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.
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.
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.
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!
Walking up Mount Manaia
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!
Hi everyone! Last time we left you we were enjoying life at anchor in Tonga and sampling the delights of playing gigs again. This time we sail from Tonga to New Zealand and get settled into the life of Land lubbers!
The sail from Tonga to New Zealand has a fearsome reputation amongst sailors. Its perhaps because most cruisers like to stick close to the equator where there is generally nice easy trade wind sailing. Once you go 30 degrees North or South of the Equator you are into the area of weather described as the variables. Thats the kind of weather that hits the UK and whilst settled in summer and characterised by high pressure systems, as we all know in the winter those variables produce a string of depressions bringing rain and often strong winds.
The North Island of New Zealand lies about 35 degrees South of the Equator, so the passage from Tonga transitions from trade wind sailing into variables sailing. At this time of year, springtime for New Zealand, the weather generally flips between high pressure systems and nasty depressions that roll through from the west every 8 days or so. The trick is to time your passage to pass through the region in between those nasty depressions.
Thats the principle any way, the reality for us was somewhat different.
First though we had to check out of Tonga and renegotiate the horrendous customs dock!
Everyone in the anchorage had been watching the weather, and most people generally agreed that now was a good time to set off. So, the customs dock was busy. We decided to walk down to the dock first and assess the situation. Our friends Mark and Donna had somehow managed to avoid going to the customs dock the day before and checked out anyway, so we thought we would try that on. The customs lady was having none of it! She told us to bring Azimuth to the already crowded dock and only then would she check us out.
So, we returned to Azimuth paying our mooring fees on the way and slipped our lines from our trusty buoy we had been tied to for the last month. Thankfully there was no anchor to pull up by hand. We approached the dock and hoped to raft up alongside another boat already there. They wouldn’t answer their radio, so we were forced to go alongside the commercial dock where another boat was already moored. Its horrendous! Metal and concrete in a state of disrepair and huge rubber bumpers that are falling off. All designed to wreck the gelcoat on the side of your yacht. In the end we managed to get slowly in place, and the wind blew us on. We have some nice rubber marks on the side of the boat now that we need to polish out … oh well.
Customs were sorted and we managed to get off the dock and motor out of the harbour. Sails went up and we slowly sailed out of Tonga.
As we left the refuge of land, the swell picked up, and soon we were sailing along at 7 knots on a beam reach even with a couple of reefs in the main and our tiny jib, which we have nicknamed the handkerchief.
On that first day we covered 175 miles. A great pace and things looked good for an easy passage. The next 24 hours we slowed a little and covered 157 miles and then 132 miles the next day. it was easy sailing; the only mishap was one of our reefing lines snapped (first reef)
By now we were not far from a place called Minerva Reef. This is a possible stopping off point where you can sit and wait for better weather if it looks bad on the approach to New Zealand (there is about 800 miles to go). For us, we thought we would carry on. We didn’t want to drop the anchor because of the hassle of getting the thing back up. And anyway, the weather forecast was okay.
A depression was due to pass between us and New Zealand in a couple of days, but it was much further South of our position and potentially we could ride the back of it into New Zealand. It looked good on paper, so we started to head West to be in a good position to catch the wind when it arrived.
Over the next couple of days, the wind pretty much died! We were still sailing though with a full main and both the stay sail and handkerchief out we were bobbing along at between 2.5 and 4 knots on a lovely flat sea. Really nice sailing as it happens!
We were checking the weather every day, and it was changing radically every day. The passed through faster than predicted, this was followed by huge high-pressure system which we eventually found ourselves right in the middle of! No wind. Most people would turn on the engine at this point. However, we didn’t have enough diesel on board to motor any significant distance. We just had enough to maybe motor 100 miles. It was hard to tell from the tank gauges that were mostly pointing to empty. So, we dropped the sails that night and went to bed whilst we drifted on a flat sea.
The next few days were much of the same. We had at least 250 miles to sail South to get through the high system. Occasionally thew wind would start to blow up to 10 knots. We would put all the sails up and bob along at about 2.5 to 3 knots. It was lovely sailing, and there was no stress. The long-range forecast didn’t predict any depressions on the way, in fact it looked like 3 high pressure systems would all converge on our position.
At some point we crossed the international date line proper, a longitude of 180 degrees halfway round the planet from the UK! We celebrated that little milestone
We did have one day of crazy sailing. The wind picked up to 25 knots as a front passed across our location. Great wind we thought, but it was on the nose! Coming from the South where we wanted to go. We were hard on the wind, and I noticed that the handkerchief had ripped. So, we had to get it down and spent a few hours resewing it. Only a little tear in a seam.
In the end it took is 19 days to complete the sail! During that time, we saw all kinds of amazing sunsets. The highlight was a visit by a whale, whilst we sat with our sails down. It was a moment that made the whole trip worthwhile and our closest ever encounter with a whale.
Eventually we sighted land!
We had another very slow sail down the side of New Zealand and overnight we entered the Whangarei River and pulled into Marsden Cove Marina to the customs dock early the next morning.
It took a while for the customs guys to turn up. And whilst we waited three other boats turned up, meaning there were 5 boats in total squeezed in to the tiny Q dock. We were all checked in by lunchtime, so we visited the fuel dock to take on diesel and then motored up the river to our new home for the next few months at Port Nikau Marina
It feels weird to be in a marina! We haven’t been in one since we left the UK 2 and half years ago. You can just step out of your boat straight on to dry land!
We have been here just over a week and so far, we are loving what we have seen. Everyone is incredibly friendly and helpful. We have been welcomed into the community. So far, we have managed to buy a car, go to the cruiser’s meetups, pull the old anchor windlass out of the boat and hopefully source the new parts we need to fix it. As well as dispose of the old ripped genoa :-(.
We have driven about 30 minutes out of town to the beautiful Whangarei Heads and had a lovely walk. Check out the video below taken with our new 360 degree camera!!
Join us next time as we start to explore New Zealand, this time by land in the new (to us!) car.
