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After a wonderful seven-week visit to Seattle, we are again home on Baraka. Oddly, our sense of home is now where the boat is. We did not have a paid return ticket, so airlines in Seattle and Sydney challenged us to prove how we will leave New Zealand. We were armed with enough boat documentation (import permit, ship's papers and Opua moorage receipt) to convince them we will leave by boat. The passenger in line behind us was forced to buy a one-way ticket outbound for $1800. We spent our first night in Auckland at the skinny Formule One just off Queen Street downtown. Our tiny bedroom had a bathroom with shower (drain in floor) and postage stamp sized balcony, washer/dryer, TV and stereo, but barely enough floorspace to turn around. We found good eateries and enjoyed the city while recovering from jetlag. The next morning Tom and Dawn of Warm Rain, and Sally of Jack Nesbit came by to take us to see the sights, a district packed with marine chandleries, and a waterfront walk at the harbor. They kindly hauled our heavy bags away. The next morning Dave and I caught a bus north to Warkworth, where Sally and Dawn met us. We got to see Sally's lovely home, and some of her gorgeous quilts. Sally then took us to a winery where we enjoyed lunch followed by a walk through a delightful scupture garden. We are starting to love New Zealand! Tom and Dawn drove us north to Opua and loaned us their new dinghy to ferry all our bags back to Baraka. While we were away, Tom kindly checked Baraka weekly, running our generator to keep batteries charged. What a nice welcome home! Last night we swung on the mooring, waves lapping at the hull and gentle wind in the rigging. We slept like logs. |
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Sally takes us to Brick Bay, a farm, winery and sculpture park.
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The scrolled fern head is a Kiwi symbol.
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The winery restaurant overlooks a lovely pond.
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A trails winds past dozens of interesting sculptures. Sally says this one reminds her of mating birds in courtship dance as they sway and turn in the breezes.
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The trail winds through scenic farmland.
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And through a stand of Kauri trees with beautiful striated bark.
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These awkward albatross flounder on a grassy hill.
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Sally with Barley.
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Fun day! We took the dinghy and planed 3 miles to Russell. This pretty town has a colorful history, once known as the hellhole of the Pacific. It was an ancient Maori settlement, then visited by Captain Cook in 1763. Shortly thereafter missionaries came, and whalers, sailors, drunks and convicts, giving the town the hellhole reputation. Today it is a tourist mecca in full summer bloom. Sailboats dot the bay for race week, a cruise ship was in, and jolly boats and ferries lace wakes. We tied to the wharf and climbed a rickety re bar ladder, then visited the interesting museum that describes the town history and includes a 1/5 scale replica of Cook's Endeavor. We climbed to the top of Flagstaff Hill for the 360 degree view. The flag staff with Union Jack was cut down 4 times by the Maoris, unhappy with the Waitangi Treaty of 1840. Eventually accord was reached and the Maori raised the pole that stands today. Gorgeous sunny day. The ozone layer is thin this far south and despite hats and sunscreen we are easily burnt. |
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We are playing a little and working a little each day. Saturday we attended a fund-raiser concert for the steam train in nearby Kawakawa. The musicians were varied - from operatic to hiphop, and all good. Yesterday we drove south to Whangarei (Pronounced fon-ger-RAY)where we caught up with cruising friends at Town Basin Marina, and got our propane tanks certified so we can have them filled in New Zealand. Today Dave sanded teak while I zigzag stitched the seam edges of all the interior boat cushions - 14 of them, then washed them. We visited a marine upholstery man to get a bid to re-make the nav station cushion, and replace rusty buttons. Then we talked to Ashby's, the local yard to arrange an April haulout for bottom work, and a cutlass bearing replacement. We talked to the riggers, to get a quote to replace our standing rigging - the 10 shrouds, then to the engine shop about replacing our engine mounts. These are all ongoing routine maintenance things, in the budget and happily affordable for us here in New Zealand. Tomorrow we talk to the outboard shop about a tune-up for the outboard engine which is acting a little finicky. |
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Dave set the alarm clock (surprised he remembered how) to rise early this morning, to catch slack water. We cast off the mooring and motored over to Ashby's work dock, where the riggers went up the mast to check our standing rigging. We want to replace our shrouds, the steel wires that hold the mast up from the sides. There are 10 of them, connecting from chainplates to points at the 2 sets of spreaders and at the mast top. Dave will remove the shrouds in pairs, and run the replacements after the riggers swage new fittings onto new wire. They found one shroud with a broken wire, confirming that we are due for this maintenance. The trick with boat maintenance is to replace things before they break. This requires regular inspection. We also made an appointment to haulout in early May for bottom work. We will replace a couple wonky thru-hulls, the shaft bellows, the cutlass bearing, and the engine mounts. Everyone seems to like the quality of work available here in Opua. All this should put us in good stead for an early May departure for Fiji. |
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The blue line is our route around Northland.
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We outfitted the Mitsubishi Ute for camping by removing the rear seat. Pushing the front seats forward, we had enough room to lay two air mattresses. I made bug screens for the windows, and with a couple foil window shades for privacy - voila! We have a camper. On our way, we ran a few errands, dropping off the main engine injectors to be serviced, and the worn nav station cushion to be replaced. We stopped in Paihia to make certified copies of our passports to apply for visa extensions beyond the default 3 months. At Paihia, we lucked into the exciting Waitangi Day celebrations - marking the 1840 signing of the treaty between the Maori and white settlers. 16 magnificent wakas, Maori war canoes, lined the beach, their crews chanting and whirling white-tipped paddles in the air. The war canoes are beautifully carved, girded with an abalone-shell-eyed eel figure tiki that wards away evil. At Kerikeri we visited a shop to arrange some small repairs to our inflatable dinghy, then worked our way north to the pretty fishing town of Mangonui where we enjoyed bluenose (a kind of grouper) fish and chips on the pier. We followed corkscrew roads through rolling farmlands and along the coast, out to Karikari peninsula. The Department of Conservation (DOC) campsite at Matai Bay situated on a spectacular bluff above a gorgeous beach. The price is right - $16 Kiwi, about $8 US. Kiwi camping is a matter of pulling into a grassy field, and picking a spot next to a tree for shade. Facilities are basic - simple toilets and cold showers. We rolled around until the car was level, then pumped up the air mattresses and rigged the window screens and shades. With a couple camp chairs and a small table, we enjoyed a simple dinner. We followed the trail down the cliff to the pretty beach. A stiff wind is keeping the bugs away. |
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First stop, Paihia, to witness Waitangi Day celebrations.
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Maori kids dive off a bridge. War canoes in background.
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Paddlers resting.
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Waitangi Day is a national holiday, celebrating the 1840 treaty signed here, making peace between the native Maori and European settlers. There is obvious pride in traditional dress, customs, and waka (war canoe) paddling.
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A hefty rock is the anchor.
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In a greeting ceremony, warriors threaten new arrivals.
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The waka, war canoes, are beautifully carved. The eel-figured tiki will ward off evil.
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We enjoy excellent fish and chips at Mangonui seaside village.
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Our car converts into a comfy camper. NZ campsites are open fields.
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The DOC (Dept of Conservation) campsites are cheap and beautifully situated.
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Success, our car camper seems to work well. We rolled north to Awanui where we enjoyed a gigantic breakfast at the Big River Cafe. My French toast came with a thin drizzle of chocolate syrup and a grilled banana, topped with whipped cream. Yum. We worked our way out the northernmost peninsula of Northland, stopping at the Gumdiggers Camp, a fascinating outdoor museum. Northland was once thickly forested by giant kauri trees. Some of the few living giants remaining are 60 feet in circumference. Periodic disasters or climate changes felled these giants many thousands of years ago. As they fell, they were covered by sand, then swamps. In the 1870s, the kauri resin, or gum, was found to have commercial value for varnishes. First Maori harvested the gum, then Dalmations (the Croats, not dogs) arrived and took up the work. Gumdiggers used long prods to locate the gum in the swamps, then dug deep holes to extract the gum. Hand pumps were used to drain the holes. It was a miserable life. The workers lived in shacks made of burlap bags, and never got dry. The Gumdiggers camp is full of original holes, and a trail winds through reconstructed shacks and equipment. The gum had to be scraped, cleaned, sorted and bagged, then exported to the States and England. By 1920, gum extraction was no longer commercially viable, and the industry died, leaving a large Dalmation community that lives on today in Northland. We continued north, on more convoluted roads to Cape Reinga, where the South Pacific violently clashes with the Tasman Sea. Far offshore huge breakers mark the collision. We hiked out to the lighthouse, buffeted by gusty winds. Glad we aren't sailing today! To the Maori, Cape Reinga is where spirits jump off to the afterlife. Time to settle for the night. We headed south, then east to Spirit Bay and another DOC campground. Hiking over the dunes, we beachcombed on a pink beach of crushed and polished clam shell. |
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Maori Anglican church at Awanui.
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This circular stairway is carved from a single kauri trunk.
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Northland is peppered with deep holes, left by the gumdiggers.
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Spectacular scenery as we wind our way north.
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Cape Reinga lighthouse.
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We are only 6059 miles from Vancouver BC.
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We camp at the DOC Spirit Bay site...
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with its beautiful beach...
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...and polished pink shell beach...
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The pinkish beach here is finely ground shells, in some places powdered to sand, in others a polished gravel.
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Too windy to cook outside, so we packed up and returned to Awanui and the Big River Cafe for another giant breakfast. Next stop, Ahipara, where we drove on a little section of the 90-mile beach and managed not to get stuck in the sand. We then rolled west and south, through more hilly farmlands, to catch the Kohokohu car ferry to Rawene. These small towns are all full of history, well signposted. Rawene's library has an old gaol out back. At Onapere, on the coast, we hiked out to a viewpoint. Massive coastal sanddunes stretch far away to the north. The New Zealanders are big on hiking, and tracks, or Great Walks, lead off many directions along coasts and bays. Along the coast, we drove through the Waipona forest, a protected reserve which contains some of the largest living kauri trees, including the giant Tane Mahula. We were reminded of California's redwood forest, though the sub-tropical vegetation here is quite different, fecund with huge black palms and thick with bromileads. Late afternoon we rolled into Baylys Beach, where we rented a small cabin in a Holiday Camp. These commercial camps offer shared kitchens, bathrooms, hot showers, a lot more amenities than the simple DOC campgrounds, but are generally in less spectacular settings. For about $30 US, our cabin had a double bed, and electricity. We had a terrific meal nextdoor at the Funky Fish restaurant, then strolled down to the beach at sunset to walk off dinner. |
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Across Northland, cattle have terraced the hillsides.
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One way bridges are common. See the sign at left which tells who has right-of-way.
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Of course, cows by default have the right-of-way.
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We drive a small segment of the 90 mile beach.
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At Onopere we see the barrier dunes that protect the west side of Northland.
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We hike out to a lookout facing the Tasman Sea.
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We visit the granddaddy of kauri trees, 16 meters in circumference.
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New Zealand has set aside a section of unlogged land, giving a hint of the forests that once covered the north island. These giant trees are now protected.
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Baylys Beach Holiday Camp.
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Dinner at the Funky Fish.
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We fixed breakfast in the camp kitchen, then headed south to Dargaville to visit a regional museum. Perched on a hill, the museum is home to the masts and rigging of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, famous for being bombed and sunk by the French in Auckland Harbor on the eve of its departure in 1984 to protest nuclear testing by the French in the atolls of French Polynesia. The museum contained excellent displays of kauri lumbering and gumdiggers. Back on the road, we stopped in Kawakawa at Trainspotters for lunch. We visited the famous and colorful Hundertwasser Toilets, designed by the Austrian artist who settled here. Lastly, we hit the carwash to unload our thick coat of dust, accumulated on the "metal" (gravel) roads of Northland. The car did great, and seems to have passed the test as a cheap camping caravan. |
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Rigging of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior, sunk by the French and relocated to a hill above Dargaville.
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Colorful Hundertwasser Toilets in Kawakawa.
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Dave got word back that our injectors are bad. One replacement part must come from England, arriving next week! So we are stuck here aboard in Opua, without a working engine. Glad we are on a secure mooring buoy. We are using the time to do boat maintenance, and are getting a done. A couple ays ago we took a break and drove in a long 4-hour loop to Russel, visiting pretty coves and beaches on the east coast, and returning to Opua by a ferry. We are enjoying the car, and planning the next camping trip once we have the engine back together and rigging work done. |
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The new injector nozzles arrived yesterday. One had to come from the UK. Dave got them installed ok. Then comes the fun. Our Perkins 4-108 diesel is hard to bleed. Dave closed the seawater intake while he pumped at all the bleed points. I turned the ignition as he opened each injector trying to get fuel throughout. When it looked like diesel was reaching all 4 injectors, he reopened the seacock and we cranked it over again. This time it fired up! Runs great, only a little white smoke when we accelerate. He tested all 4 cylinders by opening each one in turn - proving all 4 are firing well. We hate being engineless when we are not at a dock. These moorings seem secure, but we have had gusty weather this past week. We will sleep better tonight knowing we have a working engine! Meanwhile I got a raft of small sewing projects done, and we figured out how to reposition the cam cleats for the mainsheet traveler, placing them inside the dodger. Dave needs to make backing plates and drill holes in the cabintop, and I need to make reinforced holes in the dodger to feed the lines. This safety improvement will save us many trips forward of the cockpit when we are at sea. We plan to reward ourselves with some more land travel, this time a camping trip to the Coromandel Peninsula, south and east of Auckland. |
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We are just home to Baraka in Opua from a week-long camping trip to the Coromandel Peninsula, filled with museums, art galleries, hiking and good eateries. Click here for our jounal in pictures of our Coromandel trip. We are loving it here! | |
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Yesterday we motored into the marina and tied up to a slip. This will allow us to do a lot of boat projects, including replacing some of the standing and running rigging (standing holds the mast up, running are sheets and halyards that raise and trim the sails). The project list is long, though nothing like how it looked before we jumped from Mexico. This morning we had the dinghy picked up for some re-glueing, and the outboard for a much-needed tune-up. Today we are off to Warkworth with Warm Rain to visit friend Sally (Jack Nesbitt) and attend the Auckland Boat Show. |
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Had a great visit with Sally of Jack Nesbitt at her beautiful home near Warkworth. We used her home as base camp to attend the Auckland Boat Show and visit the terrific Maritime Museum, all accompanied by Tom and Dawn of Warm Rain. Back aboard in Opua, Dave spent today yo-yo-ing up and down the mast to remove the shrouds in pairs, two sets down, three to go. We had a few surprises, but so far it is going smoothly, albeit more slowly than expected. We will do a few more boat projects this week, then run down to New Plymouth for WOMAD, a three-day festival of world music. It is now fall here, days getting shorter and nights starting to get cooler, with more frequent squally bursts of rain. In less than 2 months we push off to sea again, so it is time to get serious about boat work. |
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Dave spent 3 days up the mast mounting 10 new shrouds, up and down like a yo-yo, removing them in pairs and having the new ones swaged, then back up again to place those and remove the next pair. Success! For our reward we packed the car and drove south and west to New Plymouth for 3 days of WOMAD, an international festival of musicians from all over the world, playing strange and wonderful instruments, singing and dancing on stages from noon to midnight. WOMAD is held every year in a dozen countries. I had attended one at Marymoor Park in Redmond some years ago with Joel, and promised myself that if I was anywhere near one, I would attend again. This one was held in a gorgeous park, with a huge natural amphitheater and 5 other stages. We heard amazing music from 22 countries. Fantastic! We stayed in a "backpackers", the Kiwi answer to a hostel. Each night we had a private room, but shared a bath and kitchen. The backpackers are cheap, about $15 a person, and are often in charming and funky old homes. We enjoyed view rooms, overlooking rivers or the ocean, and enjoyed meeting our hosts and other travelers. After WOMAD, we wandered south along the Tasman Coast, visiting Whanganui and its fun museum that told the history of steam-driven rivercraft and pioneer settlement, then on to Paekapariki where we parked in a backpackers high on a hill overlooking the ocean, visited a huge museum of restored old cars (including a Nash Metropolitan), and rode the commuter train in each day to visit vibrant Wellington, another city full of good museums and restaurants, built on a spectacular waterfront created when an earthquake raised the seabed. Finally it was time to point the car's bow homeward, back to Baraka. Our focus is now on boat projects, a long but manageable list to prepare us for another cruising season. We picked up the re-stitched jib today, and arranged for the outboard (which had a tune-up) to be delivered tomorrow. I will sew a new bimini. Dave is tracking down an electrical issue that prevents our using 220-volt dock power. The dinghy has been re-glued and comes back next week, and the rigging will be tuned. I need to re-paint the 5-fathom marks on the anchor chain, and replace a reefing line and a halyard. We plan to bore holes in the topsides for a sheet-stopper and dinghy mounts, and run the mainsheet traveller lines through the dodger. We need to fix a foredeck leak. The project spreadsheet has 80 items, all prioritized and assigned, including the jobs we will do upon haulout, April 1 here at Ashby's Yard. We are meeting with other "yachties" now and planning our trip north to Fiji, and starting to feel excited and ready to be moving the boat again. |
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Tomorrow we remove the backstay and motor to Ashby's yard here at Opua, where Baraka will be lifted out of the water for a bunch of maintenance tasks. We will do routine work, including zinc replacement and bottom painting. In addition we will look at some waterline gelcoat blistering, repaint the bootstripe, pull the shaft and replace the cutless bearing and shaft bellows, replace engine mounts and several through-hull fittings. If all goes well we hope to splash again in a week. Because the boat will be torn up inside with floorboards removed, we will move ashore to handy Opua Motel. Their "cruiser special" rate is only $25 US a night, for a unit with kitchen.Wish us luck - haulout is always a nailbiter, an opportunity for boat damage if we are not lifted and cradled properly, and sometimes we discover expensive things needing doing we had not planned for. | |
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Ashby's Yard lifted us out and propped Baraka safely in a cradle, no worries, as they say here in the antipodes. So we are "on the hard" for at least a week. The motor mounts we brought as checked baggage from the states are the wrong size, so Seapower ordered others and installed them, and installed a new cutlass bearing, both projects long overdue now that we can see the wear. The shaft bellows is also slightly wrong-sized, but Dave is fabricating a sleeve of neoprene to make up the difference. 3 through-hulls are out. Dave also ground out several dozen gelcoat blisters, which will lengthen our yard stay by a few days. In case you think I'm lazing about while Dave does all the work, I have wet-sanded the entire hull and cleaned and polished the propeller. Long blue streaks of bottom paint, hair to sandals, leave me striped like a zebra. We have enjoyed coming back to the motel unit at night, getting cleaned up. The boat right now has no working water, toilet, fridge, etc. |
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Baraka will be at least an extra day in the yard, maybe two. We hired Alex to do a resin patch on the keel, fixing an old repair that is delaminating. Things always seem to go backward before they start forward. Frequent light showers today made it hard to get the hull prep cycles done, but I did manage to coat the port waterline with Interprotect, then a primer. Can't do the starboard side yet, as Dave is still working on gelcoat blisters there. We are making progress, just not at the rate we'd hoped. Splash now targeted for Wednesday or possibly Thursday. | |
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Baraka got the last travel lift slot of the day before the Easter Holidays, dropping at 5:30 pm and making it back to the marina slip at dusk. After 9 days of throwing money at the boat as if we had it, the hemorrhage has stopped, whew. Good thing our US dollar stretches as far as it does here. We are pleased with how much we got done, though I won't need a stair climber at a gym for awhile. I climbed a ladder every foot of the waterline to scrub, seal, prime, and paint 3 coats of bootstripe green, sanding and taping between each step. Dave was having his own challenges, upside down in the bilges, working with Alex (Seapower) to replace the engine mounts, shaft seal, cutlass bearing, exhaust elbow, and 3 through-hulls. After three plus layers of fresh bottom paint, and we are again a floating boat, ready for another season of cruising. Or, almost ready. There is still a long project list, but the big ones are done, yippee. Cruising friends are starting to drift back in to Opua, so we are enjoying reunions. We have signed up for a rally to Fiji, leaving roughly May 2, so we will be traveling in company for that first passage. Nights are getting chilly! We are sleeping under 2 quilts and talking about digging our little space heater out of the bilges. Dave even put a hot water bottle in bed last night! Yesterday under clear skies an Antarctic wind from the south dropped our cabin temp into the 50s. This is the coldest we have been on the boat in the two and a half years we have been cruising. |
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More boat work. Dave had people come by to tune the rigging and top off the refrigerants. He also changed the generator oil but replaced the filter with a slightly different (wrong) part, which blew 3 quarts of fresh oil all over the lazarette and bilges! One step forward and two steps back. We replaced the main sails reef ties (making them longer) and tightened screws on the battens and furling sections. There are sewing projects, and stowing projects. I pulled out our charts for Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to review coverage. Dave needs to head up the mast one last time to install two mast steps near the top, which will allow him to get high enough to install a plate for a spinnaker block. I met with Dawn of Warn Rain to review provisioning lists. We are planning a trip south to hit the big stores near Auckland. Meanwhile, there has been a coup in Fiji, banks are closed, and there are travel advisories against going. We are not too concerned since we are headed to remote areas rather than cities, but will need to stay current on conditions, and change our plans if prudent. Cruising friends are arriving and heading out, so we are spending evenings catching up and sharing plans. Fun! | |
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A month ago, Dawn and I agreed to make a road trip in late April to provision our boats. The pact was made over a pot of Girly Grey tea in Matakana. This the Girly Grey Road Trip was born. We left Tuesday and drove to Warkworth to stay with friend Sally, then in a whirlwind circuit we hit a dozen stores and spent $$$. By the end of 3 days we were fully provisioned for the next 7 months, except for the last minute fresh goods, fruits and veg, meats, dairy and breads. Fun trip, and with Dawn's company and time with Sally, a genuine pleasure. Now to stow! Meanwhile, back on Baraka, Dave got a lot of final projects down without me underfoot. I was glad to be gone when he blew up the galley in a fireball filling our butane matches with a defective filler. The sink apparently filled with butane and when he tested the lighter, whooosh! His eyebrows and hair are singed, and the hatch bugscreen overhead melted away. Yikes. |
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The boat is packed to the waterline, with fuel, watertanks topped off, propane tanks filled, and all the wonderful New Zealand foods we could cram aboard. This includes vacuum-packed meats and unproofed breads (and 24 unproofed croissants!) in the freezer, and wonderful cheeses in the fridge. It has been delightful to provision in New Zealand, where food quality is very high and prices low. We had planned to depart in company with other boats tomorrow morning, but a low is developing over the North Island tonight, gales here at Cape Brett, so Sunday looks better. NZ Customs is accommodating our request to delay. 6 boats are heading together to Musket Cove, Fiji, a 9 or 10 day passage, depending on winds. Right now the outlook is good for a fair passage with following winds. We are feeling nostalgic about leaving New Zealand. We've thoroughly enjoyed the people, the scenery, and the activities. It has been great to give both boat and crew a rest. Now the wanderlust is kicking in and we are ready to explore new places, and have new adventures. Dave and I are learning that the contrasts in life have a lot to do with pleasure. The best sleep is after a hard passage, the best shower or meal when you haven't had one for too long. "Civilization" has been comfortable, but now we are ready to pay for a more primitive life with a little discomfort and uncertainty. One new wrinkle - because swine flu has arrived in New Zealand, we cannot take pork products into Fiji. Hmmmm. Lots of BLTs this passage. |
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Good omen? This double rainbow marks a weather change.
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In company with 40 boats, we catch the weather window to head out.
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Goodbye NZ! You've been good to us.
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Dave, in parka and harness, reefs the jib for a squall.
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Adrift again! after being 5 1/2 months moored. We set sail yesterday morning in company with 30 other boats heading north. Most are headed to Tonga, but 6 are travelling in company to Fiji, destination Musket Cove on Malolo Lailai. Right now Destiny is a little to our left, and Warm Rain 11 miles back. We will try to stay close to Destiny as their SSB seems to be defunct. They are faster (longer) than Baraka, so I guess they will try to stay with us. We motored the first few hours, then raised sail as the winds came up from astern. Now we are wing-on-wing with poled-out jib, rolling along. Both Dave and I have felt queasy, getting our sealegs back after so long in flat water. It is good to be moving again, toward the next adventures and new places. |
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Next, for our 2009 journal entries of Fiji, click here. |
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