Velella Cruising Log

After arriving in New Zealand, we found the cold, wet weather depressing. We had torrential rains for 2 weeks straight, then a two day respite followed by daily showers for the next couple of weeks. In Opua, we were anchored in a muddy river with a ripping current that frequently created an unpleasant chop. Opua was not exactly a budding metropolis (more like a ferry landing with a convenience store), and we needed to hike 2 hours, hire a taxi or bum a ride any time we wanted to do much of anything. Trapped inside a small space for a couple of weeks of drenching downpour gave us a serious case of cabin fever. Thanks to the Opua Cruising Club, we had a place to get off the boat and socialize, plus enjoy a few nice dinners and laundry facilities.

We went over to nearby Russell by ferry and also anchored off the main town pier a couple of times. It is a sleepy little town that we find hard to imagine once replenished whaling ships and was a town of ill repute nicknamed "the Hellhole of the Pacific". The town is utterly charming and reminded me of a smaller version of Harbor Springs, Michigan where my grand folks lived. Paihia, (pronounced Poyheea by locals we met) 5 miles north of Opua where most of the Bay of Islands tourist ventures are based, lacked the charm of Russell but offered a variety of restaurants and a decent grocery store. We were relieved to escape the confines of the boat and protect our sanity on several occasions by making road trips with friends in their newly purchased cars. We visited Whangerei, pronounced like 'Fangeray' by politically correct locals in the Maori fashion, only an hour south of Opua by car and nearby KowaKowa, most famous for its elaborate art deco tiled public bathrooms. KeriKeri, which the Kiwis pronounce like 'kitty kitty', is another quaint town 30 minutes from Opua, that offers plenty of diversions to the touring visitor, including a chocolate factory and tasty macadamia nut recipes, and is steeped in history.

We passed the time on the boat during the rainsqualls listening to the clever ads on the radio and imitating the accents. (Did I mention that we were going stir crazy?) Public service announcements aimed at reducing drunk driving and speeding are pretty graphic but drive home the point. We and other cruisers have noticed that our newer car stereos with rapid scan from the U.S. are programmed to miss all the stations in New Zealand (even numbered stations versus odd in the U.S), but through our little world band radio, we can listen to anything in New Zealand plus BBC, VOA and other worldwide stations. We were excited to buy some used CDs in Whangerei that cost $4 U.S. to expand our collection.

Once the rain eased a little, we became more interested in sailing around the Bay of Islands. The islands remind us of the San Juans, with many anchorages located within a short distance, although the islands here are much smaller. The area is lush green, with grassy saddles between wooded hills that are covered with sheep. (The sheep population exceeds the human one by a factor of more than 10). We've also seen a tremendous variety of cows - black, white, brown, red, spotted, and once we couldn't help but herd them along a road when they had somehow gotten outside the fence before we hiked past. We were able to shake them before we got back to our dinghies. >From atop the hill at Roberton Island, we had a beautiful view overlooking the group of islands, yet were unable to stay the night on two different visits due to wind shifts. With the wind clocking around nearly 180 degrees, we often needed to move to another anchorage before nightfall to find protection from a new wind direction. During several gales we needed to find a protected place to hide for a few days. The weather here is much more unsettled than the tropics and weather systems move across the country at a steady pace often bringing lots of rain showers and gusty winds, between short patches of sun.

While the Bay of Islands is a pretty area, nearly continuous sightseeing vessels disturb the solitude of a peaceful anchorage. "See the Whales", "Swim with the Dolphins", "Visit the Hole in the Rock" tours leave regularly from Paihia and jet past like the Victoria Clipper, with PA systems blaring information about nature. We were informed that many Aucklanders bring their boats north to visit the Bay of Islands for the holidays and that the area would become crowded.

And we wanted to celebrate the holidays in Auckland with friends. So we slowly cruised our way through the islands (in the rain) and southward towards Auckland. As though to confirm the predictions of summer crowds, we saw nearly 100 yachts heading north, as we made our way south. We passed close to the Hole in the Rock, a natural rock formation that attracts many tourists, but wave action prevented us from getting very close and the pouring rain prevented us from photographing tour vessels motoring through the gap. We had a delightful stop in sunny weather at Whamgamumu, an old whaling station just south of Cape Brett (which marks the entrance to the Bay of Islands). This beautiful bay is surrounded by grass covered high hills that make it a well protected anchorage in nearly any weather. We enjoyed hiking to the top of the ridge and looking down on our lonely boat in this huge, deserted bay. We had hiked to this bay from another on the other side of the peninsula two weeks prior and wanted to return by boat. Our remaining stops over the next few days in Whangerei and Kawau were quick, but looked like places we might want to revisit. On our way south, for long periods we motored in no wind, then with little warning the wind quickly built to 25-30 knots mostly on the nose. We had a glorious sail into Hauraki Gulf, in sunny weather, reaching along the beach of Devonport. We noticed the Swiss America's Cup boats practicing starting maneuvers as we sailed by. Coming into the Waitemata Harbour along the city front, we were duking it out with cruising friends in windy conditions, dodging ferry traffic and watching out for other recreational boats also enjoying a sunny afternoon sail. We settled into Bayswater Marina as the staff was beginning to celebrate the Christmas holidays, and they gave us a warm welcome. The Marina has a fantastic view of the Auckland city front/Sky Tower and has a regular 10 minute ferry downtown on weekdays, plus free internet access and a TV/rec room with books, newspapers and magazines and a BBQ.

We planned an Auckland reunion with a number of our cruising friends, which made for lively Christmas and New Years celebrations. We unpacked our 10" Christmas tree and decorations and had the boat decorated in about 5 minutes. We planned a humongous feast, then made and decorated about a million Christmas cookies. We reminisced that last year in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, we were dripping with sweat; It is hard to believe how much we've fit into a year's time. We marveled at the freedom and efficiency of automobiles - which several of our friends have purchased - to run our last minute errands, and the variety in the stores as we prepared for Christmas. We celebrated New Year's Eve day picnicking on a black sand beach on the Tasman Sea, gaping at people that had the nerve to wear bathing suits in the nippy air. Then I the evening we returned to the marina and partied until dawn on a friend's boat after watching fireworks spew out of the Sky tower over downtown Auckland.

Downtown Auckland, normally with a population of 1.4 million, seemed like a ghost town with many businesses closed for as much as 3-4 weeks for the holidays. A well attended parade and memorials honoring Sir Peter Blake made it clear that people were still in town. We were warned that businesses would be closed, but were surprised at the extent to which business came to a halt. We were anxious to get started on boat projects but found we were unable to reach many vacationing people until the 14th or even the 21st of January.

Before businesses came back up to speed after the holidays, we borrowed a car and took a quick road trip down to the thermal springs of Rotorua. The distance we covered was only 200 kilometers, but driving took twice as long on the 2 lane country roads, with traffic slowed further by roundabouts and stoplights as we passed through each tiny town. (New Zealand roadways remind us of the era before interstate highways in the U.S.) Rotorua is situated along a volcanic fault line and is renowned for its unique geological phenomena. The town is a product of the late 19th century fad for spa towns and was once known as the "Great South Seas Spa". Bubbling mud pools and steaming hot springs are sprinkled throughout parks and along Lake Rotorua, and the rotten egg smell of hydrogen sulphide hangs in the air. The unashamedly touristy town also offers numerous adventure style diversions (for which New Zealand has become famous) such as bungee jumping, acrobatic flights, luge scooter rides, whitewater rafting/sledging, tandem skydiving, Off-road 4 wheeling, as well as insights into Maori Culture and New Zealand sheep farming.

Kiwis take their sports seriously. Newspaper coverage of a wide variety of sporting events (cricket, rugby, horseracing, etc.) makes for interesting reading, especially the sailing. The Volvo round the world ocean racers (formerly Whitbred) arrived in early January and received a warm welcome by many thousands (even in the wee hours!), and their arrival celebration included a spirited rock concert. Their send-off coincided with the 3 day weekend celebrating Auckland's anniversary. On that Saturday, we met friends at the Auckland museum to see a Maori Cultural performance and peruse the museum, and then we set a picnic on the grass outside for the evening Volvo Ocean Race awards and concert. During the music filled evening the audience celebrated the impressive race record of the 60 foot yacht Ranger by pulling it through the cheering, 200,000-strong crowd on the back of a trailer with the mast up! On the bow of the boat was a singing Maori mermaid, and the yacht appeared to flow on a cloud of smoke and sparklers. It was a sight you'd never see in the U.S. On Sunday the Volvo Ocean Race boats were scheduled to depart the viaduct beginning at 10am in the reverse order of their finishes and then begin racing at 1pm. Many thousands gathered to watch the departure and the start. Crowds lined the viaduct where the yachts were berthed and filled parks on the nearby hills to view the start, while thousands of boats churned up the water hovering in the starting area out in the gulf. We were lucky enough to have a prime view of the departure from the America's Cup compound of the One World Challenge Team with friends, and then go out on the water to watch the start. (We're sure glad we didn't take our boat out into that mayhem!) After the start, the water became even more churned up as spectators raced the yachts to the weather mark; Most power boats under full throttle were unable to keep up, but in the high speed chase boat we were able to keep pace with them and got some great photos. The harbormaster boats, with sirens blaring, did their best to clear a path for the competitors. After returning to the compound, we enjoyed the afternoon and evening with friends before finishing the evening at the Volvo Ocean Race shore support celebration (also known as the "Thank God they're gone party") and witnessing the "Dumb-ass" awards for mess-ups by the support teams. One winner failed to open the seawater-cooling intake, toasting an engine in the process. Another attempted to swap unalike masts. After working so hard preparing for this start, the teams kicked back for a brief respite, while the sailors headed for the cold cruel Southern Ocean and the Horn. Kiwis are very proud of the Kiwi sailors that are participating, and closely follow race developments in a way that would not occur in the U.S. Friends continually remarked at the contrast between the festivities here and the America's Cup races in San Diego, where most locals were unaware of the event.

After Christmas sales offered incredible deals when discounts were added to already reasonable prices and a favorable exchange rate. We were able to replace our threadbare shorts and find new Teva's (by far the most practical shoes for voyaging) to carry on in place of our dilapidated sandals. Haul outs and New Zealand boat equipment is inexpensively priced, although imported electronics are more expensive than in the U.S. The cheap prices make it easier for us to afford many of the upgrades we have planned. Things are not free, however, and the temptations are numerous.

Here we have met many other cruisers that have settled back into land life, working to raise money to continue cruising or taking a rest from traveling. I was planning to work on a 1-2 month project to help raise funds for boat upgrades, but suspect not having a work permit may make this difficult. Many have applied for New Zealand residency and even citizenship to make it easier to get jobs and avoid paying a stiff importation tax on the boat incurred by a longer stay. There are many potential demands on the cruising budget such as cars, telephones and entertainment of endless sorts (movies, restaurants, country tours, adrenaline sports, etc.). We worry about staying within our budget and getting our projects done amidst these many distractions. And we have found it is sometimes discouraging to be around other cruisers that have a lot more money and are flying home, going out, getting mobile phones, buying or renting cars, hiring out work on the boat, joining health clubs, renting houses and living more extravagantly than we can afford to. We have to work hard to resist plugging back in the way we were before we left which would hinder our momentum to continue cruising. At this point, we plan to head to Fiji in May then return to New Zealand to be here for the America's Cup races (in which people we know from home are contenders.) While the rain has abated some and we're seeing the signs of summer weather, we still can't imagine enduring a rainy, cold New Zealand winter when we could be in Fiji!

Cheers,
Wendy Hinman and Garth Wilcox
S/V Velella (Wylie 31)