Jan 31, 2016 January in the Bay of Islands

It has been a while since I updated the blog. We seemed to have stalled in the Bay of Islands, mainly between Opua and Russell. There are definitely worse places you could hang out for a while. We spent most of our time doing schoolwork and boat projects, and enjoying the company of our friends on Fluenta, Honey, Field Trip, Varekai, and Rewa.

On Jan 5th we had an amazing meal with Antoinette and Jess, as usual she made too much food, and she surprised Axel with a massive pavlova for his birthday. It was so incredibly light and fluffy, no one could stop eating it.

The next day was Axel's official birthday, and we celebrated him turning 11 by having Fluenta over for a pizza dinner. Gigi and Victoria had spent all afternoon decorating the cake with a realistic image of a biplane.

On Jan 9th we competed in the Russell Tall Ships race. It is a fun race that tours you around the Bay of Islands, followed by a Hangi (traditional Maori feast).  Our crew consisted of everyone from Fluenta, the kids from Honey, Rod Slater, and Hugh and Hera. It was a fun race, we sailed well, but the RBC does not like foreigners to win, so our placing was poor. The Hangi was delicious, and we danced to the band into the wee hours.

The next day we celebrated Axel and Samuel's birthdays with BBQ on the Russell Boating Club lawn and benefitted from the use of the marquee, tables and chairs they hadn't cleaned up yet. All of the kids play so nicely together, and the parents enjoy each other's company, it is sad that this was our last day together as a group before we all started sailing off in our own directions.

Families from Fluenta, Honey, Field Trip, and Varekai

To get the boat ready for sale, we did a deep cleaning, plus with Gary being a perfectionist, he touched up the paint in the sail locker and in places most people won't look, and did more varnishing, and …  All in preparation to take photos and videos to show her off. It is surprising how long it takes to do these things.

Then after all this he decided it was time to paint the decks. During that time the kids and I had to find ways to occupy ourselves away from the boat. So we did a few school type field trips, including visiting the Pompallier Mission and Russell Museum with Fluenta, which taught us how books were made 100 years ago. It showed you how the leather was tanned for the covers, and let the kids work the printing press. We visited Parrot Place in Kerikeri with Field Trip. Gigi really liked the birds and didn't want to leave, and as you can see the birds were very comfortable with her.

At 2pm on Jan 25, our friend Brian Krell sent me a photo of him on his boat at Urupukapuka Island. It looked so nice, we decided we had to join him. So by 5:30 we were anchored next to him. It felt so good to be out in the islands, not just in Opua working on the boat and school. We did a big hike the next day, then Gary and Axel went diving for scallops and brought back 25 keepers. We had a great feed that night!

 We went back into Opua for the Bay of Islands Race Week. We had friends that came in from San Diego to sail on the new TP52 Fox. It was great catching up with them, and Gary sailed the last day on a small trailer boat with Brian and Dave.

Jan 30 we competed in the BOIYC to Whangaroa race. Since we were in the cruising class we were allowed to use our motor for up to 2 hours. There was no wind at the start, so we revved the motor up to 2400 rpm and took off. It was definitely a different way to start a race. We motored for 1.5 hours until we were nicely past Nine Pin rock, then set the spinnaker and had a beautiful sail. We used the motor again for the entrance into Whangaroa and the finish. We won best use of motor, especially impressing the starting committee. The race party was at the Kingfish Lodge, which put on an excellent dinner for us. A very swanky place to hang out. Axel was impressed that many of the guests arrived by helicopter. He befriended a man that had a jetski and managed to get a ride on it the next day. James had 2 very nice jet skis, and let Gary and Gigi take out one, and they managed to go 90 km/hr, and he took them on a tour of the Whangaroa Harbour.

We plan to spend a few days here, then cruise the next 1-1.5 months around Great Barrier Island, the Hauraki Gulf and the Coromandel Peninsula.

Cheers,

Julie

Cape Rienga dunes

Here is a video of the kids and Julie sledding down the sand dunes at Cape Reinga on a boogie board.

https://youtu.be/7UzeGO4wNZI

Jan 3, 2016 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

After our 15 day sprint in the boatyard we headed out for 2 days in the Bay of Islands, so Dario could enjoy some of NZ, and we could have a little break before our guests arrived for Christmas. We spent 1 night at Roberton Island and 1 night off Russell. Gary and Gigi went spearfishing and she shot her first fish. She was super excited and so were the rest of us.

Gigi's first fish she speared

 

Roberton Island from the lookout

 On December 22, Dario left us for travels in Australia. It was hard for us to find enough words to thank him for all the help he provided while in the boatyard, and for joining us for the passage from New Caledonia to New Zealand. Gary misses his companionship.

That evening the Downen family, Joan, Ken, DJ (16), Rachel (15) and Max (12), joined us for Christmas. Joan and Gary went to high school together many moons ago. After a tough flight and long drive up from Auckland, they decided to get a room at a local hotel, but Max joined us on board. The next morning the rest of the family moved onto Nirvana and we headed out to Urupukapuka Island. We motored as there was almost no wind, and got lucky and saw a huge pod of dolphins. Once at the island we went for a nice hike, then returned to Nirvana for a relaxing evening.

Gigi and Rachel hiking on Urupukapuka 

The following morning the Downens explored the beach while Gigi and Gary, with boat driver Axel, went diving for scallops. They managed to quickly gather 80 scallops. So yummy! I stayed on the boat and finished Christmas baking.

In the afternoon we moved 2 anchorages over to Waewaetorea Bay to join the other kid boats, Fluenta, Honey, Field Trip, and Perry. Field Trip graciously hosted everyone for Christmas Eve cocktails.

 Christmas morning Santa found Nirvana with stockings for all the children and plenty of presents. We followed present opening with our traditional Danish brunch, which was a hit with Joan, but the rest of her family wasn't too sure about it. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, hiking and enjoying the beach.

On Boxing Day, Gigi and Gary went spearfishing and she speared 2 fish and Gary got 1. She is really enjoying the spearfishing. Later that day we joined the other kids boats for a pot luck dinner on the beach.

The following day we headed into Opua to make it easier to leave for our trip to Rotorua. We pulled into the dock to unload everything and wash the boat. The Downens headed off ahead of us, and Gary and I took the boat to Russell to put it on a mooring there. By the time we finished, and were on the road heading south, it was nearly 5 pm. We realized we wouldn't get to Rotorua until very late at night, so we called the hotel to see about late check-in. That was when we realized the reservation was not correct and there were not enough rooms for both families. Since it was peak holiday season, there were no other rooms in Rotorua, so we had to bail on going there. So that night we stopped in the nearest town, Warkworth, and caught up on our sleep.

Since Sheep World was just down the road, we stopped there and really enjoyed feeding the animals and watching the show they put on. Both Gigi and Axel got to help shearing sheep.

After a night of rest on the boat we decided to head north to Cape Reinga, since we had a rental car. We drove up to Ahipara, which has a surf spot called Shipwrecks. To get to the surf spot you drive your car over the rocks and down the beach, there are even speed limit signs on the beach, as it is considered a government road in NZ, even though it is a wash at high tide. Unfortunately the surf was really small, but the kids took the boogie board and sledded down the sand dunes. Hugh, the owner of the cabin we rented, greeted us with a huge already cooked lobster and a couple of muffins, we didn't need anything more for dinner. The following morning he brought us mussel fritters. One of the other occupants said that Hugh was a great fisherman and he loves to share his catches, so it made up for the fact that the rental units were a little basic.

Dec 30 we headed up to Cape Reinga, the northern most point of New Zealand in spectacular weather. The Cape is beautiful, but the kids liked sledding down the sand dunes much more. The dunes are massive and they had some crazy rides. We stayed that night at the very cute Pukenui Hotel, then back to the boat in Russell for New Year's Eve. We joined Fluenta on Varekai for cocktails, but the party got interrupted when an expensive 70 foot sailboat drifted by. All the guys jumped in the dinghies to try to help. They started the motor and hauled up the anchor chain, but found out that it had lost its anchor. By this time 2 other guys and the police had shown up. The police tracked the owner down in a local bar, and they helped him take the boat to the dock in Opua. Gary is considering diving to see if he can find the 50 kg stainless anchor. At midnight we watched fireworks put on by Paihia followed by Russell.

This week we are laying low, recuperating from the holidays, and going to try to get through some schoolwork and boat projects.

Cheers,

Julie