a beach which was inaccessible to us for the 3 days we were there as the wind howled. Another boat took refuge in the anchor with us with an Australian flag and full of school kids out on a sailing adventure.

When the wind eventually died down, we headed to the neighbouring island of Moturoa and a very pretty anchorage called Army Bay.

Whilst it looks flat calm, there was an annoying swell coming in from the outer channel. That didn’t spoil this beautiful anchorage too much. In more recent history, Moturua Island was occupied by the Navy in World War II, and today there remains a mine observation post at Hikurangi pa, concrete pads for the ablution blocks and barracks on the back beach flats, as well as the underground remains of the old radio and ancillary rooms. Strange to think that even a backwater like this was affected by the war, and it must have been a pretty easy posting for any soldier.

We woke the next day to lovely weather, and decided to walk the 4.5km track around the island. Its a steep trail, with many ups and downs, but well worth the effort.

I took some video of various parts of the walk.

After a couple of days enjoying this island, the next low threatened to hit the bay, so this time we moved further south and tucked into a very well sheltered bay called Te Hue behind a big headland. The water was flat and the vista was huge. I took this video, early the next morning as I watched the fish disturbing the surface of this millpond…

Now we had some calmer weather, my attention turned to our recently acquired dinghy, a Walker Bay 10 foot sailing tender. We bought this just before we went back to the the UK earlier this year whilst Azimuth was still in the boatyard. The boat came with a sailing rig that had never even been taken out of its bag! So I decided to get it setup and we could take the boat for her maiden sail. Really we need a name for her (any ideas). It took me a while to get the rig installed following the dubious instructions and having to manufacture a new gooseneck for the boom which had all but disintegrated away during its years of storage.

We launched her the next day and enjoyed the sail until I overpowered her and we took on about 50 litres of water and we both sat in our new bathtub to get back to Azimuth. Turns out sailing a dinghy is very different to sailing Azimuth (who would have thought it?). You have to have to have much faster reactions! It was a right laugh and hopefully we will be able to get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Cant wait to go sailing in some of those amazing atolls in the South Pacific for example. Right now and here, the water is too cold to get swamped!

With our fresh vegetable supplies getting very low, we decided to head to an anchorage that gave us walking access to the main town of Russel that serves the Bay of Islands. The anchorage was called Oneroa Bay, about 20 minutes walk over a hill to get to Russel after negotiating a tricky coastal footpath off the beach.

Russel is somewhere we have visited before by car when Vinnie and Judith came to stay with us last Christmas. Its a quaint little place, and one of the oldest settlements in NZ. We took a walk around again, and this time visited the local church where there were some interesting graves from a battle that was fought here. There is a memorial to the men lost from an English ship called the HMS Hazard.

After arrival at the Bay of Islands on Thursday 8 August 1845, the captain, Commander Bell fell overboard between 9:00 and 10:00 pm, and died soon after rescue.

Hazard, under Acting Commander David Robertson, operated in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand during the Flagstaff War in 1845. Hazard was in the Bay of Islands on 11 March 1845 when a force of about 600 Māori armed with muskets, double-barrelled guns and tomahawks attacked Kororāreka (as Russell was then known). Royal Marines and sailors from Hazard took part in the fighting ashore aiding a detachment of the 96th Regiment during the Battle of Kororāreka. Robertson was dangerously wounded during the opening engagement. The Hazard lost 6 men killed and 8 wounded.

There is also a much smaller and less grand memorial to the Māori soldiers at the back of the church.

We headed to the pub for a well earned lunch at a great pub called the Nauti Penguin. The first time we had been out since arriving back in NZ. We are on a strict budget at the moment!

We then headed to the supermarket and lugged our shopping back over the hill to the boat. Repeated the next day too!

With the weather set to change again, and the wind making our current home of Oneroa Bay rather uncomfortable, we weighed the anchor and motored north to the top of the Bay of Islands and the spectacular anchorage of Wairoa Bay. We found ourselves the only boat here anchored off a wide beach, backed by green hills and the outer bay behind us full of little islands to explore. A very pretty spot.

The next day, I took the dinghy to the beach for a walk and then the canoe out to explore all the little islands.

We had a few days here, with many visits to the beach.

We even got to see the recent super moon from this anchorage. The pictures don’t do it any justice

Time moves on inexorably as ever, and we have more of New Zealand to see, so after a week of soaking up the atmosphere in this idyllic bay we decided to head further South and go and explore the Auckland / Coromandel Areas. That will have to wait until the next post.

See you then!

Dom and Ailsa on Azimuth.

Hi to everyone! Time to let you know what we have been up to since the last post. Well, as a lot of you know, we were back in the UK for over 4 months over the summer. That was a crazy trip home to catch up with everyone. Here’s a whirlwind snapshot of some of the things we did! In no particular order, cause its all a bit of a distant memory now!

We paid a long overdue visit to the see our eldest son Ethan and his girlfriend Becky in the lovely city of Belfast where they have bought a lovely house together and are living life to the full. Infact, we visited them twice whilst we were back and they looked after us really well!

We were taken all over Belfast; the titanic museum, restaurants, pubs, live music, farmers markets, museums and back at their house we were treated to some of the best lamb roasts I have ever had. Thanks guys!

We celebrated Caleb’s birthday with a trip to the local posh Chinese.

And whilst we are talking about Caleb, we are super proud of him as he starts his officer of the watch training and joins the Merchant Navy to work on huge commercial ships as a bridge officer cadet. Well done mate!

Our youngest son Vinnie kept us super busy driving up and down to Bristol to various events. The first was a film viewing for the end of his degree course at Bristol film school. We had a lovely afternoon and evening with Vinnie and all his course mates, watching the students films and the oscar style awards ceremony and then hitting the town later that evening

Vinnie came back to Nottingham with his girlfriend Ruby to celebrate his 21st birthday. It was a raucous affair!

The next event was a very special day and we were so proud of Vinnie as we celebrated his graduation day with him. Well done mate!

I shot this video of the day

Vinnie and Ruby moved in to a flat together in Bristol to start the next chapter in their lives. We went down to visit for a couple of night and they very kindly put up with us! Thanks and hope you settling in okay guys.

We caught up with lots of our old friends in West Bridgford. It was great to see everyone again! One night, Jane hosted us all at her house for a big party. It was a great night.

We did plenty of travelling around. Our good friends Andy and Jen put us up for a couple of nights at their lovely home outside Leeds. We went for a glorious walk on arguably one of the hottest days of the year!

We took a trip down to Bideford in Devon to see our good friends Charlie and Jen too, and had a lovely weekend of eating and drinking too excess! We met Charlie and Jen when we used to live in Portishead.

On that same trip we also stopped a night in Portishead and caught up with John, our friend we buddy sailed with down the coast of Spain and Portugal all the way to Gibraltar. We went out for a curry and reminisced for the evening. It was great to see you again mate!

We got invited for a lovely weekend away in Monyash in Derbyshire by our great friends Sally and Andrew at their caravan. We had a great time, including a lovely walk in one of my favourite dales, Lathkill Dale.

We saw Sally and Andrew a few times, but here are some pics of night we had at the local pub in East Bridgford, we were joined by Sarah and Steve and their son Ben too.

I managed to bag myself an invite to a long weekend cycling from Calais to Bruges and back with two long time mates, Matt and Paddy. It was an awesome trip, and somehow I managed to keep up with them both. We managed to sample many Belgium beers and had a great trip. The pictures should tell you more! Bruges is well worth a visit.

While I was off enjoying myself in Bruges, Ailsa caught up with her oldest school friends Ian and Rachel for a night out down the local

It was great to catch up with one of our oldest friends Tasha! She hosted us for lunch on several occasions and we talked long in to the evening as well as being introduced to the game Mexican Train, which they proceeded to soundly beat us at. We look forward to the rematch!

I caught up with all the guys from my old band Fat Digester at the Boho Festival just outside East Bridgford and they invited me to play guitar on Funky Muthas. Massive thankyou to Rowan for letting me take his stage and so good to catch up with the guys again!

Talking about live music, we had an amazing Sunday afternoon meeting up with Andy and surprising an old friend Gordz who I hadn’t seen in years. We were well entertained by Gordz and his fantastic family. What a great afternoon!

The last week or so was hard, saying goodbye to everyone, particularly all the family. We said our final farewells to Caleb and Ailsa’s mum Judith.

Thanks to everyone that put up with us on our long trip home, particularly to Judith and Julie, the two mums for looking after us so well! It was a busy few months, and we haven’t mentioned everyone that we managed to see.

After the long week of goodbyes, we made our way down to Heathrow on that depressing bus ride from Nottingham and had a very smooth journey back to New Zealand via Singapore and Sydney arriving on the 21st September. We got back to the boat to find it cold and damp and pretty dreary looking, still sat in the boatyard where we had left her. Getting the diesel heater on helped a little, and Ailsa spent a few days cleaning Azimuth and making her a home again. Meanwhile, I started work on getting her ready to go back in the water. We had three weeks until splash day.

It took pretty much all of that time doing the final touches, including giving her bottom a coat of paint.

Ailsa did all the provisioning for the next few weeks and we prepared ourselves mentally to go back in the water again after 5 months in the boatyard. We managed to sell the car a few days before we left and then finally the big day arrived. We couldn’t have asked for easier conditions with no wind.

Its a nervous moment watching your boat being launched again! But it went really smoothly, and no water came in from the new through hull fittings either. Oh and the engine started without issue too…. always a relief. We motored off down the river and stopped for a few nights at a really nice anchorage called the Nook. The weather had other ideas. Technically it is only just the start of Spring here in NZ, and we were to be hit by two huge low pressure systems over the next few days with not many options to hide out at anchor. We moved down the river and waited it out. For two days the wind blew a hooley! I think it hit 42 knots, which is the most wind we have ever experienced at anchor in all of our years of sailing. Thankfully the anchor held and we came through unscathed. In the pictures below, you wouldn’t know this anchorage was crazy!

Finally the storm passed, and the weather was perfect for a 60 mile sail up the coast from the Whangarei estuary up to the spectacular cruising grounds of the Bay of Islands. We took two days to do the sail with a stop over night at an anchorage on the way. It was champagne sailing, flat seas and Force 4 winds on a beam reach. It reminded us of why we love sailing so much!

So now we are sitting in our first anchorage in the Bay of Islands and its stunning! But that will have to wait until next time…..

By the way a huge thanks to all of you who have purchased my book Sailing Planet Earth. If you feel inclined, please remember to give me a 5 star review on Amazon! Many thanks to those of you who already have.

All the best for now. Dom and Ailsa on Azimuth.

Hi to everyone. Last time we left you we were huddled down at the bottom of the South Island in the rain. Now we have made it back to the boat and I’m writing this sat on the boat in the Norsand Boatyard in the Whangarei River. So let me tell you all about the rest of our mega road trip and the journey back home to the boat.

I put together a video of the whole road trip below. It’s the main highlights of a seven-week trip in about 25 minutes!

We have definitely seen some amazing places and landscapes and fallen more in love with this place.

Having explored the Catlins at the bottom of South Island, we started to make our way back North again along the East Coast. We drove through and stopped for a quick look in Dunedin and then headed further north to the little town of Oamaru.

This was a little gem of a town to explore, famous for its steampunk art. We stayed in the campsite right next to the harbour and very close to the centre of town. The harbour area is like walking into a Victorian time warp. During the late 1800’s, this was a boom town driven by trade through the port and gold mining around the region. The money was invested in to building some very grandiose buildings using the abundant white limestone. 30 years later and for various reasons the town economy collapsed, investment ended, and the buildings fell into disrepair for 50 years, leaving the legacy of a past time. Now they have been restored and repurposed with a great selection of restaurants, breweries, museums and art galleries.

We spent a couple of days enjoying the sights. We also got to see our first penguins of the trip too that evening as they came up the boat slip way in the harbour and hid for the night in all the boats on the shore. We also enjoyed some good beer at two of the local breweries!

With good weather forecast for the next few days we took the spectacular drive inland to go and see Mount Cook.

We camped for 2 nights about 20km away down the valley next to Lake Tasman. We were blessed with not a cloud in the sky and beautiful views of the mountains right from the front door of our tent.

We drove up to the Mount Cook Village the next day and joined the many hordes of people doing the Hooker Track which takes you right up to the termination lake of the glacier at the foot of Mount Cook. This was a spectacular walk across three swing bridges with breathtaking views of the peaks all around the valley and Mount Cook at its head. With not a cloud in the sky it was a perfect day for the hike, and we stopped for lunch and photos with views over the lake and glacier.

The next day we took the drive towards Christchurch, another spectacular drive through the Southern Alps and mountains.

At the recommendation of some friends we stopped in a little town called Fairlie to sample the pies at the local bakery. They were delicious!

We ended up on the inland scenic route on the East side of the Alps at a place called Mount Somers. We tried to find a very remote campsite at a place called Lake Heron only to find it was closed after a 40km trip down a gravel road! However, the trip was worth the effort for the views. After that we ended up freedom camping for the night in a nice camp site next to the highway.

The next day we stopped and did a walk to Sharplin Falls at the foot of Mount Somers. A great track through lush beach tree forest that criss-crossed the creek up to the falls.

A short drive after that took us to the little town of Oxford, about an hour from Christchurch where we stopped at a campsite at a place called Ashley Gorge next to a river. We headed into town that night and had a lovely meal in the local country pub and got to see some live music too. There were more pies to sample too!

The next day we took the drive up to Hanmer Springs, a lovely little town nestled in the mountains on the East side of the Alps. We stayed in a caravan for a couple of nights, and we were glad we did when the next day it poured it down with rain for 24 hours. At least we had managed to get one walk in the previous afternoon in the forest on the edge of the town.

We took a drive up into the mountains but there was not much to see in the rain. Thankfully the caravan was warm and dry, and the campsite had a large library of free DVDs for us to watch to pass the time.

We booked the ferry for a couple of days’ time back to Wellington, so we took a long drive back up towards Picton and found ourselves back in Havelock for the night, a place we had stayed a few weeks ago. Time to taste some of those amazing mussels again and then a chance to spend a day exploring the area around Queen Charlotte Sound before catching the ferry that evening.

We took a long drive that takes you up the side of Kenepuru Sound. We both agreed that this top end of South Island is one of our favourite places to visit. We hope to come and sail this area one day.

We walked for an hour or so along a section of the Queen Charlotte track with some views out over Kenepuru Sound and also Endevour Bay, where Captain Cook had anchored.

A late afternoon drive took us to Picton and we joined the queue for the ferry back to Wellington. Unfortunately, it was delayed! So, once again we did the trip in the dark and missed the views. Another reason to come back and sail it ourselves.

An overnight stop in Wellington and we were on our way again and we stopped overnight at Mount Doom. We had not managed to see this out of the cloud yet and were finally granted that privilege the next morning when the cloud cleared.

We also got to see another Lord of the Rings film location at a place called Tahani Falls. This is where they filmed the scene where Gollum is caught by a pool next to a waterfall when he is fishing.

The next day we did six-hour drive back to Whangarei and Azimuth in one day. It probably sounds like we did this second leg pretty quickly, and truth be known after 7 weeks on the road we were ready for a good night’s sleep in our own bed again!

We left the marina after a few days of catching up and sat at anchor for a week with a little trip down the Whangarei River.

It was a chance to see what was broken and what still works on the boat after is has been sat at the dock for 5 months. On the plus side, the sails that we bought in coromandel second-hand from a broker were fit for purpose, we took the boat out for a spin. We didn’t break any speed records though; I had dived under the boat in one anchorage to find the bottom had become our own personal coral reef. That would explain why she was so sluggish in the water. Yesterday, we were lifted out of the water in a local boat yard, and as we suspected, the bottom looks terrible!

So, it’s back to boat jobs again after many months off from sailing and getting things ready before we fly back to the UK at the beginning of May for the summer.

Catch you again soon!

Dom & Ailsa on Azimuth

Hi everyone. Sorry it’s been a while since our last post. Time seems to have flown by, so I here’s an update as to what we have been up to. As I write this I am sitting in a little cabin not far from the Southern most point of New Zealand looking out the window at the rain!

In the last post we had just completed a road trip with Vinnie and Judith and had put Vinnie back on a plane to the UK.

Judith stayed with us for another 2 weeks and we pottered about the Whangarei area. We also had a visit for a few days from Sally, another friend from the UK who was over in New Zealand visiting her family. It was great to see her and catch up!

it was another very sad farewell when we took Judith down to the airport. She and Sally took the same flight back to the UK which meant they could keep each other company on the long flight. Judith was inspired after her visit to New Zealand to watch the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy on the plane!

On our return to the boat we got ready for the next road trip. We wanted to visit the South Island of New Zealand, so we got all our camping gear stacked in the car, bought a few extra bits, loaded up with supplies and headed off.

it’s a long way to Wellington from Whangarei where you catch the ferry South, so we decided to spend a few days on the way down to explore parts of the North Island that we hadn’t seen before, the Eastern Cape and the wine growing region around Napier.

A long drive took us to our first stop at the start of the East Cape highway to the little town of Matata. Nestled at the side of a huge beach, we pitched our tent for the first time in a DOC (government run Department of Conservation) campsite.

it was hot and we got the brand new tent unpacked. We went to setup the poles only to find that the shock cord had snapped on two of them and we didn’t know how to put then together. A couple of beers and some head scratching at the Chinese instructions for 30 minutes and we had the thing pitched. Camp bed and mattress was next and finally we had our luxurious camp setup. Tea was provided by the local chippy and we had our first introduction to the vicious sand flys that decided to target Ailsa for their tea!

The next day we packed everything away and took another long drive out in to the eastern cape region. It is a spectacular drive that hugs the coast and at times where that’s not accessible takes you deep in land over rugged hills and round tortuous hairpins. The route took us through many little townships each of which had a Māori meeting house. This is the area of sine if the first Māori settlements. Finally the drive took us out to the Eastern Caoe itself and we pitched the tent in a spectacular spot under rugged mountains after a drive down a gravel track.

we continued our drive around the cape the next day. The rugged landscape along the highway gave way eventually to long sandy beaches as we headed further south in to the Hawke Bay Area. At the end if the day we needed to find somewhere to stay and found ourselves in the non descript town of Wairoa. It had a little holiday park on its outskirts next to a wide river. So we pitched the tent and went for a look. It was a pretty grim place. Not much evidence if tourism, so we went to the supermarket and bought supplies for tea.

The holiday parks in New Zealand are great. They all have communal areas with a lounge and a kitchen area where you can cook and get to meet other people on the site, we were in the kitchen that evening with other people when we were asked by a guy doing his food prep where were we from in Nottingham?! He had overheard our conversation and recognised our accents. So we struck up a conversation. That’s when we got to meet Jeff and Steph and their lovely family. It turned out that both of them came from very nearby the same area in Nottingham as we did. Also, being about the same age the connection was even closer than that. Steph knew Ailsa’s brother, and had even been to a party at Ailsa’s family home. It was a surreal moment for all parties! Here we were in the back and beyond of New Zealand and we had happened to bump in to people that had mutual connections to our childhood home life, Jeff and Steph had moved to New Zealand 20 or more years ago and setup their lives in this wonderful country.

That was the start of a great and unexpected weekend. Jeff and family were staying on the site as their passion is to go waterskiing. The river at Wairoa is the perfect place. Jeff convinced us that we should stay and have a go at skiing the next day. It was a beautiful sunny day as we headed to the river. The only water skiing I have ever done was on a cable way in Nottingham at the national water sports centre. Jeff had a super fast speed boat called the Dominator! I thought, yeah I will have a go at that! It can’t be that hard? I was out on the boat watching the kids doing some amazing skiing. Then it was my turn to have a go. It did not go well! The first three attempts had me face planting in the water behind the boat, the fourth attempt and I pulled my hamstring! So I had to limp back to the shore in defeat!

still if was a fantastic day by the river. Later that evening it all got a bit silly. We went out for a meal at a local restaurant and drank far too much. My excuse was that it was medicine for my leg. It was a great evening and Jeff and Steph, friends and family were wonderful fun.

Feeling a little worse for the wear the next day we said our goodbyes and headed on the trip further south, and stopped the night in Napier. Although we were surrounded by vineyards we didn’t feel much like drinking wine!

The next day we drove down towards Wellington, passing lots of vineyards and eventually reaching the mountains to the North if Wellington where we stopped in another holiday park for the night. It turned out that a scene from Lord of the Rings where Gandalf walks through the gardens of Isenguard and consults with Sauron was filmed in the park right next to the holiday park. We searched everywhere for the tower of Isenguard but couldn’t find it?!

We had the ferry to Picton in the South Island booked for the next day at 7 30 in the evening so we headed down to Wellington and spent the day in the Te Papa museum. It was well worth the time and effort. It took us 2 hours just to do the amazing Gallipoli exhibition. Models had been made of the soldiers by Weta Studios that were three times life size. It was so well done and informative that we could have spent longer.

The other exhibits we saw that day were about nature in New Zealand and all the bird species that have been lost as well as interesting pieces about Māori culture and the history of colonialism.

We caught the ferry that night for a very smooth crossing

A quick stop in Picton and we found ourselves in a little town called Havelock. We were attracted by the sign that said Havelock was the mussel capital of New Zealand. We tested that with a bowl of delicious mussels at the local restaurant appropriately called the Mussel Pot. We took a side trip to Blenheim and the wine growing district of Marlborough where Ailsa got to sample some nice glasses of Sauvignon.

We have been making this trip up as we go, so we decided to head to Nelson, but on the way we were attracted to a sign that pointed to several campsites right on the North end of the island. it turned out to be a great decision and we took the gravel road out to a place called French Pass. It was a stunning drive along a headland with views out over the inlets and islands in the area.

French Pass was another DOC camping site where we camped right on the beach. We had stingrays swimming in the surf off the beach and we also spotted several sharks swimming in the bay too. I went for a swim, but compared to the seas we have been used to, this was COLD!

A short walk took us to a lookout over French Pass itself, a tidal race where the sea is forced through a narrow channel full of rocks.

After a few days we headed towards the Abel Tasman National Park which occupies the North West corner of the island. We avoided some rain with a stay in a cabin and then took a side trip to see our friends Donna and Mark in a beautiful place called St Arnaud

That trip ended up being expensive when I got pulled over for speeding! I hadn’t realised we were still in the town centre. 80 dollars later and we are in the way again. Ouch!

We took a drive up in to Abel Tasman. There’s only one road and you have to go over the top of a huge mountain with great views. Our destination was the great campsite at Totaranui which involved another long drive down a gravel road through steep and spectacular bush land. The campsite is situated on a fabulous beach and was very popular. The next day we took a walk down the coast path and ended up at several more fantastic beaches.

it was time to head down the west coast where the spectacular southern alps preside. But first we got side tracked by gold mining! We ended up staying a few days in a place called Reefton. A lovely little town with a strong history of gold mining going back to the mid 1860’s. The area was littered with old mines and we soon located a museum at a place called black point. We were the only people in there and ended up spending 3 hours talking to the curator John, himself a mining engineer who had lived and worked in the are for 35 years. He was a mine of information and showed us some of the extensive archives including old mine records. It was very interesting,

The next day at Johns suggestion we took a walk in to the country side around Black Point to visit the old mine sites where some of the machinery still exists at the locations of the old shafts. It was a long walk but we were rewarded with amazing views and lots of history.

We went to the local hardware store in Reefton to get gold pans and a shovel. We met quite a few local miners in the pub, but none of them would tell us the good places to go and pan for gold! In the end we went to a couple of places that are for recreational gold panning. Of course we didn’t find much but it was a lot of fun trying our hand at fossiking.

We headed a little further south to another gold mining area called Goldborough, the site of the 1875 gold rush and then sought shelter for a rainy night at the Empire hotel in the old gold town of Ross. A lovely traditional hotel with a roaring log fire and an excellent roast buffet for dinner. A definite bit I of luxury after many nights under canvas!

Another drive south and we passed the Franz Josef glacier where we stopped to have a look. If anyone wants to see real evidence of global warming they should visit here and see the photos of how far the glacier has retreated.

We stayed the night in Haast and then headed on another spectacular drive south to the lakeside town of Wanaka. Here we went for a long drive down a bone shaker of a gravel road and a 4 hour walk to go and see the Rob Roy Glacier. This walk was some of the best scenery we have seen in New Zealand and I would put it up there in my top 10 favourite walks of all time.

We camped in Wanaka for a few days until the threat of heavy rain made us decide to get under a fixed roof in a nice chalet in the ski resort of Cardrona right next to the old hotel.

We took a day trip to the popular and very touristy places of Queenstown and Arrowtown.

Ailsa felt closer to her Scottish roots when we were in Queenstown and we stumbled across a highland bagpipe competition being held in the local park. We have probably seen more bagpipes and players in New Zealand than we have ever seen in Scotland!

Walter keeping dry in our chalet and having the chance to do all our washing too after a month on the road, we headed down to the Fjordland National Park and the pretty lakeside town of Te Anau. This was our base for a few days to explore the area. Poor Ailsa was ill for one of those days and so I took a walk from the town to see the views of the lake. The next day we took the fabulous drive up to Milford Sound. The road takes a tortuous route through the steep sided mountains and I through a crazy tunnel to get to the sound. Milford sound was full of tourists but we couldn’t have chosen a better day to see this beautiful place with not a cloud in the sky.

On the way back we made sure to stop and see the Ailsa Mountains!

We are almost up to date. We left Te Anau a few days ago and since then we have been exploring the Catlins at the bottom of the South Island after a brief visit to the uninspiring town of Invercargill.

On the way to Inver we had to make a stop at a place called Clifden and pay a visit to their historical bridge … the aptly named Clifden suspension bridge. That bought a smile to our faces. It was in the middle off nowhere and looked rather like a smaller version of Brunels Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol, although none off the boards describing the bridges history made any mention of this fact!

We made it to a place called Bluff and Slope Point, I both of which seem to claim to be the southern most tip of New Zealand. We think slope point won it…

Our exploration of this coast bought us to see some amazing geology. At a place called curio bay there is a rock beach which is covered in 170 million year old petrified tree trunks and stumps. This is extremely rare to see and has to be some of the best preserved fossil trees in the world. The preservation occurred when the forest got covered with silica rich volcanic ash from a nearby eruption. Looking at the fossils you would swear they were real wood.

We have also trecked through mossy rainforest to visit the McClean falls and Cathedral sea cave.

So you are up to date!

Join us next time as we make our way back up to Whangarei on part 2 of the roadtrip. New Zealand continues to impress us with the variety of landscapes we have seen and all the incredibly genuine and friendly people we have met.

Dom and Ailsa on Azimuth.

Hello! Last time we left you, we had just celebrated Xmas and new year and were enjoying having the family to visit us here in New Zealand. This time we head off on a 10-day road trip around the North Island and show you some of the sights of this amazing country.

First stop, the steaming and bubbling volcanic town of Rotorua. We drove down to Auckland and picked up Vinnie from Toms house after his New Years Eve celebrations and we headed South to Rotorua. We stayed 4 nights in Rotorua in a house overlooking the lake. If you don’t know Rotorua is famous for all the geothermal activity in the area. In downtown Rotorua there are steaming pools of water in the park and a strong smell of rotten eggs. We took the chance to visit two different Geothermal Parks

The first of these was Te Puia, run by the local Māori Tribe who live in a village on the site. It was a really entertaining tour, and we were shown round by one of the local Māori people.

The geyser at the park erupts at least 15 times a day and each eruption lasts about 30 minutes, so we got to see it erupt twice during our visit.

As part of the visit, we were welcomed into the Māori meeting house to see some traditional dancing and singing including the mighty Haka!

They even have a university on the site where local Māori students get to attend to learn the way that Māori arts and crafts are done and keep the traditions of these people alive.

The second park we visited was Waiotapu Geothermal Park a bit further south of Rotorua. This park was more extensive, and the tour started with the eruption of the Lady Knox Geyser.

After this, we went for a walk around the rest of the park. This included the Champagne Pool, a steaming lake of sulphurous water, the largest in the southern hemisphere which was effectively sitting on top of the volcano. There were huge craters full of bubbling mud or steam that looked like the entrance to hell. There was even an acid pool! The pH of the water was 2, which is very strong acid, so beware anyone that slipped into that, the colour was amazing.

No trip to Rotorua was complete without a side trip to see the shire! We had an amazing visit to Hobbiton to see where the shire was filmed, and we were all blown away by the tour!

Such a beautiful place and very cleverly preserved for the visitor. Highlights were going inside one of the hobbits houses as well as the free beer at the Green Dragon at the end of the tour. We would really recommend visiting this place if you ever get chance, but book well in advance as its really popular.

We took the opportunity to sample some of the other delights of Rotorua including a meal out and then it was time to move on to Wellington. A long drive as it turned out that took us past the spectacular lake Taupo and past Mount Ngauruhe, otherwise known as Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings fame. The volcano was shrouded in cloud as we drove past.

We stayed in Wellington for 3 nights in the Travelodge in the centre of the city. We took the cable car to the top the hill to see the views

We took a trip the amazing Weta Studios where all the effects, sets and costumes were created for the Lord of the Rings films. This was another really memorable experience! These lot all ganged up on me with swords!

We took a visit to the Wellington Museum, ate out every night. Vinnie got to finally sample some New Zealand mussels, oh and we drank quite a lot of beer one night exploring all the excellent craft beer breweries that are in this city.

The next stop on the tour was the town of Stratford. Not a very special place other than the fact that it resides at the bottom of Mount Taranaki, and huge 2900m volcano that rises from the plain on the west side of North Island. We decided we wanted to have a go at climbing it. However, that day Mount Taranaki didn’t agree and had its head in the clouds. So, we set off to the Dawsons Falls visitor, about 1000m up the side of the peak and attempted to do the walk to Fanthoms Peak, a side summit on the volcano about 1900m high.

The start of the walk took us through an ancient forest that felt prehistoric. The trees were covered in a thick growth of moss. We got to the top of the tree line and sat on a rock seat that had been built in commemoration of Edmund Hillary, the New Zealander mountaineer who was the first to summit Everest with Tenzing Norgay. Then the path weaved through thick bush that eventually led to a wooden walkway that took us to the rock scree slope to the summit. The summit was in cloud, and it was cold! So, we decided to turn around there. The views were to die for, we could see for miles all the way over to mount doom in the distance.

Our last stop was back to Auckland. The drive back to Auckland took us down the “Forgotten World Highway” which was a spectacular route with views around every corner.

The trip was nearly over, and the fellowship would soon be dissolved: Very sadly we had to put Vinnie back on a plane to the UK. We still had one day and night left though to explore Auckland, meet up with Tom again and finish the road trip in style!

We hope you enjoyed this little insight into our trip! See you again soon!

Hello to everyone! Wishing you all a very happy new year and let’s hope 2025 is another great year.

We have been busy since I last posted. We have spent some time exploring more of this wonderful country and we have welcomed family on to the boat for Christmas.

Last time we left you, we had just come back from an amazing week in the Coromandel Peninsula. We decided that we would take a trip North up to the Bay of Islands the next week, however the weather had other ideas. Instead, we stayed for a couple of rainy nights with our friends, Donna and Mark on Coral Moon in Opua Marina and then headed back to Whangarei.

The week after, we needed to head down to Auckland. For one, we had to attend an interview at the US Embassy to apply for a B2 visa to enter the US by boat. And secondly, we had to collect our youngest son Vinnie and Ailsa’s mum Judith from the Airport when they arrived in New Zealand to stay for Christmas.

We had two days before they arrived to take a look around the city. It’s a great place. We were impressed with the buildings and the city layout with the views over the harbour. We took the chance to visit the sky tower and have a drink in the bar, 50 stories up with an amazing view of the city and the surrounding area.

I’m also glad to say that we passed the interview at the US embassy and got our B2 visa. This means that we can now go through with our plans to visit the US. More on that later.

Here’s a short video of some of the stuff we saw in Auckland, mostly from the top of the Sky Tower.

After a couple of days, we headed to the airport to meet the family arriving for the UK. It was an emotional reunion!

We hired a house for a few days to allow Vinnie and Judith to beat the jetlag and acclimatise to New Zealand life and we took the chance to show them a bit of Auckland including another visit to the Sky Bar! Vinnie also had the chance to meet up with his old college friend Tom who is working and living in Auckland.

After a few days we headed back to the boat, did some shopping and got things ready just in time for Christmas dinner! Tom drove up and joined us too. It was a lovely couple of days and of course, we all ate and drank far too much, as well as playing the usual ferocious card games.

We have day trips out between Christmas and New Year. The weather here has been fabulous blue sky and about 25 degrees.

We took a drive up the coast from Whangarei to the Bay of Islands and the town of Russell with lots of stops on the way to take in the views and the beautiful coves and beaches.

Vinnie and I walked up to the Whangarei Falls where we were picked up by Ailsa and Judith.

We took a drive to the Waipu caves. We didn’t manage to get far into the caves as we were totally unprepared with our footwear, but we did do the spectacular walk that features in the video above.

Today on New Years Eve we visited the Waipu Scottish Highland Games! Waipu was settled by the Scottish in the 1800’s and this was the 152nd Highland games including lots of bagpipes, tossing the caber, dancing and throwing the hammer. All good fun and in true Scottish tradition, there was lots of rain showers (Scottish mist) but no midges!

And finally, here’s some thoughts about our plans for 2025. it looks like we are going to stay in New Zealand until around April or May and then we shall be heading back to the UK for a couple of months to sell our house. We shall return to New Zealand again around August time and get Azimuth ready to sail back up North. The plans at the moment are to head to Fiji and then spend the end of the year (cyclone season) in Micronesia in the islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands. 2026 will see us head up to Japan and beyond!

We hope you all had a great festive season, and we look forward to telling you more about New Zealand in the next post.

Dom & Ailsa on SV Azimuth.

Hi to everyone. We have been having a lovely time in New Zealand since we last checked in. The people we meet and the more places we visit, the more we like this country.

Having a car again is a bizarre experience after nearly 3 years without one. We had forgotten the ease of jumping in your car and just nipping to the shops, or going on a day adventure. No need to work out the local buses or haggling for a taxi, or praying that your dinghy engine doesn’t conk out!

That said then, we have been out for quite a few day trips in the local area and to experience some of the amazing scenery that Whangarei and its surrounds has to offer.

Last time, we visited Bream Head, and I left you with a video of that walk on my previous post. Well, a few days later we decided to head back to the same area and attempt to summit Mount Manaia, an imposing lump of rock with many pinnacles that rise menacingly from its head. The weather was superb again as we set off from the carpark at the foot of the mountain. I shot this video which gives you a taste of this walk. A steep but very well-maintained path guides you to the top where we stopped for lunch with a view to die for.

It was hard going with a lot of steps to climb, but we are starting to get our land legs back and this was definitely helping improve our general fitness!

We were pleased to be invited a few days later to go on another walk with some fellow cruisers, Andy and Julie who we met when we were checking in to NZ. Their boat is moored in Whangarei town basin, so we met up with them in town and set off towards Whangarei Falls. it was another hot day, and the walk wound up a steep sided river valley with a stop at a small park called the Alan Reid Memorial Park. This was a little enclave with a spectacular walkway in the trees and a waterfall.

Eventually we made our way to the pretty Whangarei falls that cascade over a basalt cliff studded with columns, into a large plunge pool.

It was a lovely walk and fun to share with Andy and Julie

Now the legs are starting to loosen up a bit! We took advantage of the great weather and this time at the advice of the marina manager, Blair, we drove about 60 kms South of Whangarei to Mangawhai Head where we walked along the spectacular beach and then up along a cliff walk.

The video below gives you a sense of scale of the beach, and the vistas of the area.

On the way home we stopped off for Pizza and beer at a local brewery. The beer in NZ is great!!

The best we are saving for last in this post. Since about October, I had been in touch with a sail broker in New Zealand and had reserved 2 second hand sails for Azimuth. We needed to go and pick these up. The sail broker lives in an area of New Zealand known as the Coromandel Peninsula, a strip of mountainous terrain that sticks up of the East side of North Island, not far from Auckland. Our travel guide describes it as a beautiful place to visit, so we thought why not make a road trip of it?

The weather looked great last week, so we prepared everything as best we could. Bought a few camping supplies, loaded up the car and headed off South from Whangarei. The roads are very easy in North Island and the traffic was light and it took about 3 hours to get to the town of Thames at the bottom of the peninsula.

This place had some history. It felt a bit like a wild west town and with good reason. In the 1860’s the town was the focus of a gold rush with discoveries of gold packed quartz veins all around the area. At its peak there were some 120 bars and hotels along the main street of the town all catering to thirsty gold seekers.

We arrived around lunchtime and stopped at a cafe. We had a walk around the town.

Then we headed to our first campsite of the trip just outside of town up the Kauaeranga valley, called “Shag Stream”!?!

We pretty much had the place to ourselves. Very pretty spot.

The next morning, we headed to Thames and visited a gold mining museum where we got to go on a tour of the underground workings and see the gold processing plant which was originally driven by a water wheel. The plant had been lovingly restored and was in full working order.

I videoed the tour here for those of you that are interested. It was a fascinating insight into the mining history of the area.

We also got to pan for gold! Although I don’t think there was much to find. Ailsa claims she was successful. I will let you decide in the pictures below:

After the tour we took a drive up the west coast of the peninsula towards Coromandel Town. We had many stops along the way just to take in the amazing views

The road is pretty crazy. It hugs the cliffs and occasionally is diverted in land up steep ravines. Beautiful place!

We stopped at Coromandel town for lunch and then headed to a nearby holiday park where we had booked a glamping pod for the night right on the beach. It was an idyllic spot and again we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

I put together this short video of the trip up the peninsula.

The next morning, we really headed off into the wilds, the far North of the peninsula.

About 10 miles north of Coromandel Town, the tarmac road stopped, and the gravel road started which was to take us the next 30 kilometres to the top of the peninsula. This road was even more spectacular and hair raising that the last. Eventually we came to a small car park where we planned to walk out along the top of the peninsula to Muriwai. You couldn’t have asked for a bluer sky with views of the sea, the farmland and the rugged peaks to die for.

Another 10 kilometres further along an even more tortuous road brought us to our home for the night at Fletcher Bay. Again, virtually empty, we had our pick of wonderful camping spots not far from the beach and surrounded by steep hills.

I woke up really early the next morning to the sound of bird song, so I climbed up the hill and sat and watched the sunrise.

We took a slow drive South again, this time down the East side of the Peninsula. This featured more crazy roads in the North and then sweeping beaches and more touristy towns. We stopped for the night in a lodge next to a place called Hot Water Beach. Reputedly, a hot spring rises at the beach and in one particular spot, you can dig a hole and bath in the warm water. Well, this had been “touristed” to death. We found the beach which was vast, and it was obvious where the spring was located as it was packed with confused looking people with spades all digging holes. I walked down for a look and even tried stepping in some of the abandoned holes, but the water temperature was tepid at best!

We left fairly quickly and chilled out at the lodge. It was located right next to a brewery which unfortunately was closed for the night! Damn!

The next morning, we went to get our sails. We were warmly welcomed by Dave and Tracey on their 25-acre farmstead nestled in the foothills. A stunning place. We spent at least 2 hours chatting about our cruising adventures drinking tea on their veranda! We left with the car stuffed with two new sails and bags of fruit that they picked for us.

For our last night we headed South to the town of Waihi. Another mining town. This was the first-place gold was discovered in NZ back in 1863. The “Martha” quartz vein was found to be very rich in gold. It was mined extensively underground and then in 1980, the mining company somehow got the permission to dig a huge open pit right next to the town centre. You can literally step off the main street up a bank and you are faced with a huge hole in the ground which is now collapsing on one side.

We took a look at the gold mining museum but unfortunately just missed out on doing the mine tour. There is still a working underground mine at the bottom of the pit.

Just out of Waihi, the road enters Karangahake Gorge which was to be our final camping spot of the trip. We pitched the tent not far from the gorge next to the river at a place called Dickies Flats.

Being a friday night it was busier at this site. Then we realised the next morning why: A marathon running event was starting from this location and about 500 people descended on the area. We made a quick getaway and headed to the Gorge visitors centre where there are a number of historical walks. The gorge is littered with old gold mine workings and processing plants. The old machinery lies abandoned in the most beautiful of settings of the steep sided gorge. To get access to the mines, the old timers had to cut pathways and tunnels into the steep rockfaces of the gorge and we got to explore this fascinating area.

What an amazing trip!

Join us next time as we head further North from Whangarei whilst we wait for family to arrive for Xmas!

Dom and Ailsa on Azimuth.