Feb 18, 2016 Whangaroa Harbour to Great Barrier Island

The highlights of Whangaroa Harbour were having dinner at the Kingfish Lodge, anchoring with Rewa and Sequoia in Rere Bay, and hiking to the Duke's Nose, and for the kids it was jetskiing at high speeds. The final ascent of the Duke's Nose is straight up the cliff with only the assistance of a chain installed by DoC.

In the Cavalli Islands, we anchored in sheltered Waiiti Bay, and dove on the Rainbow Warrior. Kelly from Dive Zone came out to the anchorage and picked up Gigi, Gary and me for our dive on ship. The top of the ship is about 19 meters down and Gigi is only certified to 21 meters, but I think Kelly took her a little deeper so she could swim through the pilot house. It was a beautiful dive, full of fish, colorful anemones, and the intrigue of the Rainbow Warrior lore. We came back to Nirvana for lunch, then Kelly took us to Neptune's Garden for our second dive. This was a shallow dive amongst the rocks and kelp, and bursting with sea life. There were thousands of blue mokis shimmering in the sunlight, lots of urchins that we feed to some friendly striped fish, an enormous scorpion fish, and many hissing moral eels. We had a great day diving and meeting more friendly Kiwis.

Dinner at the Cavalli Islands

We headed back to Russell in the Bay of Islands to wait out some bad weather. This allowed us to enjoy the Waitangi Day festivities at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds with Brian Krell off Heidseik. This is the celebration of the treaty signed between the Maoris and the British in 1840. We saw some amazing canoes, ate mussel fritters and fry bread, and listened to a variety of NZ music. Axel liked the 21 gun salute by the NZ Navy.

 Maori canoe with Heidseik in the background.

Next we stopped in Urquhart's Bay at the entrance to the Whangerei River. We were all pleasantly surprised at the beauty of this bay. We spent an extra day here so that we could hike the headlands.

Then into Mardsen Cove Marina to see if this was where we might keep the boat when we leave New Zealand. The marina and staff are really nice, but it is incredibly far from anything, so it helped make our minds up that this is not the place for us. I rented a car and took the kids into Whangerei, while Gary finished painting the decks. We checked out the Whangerei Town Basin Marina, and I think that is where we will keep the boat. It is so handy to town, we have lots of friends there, and an old friend works in the marina office.

Next stop Great Barrier Island, 50 miles to the SE, unfortunately we had 10-18 knots from the east, but we decided to go for it anyways knowing that the next 2 days the wind was supposed to pick up and make it even harder to get there. Under a star filled sky we dropped anchor around 11 pm in Nagle Cove.

Gigi making cookies while quite heeled over during the passage.

The next day in 25 knots, we moved to Port Fitzroy. We hiked around the Glenfern bird sanctuary, and were very pleasantly surprised when we reached the old Kauri tree. We were not ready for what we saw, we were expecting to see another old and impressive Kauri tree, which we did see, but you get to walk across a wobbly suspension bridge to a tree fort lookout high up in the tree. We all agreed this was the best way to experience this 600 year old tree.

 As it was Valentine's Day, Gigi made fantastic mini chocolate cakes with a chocolate sauce to round out a yummy salmon dinner.

Gary heard the surf was up, so he grabbed his board and headed up the hill to the east coast of the island. Fortunately the 1 car that passed him had a surfboard on the roof, so he stopped and picked up Gary. Gary and Paulo got on so well that they went surfing the next day also, although it was not the best surf due to the strong winds. We have been trying to get out daily for a hike between rain showers, we have tramped the Old Lady Trail (definitely not for old ladies) and Warren's Waterfall. Today we are hunkered down getting some schoolwork done and keeping an eye on the 30 knot gusts that keep rolling through the anchorage making Nirvana heel and scattering legos. The forecast is for 45 knots outside, so we are glad we are just seeing 30 knots in here. The biggest concern is the 100 ton boat anchored up wind of us that dragged in the middle of the night. No sleep for Gary.

Once this weather clears, we are heading south on Great Barrier Island, then Coromandel Harbour, then into Auckland.

Cheers,

Julie