East Coast New Zealand

Well we are back in New Zealand. Our first week, which is the last week of March, is spent finalizing all of the provisioning of the boat for our extended cruise to Fiji, on or about May 1. Provisioning is best done here in Auckland as there is of course everything we need right here. Our new boat girl Abbie is with us now so we are all getting used to this change of lifestyle.

Finally we untie from the dock at Viaduct for the last time and head out. We are going to explore the small islands and anchorages along the east coast of the north island of NZ on our way back to Port Opua where we will take on fuel and our final groceries (including more lovely NZ wine) and then wait for our weather window to cross to Fiji. Our first anchorage out is at Kawau Island in Mansion House Bay. Oh it is so nice to be out and about again. We drop (not really, we put it down) the rubber dingy and head into shore where the mansion house is, but it doesn't open until noon so in the two hours that we have to kill, we decide to do one of the islands scenic walks to the old coper mines. An hour later, we are on the beach at our destination, hopping over the rocks and exploring. I don't hop so well anymore it seems, or at least I'm not as agile as I once was - whatever. Long story short, I slide down a short slope and manage to poke a hole in my head. Now we have an hours walk back with me holding my new souvenir of NZ. The general consensus between Glen and Abbie was that stitches were needed. Luckily there is a ferry to the main land from here and off we go. It just reinforced how very important it is to be careful out here on the water, as health care is not all that available. Four stitches later and I'm good to go. We never did get to see the mansion house. The next morning, we up anchor and head out to Great Barrier Island, not to be confused with Great Barrier Reef which is in Australia. We anchor in Port Fitzroy which is beautifully protected. There is a tiny collection of facilities at the small dock and we enjoy a drink at the local pub. This is a rather large island and we do a nice walk to a waterfall one day and rent a car and tour around the next day, having lunch at one of the little cafes in the south. It is pretty quiet now, this being fall here and most of the tourists have moved on. We also try our hand at fishing here. The main fish to go for is snapper, similar only in name to our B.C. snapper. Glen and I fish for a couple of hours, baiting the hook and setting it back down and pulling up a four inch snapper, releasing it and doing the process again. But persistence pays off and finally we land a big guy that will provide dinner for the three of us.

Today, we are traveling back to the main land (north Island) and will end up just north of Whangarei in a small bay. The winds are blowing 25 knots and the water is pretty choppy, the temp is 16 degrees C. New Zealand is on daylight saving time too, so we had to leave early to be able to arrive before dark.

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