So long Sydney, off we go up the coast
We are underway! Finally, after many months, nay years, we have made the break. Its been a full week since we sailed out the heads in Sydney and called Harbour Control on VHF Ch 13 to report “Kadoona, line Zulu outbound”. I suspect there were a few tears from Sam and Phil in the tower but they hid it well. The break was in gradual steps, marina to mooring for a night, mooring to anchor just inside the heads in Sydney for 3 nights where we had an amazing send off from all the Cammeray cruisers and then we were gone! Saturday night out at the anchorage was probably our first real taste of what this cruising life could be like, we had one last and final farewell with a number of boats from the marina joining us at the anchorage for an evening which started with drinks and discussions on plans and dreams on one boat and finished (much later) with a barbi and heroic tales of seamanship and yachting on a different boat. A big thank you and farewell to all at Cammeray, we will miss you. After a couple of days in Pittwater on the way up the coast, we are now sitting at anchor in the beautiful Salamander bay, which is part of the rather large area known as Port Stephens. Gradually the boat and us are easing into the cruising life. The initial few days were fairly hectic with the usual departure type stuff, where are we going, how the hell do you sail again and what does this rope do?
Crossing the bar - eek!
We crossed our first ever bar (sandbar) getting into the sleepy little town of Tuncurry, with a pile of nerves and a ton of luck. We were completely oblivious as to how lucky we actually were with our timing. When the force of the tide, swell and wind combine to push water in or out of a very narrow entrance it is scary!
There we met an amazing (with a strange knack of calming the nerves) couple Don & Laurie from Tien, who have been sailing round the world for a couple of decades and shared some valuable insights with us, which particularly hit home with me:
1) Be gentle with each other.
2) It doesn't matter who is right, as long as you get the right answer.
3) When asked what the couldn't do without - Don's answer was "a good sailing partner". Laurie's was "mung beans".
Well, we have the mung beans so we are working on the rest.....
There we met an amazing (with a strange knack of calming the nerves) couple Don & Laurie from Tien, who have been sailing round the world for a couple of decades and shared some valuable insights with us, which particularly hit home with me:
1) Be gentle with each other.
2) It doesn't matter who is right, as long as you get the right answer.
3) When asked what the couldn't do without - Don's answer was "a good sailing partner". Laurie's was "mung beans".
Well, we have the mung beans so we are working on the rest.....
Baptism of fire - our first overnight passage
I've heard that one of the wonders of childbirth (the pain of labour in particular) is that your brain has an incredible ability to forget the crappy parts. It's probably the same as most traumas. As I'm writing this 5 days after our first over night passage it doesn't seem quite as traumatic. At the time though - jeepers!
We managed to cross the bar out of Tuncurry like a couple of pro's and sailed a fair way offshore while we awaited the Southerly breeze. All pretty relaxing and uneventful for the first 8 hours or so, the highlight being a huge group of dolphins, including little babies (very cute) swimming round us.
When the Southerly hit it really hit....the front came through and we were in a ton of wind, rain, thunder and lightening with all our wet weather gear on, life jackets, harnesses and all - and that was ALL night. I don't recall that part in the brochure I read??
Unfortunately the weather goddesses decided to teach us a few valuable lessons.
1) The weather forecasters are often wrong. They'd forecast up to 25 knots, but we ended up wtih a steady 35 knots.
2) I (Laani) have a hell of alot to learn before I consider myself a competant sailor.
3) Absolutely everything must be packed away, even if it's calm at the time. One of our saucepans took an uninterrupted flight from the dish rack in the galley across to the bookshelf and landed on the cushions in the saloon when we were hit by a huge wave. Luckily I was asleep (well trying to) on the opposite side.
4) Everything looks scarier in the dark. But sometime its better when you can't see what is around you in the light of day.
5) I've read about "hearing" waves before you actually see them. It's true. The 5 metre (not very big in the scheme of things - but very big in the dark, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a storm, on your own) waves Kadoona was surfing down were very loud indeed.
We got caught in the dreaded East Coast Current for some time which almost meant we were going backwards.....and then went from TOO much wind to NO wind just passed Nambucca Heads. We decided to motor the last couple of hours and anchored in Coffs Harbour around midnight for a well earned couple of drinks.
As the rolley swell rocked us off into an exhausted sleep I think we were both feeling rather chuffed we'd made it through the passage in one piece, learnt a few lessons and still happily talking to each other! Zzzzzzzzz.....
We managed to cross the bar out of Tuncurry like a couple of pro's and sailed a fair way offshore while we awaited the Southerly breeze. All pretty relaxing and uneventful for the first 8 hours or so, the highlight being a huge group of dolphins, including little babies (very cute) swimming round us.
When the Southerly hit it really hit....the front came through and we were in a ton of wind, rain, thunder and lightening with all our wet weather gear on, life jackets, harnesses and all - and that was ALL night. I don't recall that part in the brochure I read??
Unfortunately the weather goddesses decided to teach us a few valuable lessons.
1) The weather forecasters are often wrong. They'd forecast up to 25 knots, but we ended up wtih a steady 35 knots.
2) I (Laani) have a hell of alot to learn before I consider myself a competant sailor.
3) Absolutely everything must be packed away, even if it's calm at the time. One of our saucepans took an uninterrupted flight from the dish rack in the galley across to the bookshelf and landed on the cushions in the saloon when we were hit by a huge wave. Luckily I was asleep (well trying to) on the opposite side.
4) Everything looks scarier in the dark. But sometime its better when you can't see what is around you in the light of day.
5) I've read about "hearing" waves before you actually see them. It's true. The 5 metre (not very big in the scheme of things - but very big in the dark, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a storm, on your own) waves Kadoona was surfing down were very loud indeed.
We got caught in the dreaded East Coast Current for some time which almost meant we were going backwards.....and then went from TOO much wind to NO wind just passed Nambucca Heads. We decided to motor the last couple of hours and anchored in Coffs Harbour around midnight for a well earned couple of drinks.
As the rolley swell rocked us off into an exhausted sleep I think we were both feeling rather chuffed we'd made it through the passage in one piece, learnt a few lessons and still happily talking to each other! Zzzzzzzzz.....
Coffs Harbour and prep for Lord Howe
Booked into the marina here for a week as the anchorage outside the marina is a bit dodgy and we had heaps of jobs to do after our "shakedown" cruise. "Jobs" also unfortunately means "more money to be spent" and we were told several times by the local chandlery we were their best customer. Heaps done though - velcro stuck and stapled to cushions; holding tank fitted; fridge cleaned and resealed; halyards changed; all our paperwork had to be dried out, re-sorted and re-filed after being wet from a corroded valve which let HEAPS of salty water in; all surfaces in the galley to be cleaned after we copped a couple of waves right in through the companionway; customs info and passage plans for Australia, Lord Howe and NZ...I could go on forever. Phew!!
We have managed to enjoy ourselves a bit whilst here, big walks on the beach and up mountains, into town, to the pub, to the yacht club, out for coffee...thank god it's not ALL work!
The locals are extremely friendly and helpful. The display of fish living in the marina is fascinating, as is the hermit that lives next to us who mumbles constantly and has a very interesting and varied choice of music. The single most enjoyable thing though - a very long, hot shower, with no care whatsoever for the amount of water used. I'm usually pretty quick, but this was my first proper shower in 3 weeks. And I enjoyed ever single drop.
We have managed to enjoy ourselves a bit whilst here, big walks on the beach and up mountains, into town, to the pub, to the yacht club, out for coffee...thank god it's not ALL work!
The locals are extremely friendly and helpful. The display of fish living in the marina is fascinating, as is the hermit that lives next to us who mumbles constantly and has a very interesting and varied choice of music. The single most enjoyable thing though - a very long, hot shower, with no care whatsoever for the amount of water used. I'm usually pretty quick, but this was my first proper shower in 3 weeks. And I enjoyed ever single drop.
So long Australia, its been a blast.
Well folks, we are off tomorrow so I thought I'd throw down a few words to add to Laani's work above. Wish I could say that the last week here at Coffs has been easy but considering most of it was spent arguing with Australia Post in an effort to find the boats registration papers that were sent from Ireland via registered post on the 25th January, ah well its been major pain in the arse. Suffice to say that they eventually turned up out of the blue, one day nobody knew where they were the next they were in the post office, go figure, sounds like they took a two week holiday somewhere on the way here. The registration process has been long, difficult and protracted, I'll have a rant about it one day here. If you've read Laani's blog above you'll be aware of the inclement weather we knocked about in. Should have paid better attention to the movie "Finding Nemo", feckin current. Stupid thing is I did a race up this coast and spent pretty much the entire race watching the current and making sure we stayed out of it! There was method to my madness, as it was Laani's first over-night, we went offshore so she wouldn't get too freaked out worrying about hitting Australia. Noble intentions but when you are doing 6 knots through the water and 2 over the ground all thought of being noble get thrown right out the window. But hey the boat stood up well, the crew sat down well, the self steering did the majority of the work and now we know what needs to be properly secured down below.
Next stop, Lord Howe Island, 314 miles, few nights there then off to Opua in New Zealand an almighty 810 miles. If I can still remember how to use a computer after all that salty sea-dog sailing I'll let you know how it went. Thank you Australia, so long and good night.
Next stop, Lord Howe Island, 314 miles, few nights there then off to Opua in New Zealand an almighty 810 miles. If I can still remember how to use a computer after all that salty sea-dog sailing I'll let you know how it went. Thank you Australia, so long and good night.
Laani's rant:
Coffs Harbour to Lord Howe Island. 18th to 25th Feb 2011
Looking back to our passage to Lord Howe Island I remember it quite fondly as being fairly easy – 3 days of beautiful weather and easy sailing. Reading back over my thoughts in my diary during that time and it’s a slightly different picture – not much sleep, I hated being woken in the middle of the night for my watch, not motivated to “do” anything as it was a bit too rolly….whatever it was, it was well and truly worth it.
My early morning watch on the final day went from me being rather grumpy at being rained on, and sick of the dark; to sighting the huge mountains rising out of the sea, being surrounded by dolphins while watching the sun rise – and not being able to wipe the smile off my face! It is truly a tropical paradise, Kentia palms and green scrub everywhere, a huge crystal clear lagoon along the entire West coast, white beaches, huge Mantarays and fish that swim right up to your ankles (no need to both with snorkelling gear!) and the friendliest locals ever. Funnily enough, I got incredibly “land sick” that first day, and slightly so each day after.
We spent 4 nights enjoying this World Heritage Listed Reserve – days spent hiking, snorkelling, swimming and BBQ-ing all over the island. We would have stayed longer if it wasn’t for the incredible rolliness on the mooring we had. The lagoon is very well protected at low water, but at high water (and being a full moon = spring tide) it was as rolly (actually no – ROLLIER) as if we were out on the high seas again. Unfortunately the nights weren’t filled with relaxing sleep, they were spent wedging pillows in on both sides of you try and stop rolling on to each other!
My early morning watch on the final day went from me being rather grumpy at being rained on, and sick of the dark; to sighting the huge mountains rising out of the sea, being surrounded by dolphins while watching the sun rise – and not being able to wipe the smile off my face! It is truly a tropical paradise, Kentia palms and green scrub everywhere, a huge crystal clear lagoon along the entire West coast, white beaches, huge Mantarays and fish that swim right up to your ankles (no need to both with snorkelling gear!) and the friendliest locals ever. Funnily enough, I got incredibly “land sick” that first day, and slightly so each day after.
We spent 4 nights enjoying this World Heritage Listed Reserve – days spent hiking, snorkelling, swimming and BBQ-ing all over the island. We would have stayed longer if it wasn’t for the incredible rolliness on the mooring we had. The lagoon is very well protected at low water, but at high water (and being a full moon = spring tide) it was as rolly (actually no – ROLLIER) as if we were out on the high seas again. Unfortunately the nights weren’t filled with relaxing sleep, they were spent wedging pillows in on both sides of you try and stop rolling on to each other!
Laani's rant:
Across the Tasman Sea, from Lord Howe to Opua, Bay of Islands, NZ. 25th Feb to 4th Mar 2011
So, we thought we might get better sleep at sea and get moving, even though the winds were light. Unfortunately we didn’t get very far and after 36 hours of going in circles (the wind was variable) and going backwards (tide was against us) decided to motor for a bit to get past the “hole” we were in. It wasn’t a decision made lightly, since engine on=diesel being used=$$$ but we had tried to make the best of it, tweaking sails, changing sails, doing jobs etc, all the while with Lord Howe and Balls Pyramid haunting us in the background. I was completely unprepared for how frustrating and helpless I would feel at not moving, or having all your efforts be fruitless. Being unexperienced I wasn’t sure if I’d done enough, tried everything, tried the right thing, or there was simply nothing else to be done but wait. Anyway, the relief for both of us once we were moving in the right direction was noticeable.
For those of you that know Rex Hunt, Australian fishing icon (he kisses the fish and puts them back) – Ian turned into Rex on this passage! He caught a massive Mahi Mahi, got it in to the side of the boat, and the bugger snapped our line and took our lure! It was such an amazing coloured greens and blues and I’m quite sad it had a hook stuck in it’s mouth. There have been a few times where I’ve begun thinking I’d give up fish too (that’s between you and me) but I’m scared of being used as bait to catch them! After much persistence Ian, I mean Rex, caught and landed another slightly smaller Mahi Mahi – yum!
We had fantastic speeds and comfortable sailing for a good few days and settled into a bit of a routine. Sometimes I felt like all I did was eat and sleep, which was probably the case, but somehow I lost weight. My favourite shifts were the early morning ones, either between 2am-5am (you know it’s going to get light soon, so even if it’s bad it’s not so bad) or 5 to 8am (the sun is rising, always a lovely feeling).I still don’t like getting up in the middle of the night but I don’t think that will ever change. If it’s a calm night but good speeds it can be pretty magical out in the middle of nowhere, on your own. If it’s raining and windy it’s miserable and lonely. I’m definitely a fair weather sailor girl, and I’d prefer to be anchored each night, somewhere nice and protected thank you very much!
Ian sailed us all the way in to Opua (our checking in point with customs and immigration) in the stunning Bay of Islands, a couple of days ahead of schedule – much to our delight! It was a bit frustrating sailing down the East coast of the North Islands and not being able to land. Breakfast was coffee and fruitcake with the officials and was actually quite lovely (someone else to talk to) instead of being boring or frightening! And if we stunk after 8 days and no showers they hid it very well! Ian and I were both so pleased with ourselves that instead of getting off the boat and heading in opposite directions (or to the showers), we sat down in the cockpit where we’d spent the last 8 days and had another couple of hours of chit chat and a couple of celebratory drinks!
For those of you that know Rex Hunt, Australian fishing icon (he kisses the fish and puts them back) – Ian turned into Rex on this passage! He caught a massive Mahi Mahi, got it in to the side of the boat, and the bugger snapped our line and took our lure! It was such an amazing coloured greens and blues and I’m quite sad it had a hook stuck in it’s mouth. There have been a few times where I’ve begun thinking I’d give up fish too (that’s between you and me) but I’m scared of being used as bait to catch them! After much persistence Ian, I mean Rex, caught and landed another slightly smaller Mahi Mahi – yum!
We had fantastic speeds and comfortable sailing for a good few days and settled into a bit of a routine. Sometimes I felt like all I did was eat and sleep, which was probably the case, but somehow I lost weight. My favourite shifts were the early morning ones, either between 2am-5am (you know it’s going to get light soon, so even if it’s bad it’s not so bad) or 5 to 8am (the sun is rising, always a lovely feeling).I still don’t like getting up in the middle of the night but I don’t think that will ever change. If it’s a calm night but good speeds it can be pretty magical out in the middle of nowhere, on your own. If it’s raining and windy it’s miserable and lonely. I’m definitely a fair weather sailor girl, and I’d prefer to be anchored each night, somewhere nice and protected thank you very much!
Ian sailed us all the way in to Opua (our checking in point with customs and immigration) in the stunning Bay of Islands, a couple of days ahead of schedule – much to our delight! It was a bit frustrating sailing down the East coast of the North Islands and not being able to land. Breakfast was coffee and fruitcake with the officials and was actually quite lovely (someone else to talk to) instead of being boring or frightening! And if we stunk after 8 days and no showers they hid it very well! Ian and I were both so pleased with ourselves that instead of getting off the boat and heading in opposite directions (or to the showers), we sat down in the cockpit where we’d spent the last 8 days and had another couple of hours of chit chat and a couple of celebratory drinks!
Laani's rant:
Bay of Islands to Auckland, New Zealand. 4th - 23rd March 2011
The Bay of Islands is ideal for the L plate (learner) cruiser (being me, not Kadoona). If one particular bay is too windy, too crowded, not picturesque enough…there are another handful to choose from over here, or on this island, or this headland. I’m not exaggerating, this place is amazing. Unfortunately we only spent a week around the Bay of Islands, you could easily spend months. The forests are filled with little tracks and trails taking you under under ferns as tall as trees, by enchanted forest trees and clear streams. We’ve been on lots of little hikes (the Kiwis call it “tramping” – strange?) and I can see why it’s such a big past time here.
Highlights for me would be the quaint little town of Russell - once the “hell hole of the Pacific”, full of drunks, whores, whalers and seaman, now a charming little town, full of history and beautiful pubs; and Waewaetorea Island – crystal clear water to swim in (very cold), big green hills to walk on and lots of yummy Trevally that Ian cooked up. We also managed to get some jobs done at anchor, like sanding and oiling all the timber in the cockpit.
Another perfect spot was Whangamumu Harbour, as we headed down the coast to Auckland. The entrance to the old whaling harbour is almost completely hidden from view, unless you know what to look for, and it’s very protected. We spent a couple of nights here warming up after the previous cold week and being welcomed by a group of “grey nomads” of the cruising world. Lindsay and Jan, and Warren and Anne shared a wealth of local knowledge, hilarious stories, freshly caught snapper and, if Lindsay had had his way – a lot of alcohol! You always hear that “people” are what really make travelling, and this was definitely the case on this occasion. We were anchored here, blissfully ignorant of the chaos and trauma in Japan with the earthquake and tsunami. Until we received worried texts from family (since NZ was on alert – we had no radio, tv or internet) and witnessed the HUGE variations in tides. The tide would rise and fall 2 metres in the space of 15 to 20 minutes – very freaky!
We arrived in Auckland in time for Paddy’s Day celebration and managed to scout out the best pubs the day prior. Of course we had a fantastic day, pub crawling between 3 very good Irish pubs (2 of which sold Murphy’s, so Ian was ecstatic). Great music, great crowds, great day. Unfortunately Ian had to go racing early the day after (hahaaa – I stayed in bed!) but I had a great few days to myself to explore Auckland and get my shopping and big city fix. That was over pretty quickly actually, and I was quite happy to leave the big smoke a week later. It was great to see Ians mates and meet some Aucklanders though as they are a very social and welcoming bunch.
Highlights for me would be the quaint little town of Russell - once the “hell hole of the Pacific”, full of drunks, whores, whalers and seaman, now a charming little town, full of history and beautiful pubs; and Waewaetorea Island – crystal clear water to swim in (very cold), big green hills to walk on and lots of yummy Trevally that Ian cooked up. We also managed to get some jobs done at anchor, like sanding and oiling all the timber in the cockpit.
Another perfect spot was Whangamumu Harbour, as we headed down the coast to Auckland. The entrance to the old whaling harbour is almost completely hidden from view, unless you know what to look for, and it’s very protected. We spent a couple of nights here warming up after the previous cold week and being welcomed by a group of “grey nomads” of the cruising world. Lindsay and Jan, and Warren and Anne shared a wealth of local knowledge, hilarious stories, freshly caught snapper and, if Lindsay had had his way – a lot of alcohol! You always hear that “people” are what really make travelling, and this was definitely the case on this occasion. We were anchored here, blissfully ignorant of the chaos and trauma in Japan with the earthquake and tsunami. Until we received worried texts from family (since NZ was on alert – we had no radio, tv or internet) and witnessed the HUGE variations in tides. The tide would rise and fall 2 metres in the space of 15 to 20 minutes – very freaky!
We arrived in Auckland in time for Paddy’s Day celebration and managed to scout out the best pubs the day prior. Of course we had a fantastic day, pub crawling between 3 very good Irish pubs (2 of which sold Murphy’s, so Ian was ecstatic). Great music, great crowds, great day. Unfortunately Ian had to go racing early the day after (hahaaa – I stayed in bed!) but I had a great few days to myself to explore Auckland and get my shopping and big city fix. That was over pretty quickly actually, and I was quite happy to leave the big smoke a week later. It was great to see Ians mates and meet some Aucklanders though as they are a very social and welcoming bunch.
Laani's rant:
The Hauraki Gulf and Great Barrier Island. 23rd Mar - 8th Apr.
Great Barrier Island is AMAAAAZING!! Google it! It’s only 50 miles from Auckland but still remains relatively untouched as the majority is National Park. We spent 5 nights in a beautifully protected part of the island called Smokehouse Bay. This place is probably my favourite spot in NZ. It’s on private land which has been gifted back to the public, from a fellow yachtie, with cruisers in mind. It’s got a fantastic little bathhouse which overlooks the bay. The water from a nearby stream is heated by lighting the fire a good few hours prior to your desired bath time. Needless to say we spent several sessions in the bath, with candles and lovely bottle of port - oh the luxury! Benches were placed around a huge open BBQ, pots and pans provided, swings on the enormous Pohutekawa trees…there was even a massive granite bench for filletting fish and a “smokehouse” for smoking them and piles to slip your boat. And if you were so inclined there were troughs to do your laundry and hills hoist clotheslines! The amazing thing is that this place would have cost the builders a fortune (it’s a long way to transport materials like wood, sand, benches and sinks – not to mention baths!) but it is all FREE for anyone to enjoy. What a rarity in todays world, I doubt this is something we are ever likely to see again on our trip.
It wasn’t all relaxation, we did some jobs there too (painting) as it seemed a good a place as any (and we got to wash off after!). Met some cool old cruisers, what characters, and they had some stories to tell! And once again it’s the people you meet that really set a place in your memory.
Eventually we tore ourselves away so we could discover the rest of the island, spending nights in Port Fitzroy (lots of Snapper, lovely waterfall) Whangaparapara (gorgeous hiking along old tram tracks, through forrest and over freezing streams to some hot springs) and Tryfena (Irish pub, of course, isn’t there always??) where we had to wait out terrible weather, rocking around as if we were at sea and watching what speeds the gusts would get up to.
Once safe enough we left Great Barrier (sob sob) to get closer to Auckland on Waheike Island and hopefully more protection. What an exhausting day, pounding into huge waves straight into the wind getting sprayed constantly and just generally not enjoying myself. Why am I doing this again? It was like a different planet when we got anchored below a cliff for protection just after sunset – we could finally relax and have a drink. What a great sleep!
Back to Auckland again, Ian went racing all weekend with Gav on the little yacht he just brought (Ian will fill you in on the technicalities I’m sure). We were there as the support boat or the “Mother Ship” providing beds, cups of tea and Tim Tams for the “crew”. They were a lovely bunch of blokes and it was nice to have some company on the boat. I, of course, was not racing and opted to do our 3 month food shop at Woolies instead (2 trolleys and four hours later, and I only got 2/3 through it!), as well as oiling timber and trying to pack all the shopping away – fun fun fun!
So now we are back in the big smoke with an endless list of jobs and an even bigger list of shopping (you should see the alcohol wishlist) and plan on leaving for French Polynesia mid to late April. We estimate a journey between three and four weeks to reach the Austral Islands (the Southern group). All I can say about that is….YIKES!!!
It wasn’t all relaxation, we did some jobs there too (painting) as it seemed a good a place as any (and we got to wash off after!). Met some cool old cruisers, what characters, and they had some stories to tell! And once again it’s the people you meet that really set a place in your memory.
Eventually we tore ourselves away so we could discover the rest of the island, spending nights in Port Fitzroy (lots of Snapper, lovely waterfall) Whangaparapara (gorgeous hiking along old tram tracks, through forrest and over freezing streams to some hot springs) and Tryfena (Irish pub, of course, isn’t there always??) where we had to wait out terrible weather, rocking around as if we were at sea and watching what speeds the gusts would get up to.
Once safe enough we left Great Barrier (sob sob) to get closer to Auckland on Waheike Island and hopefully more protection. What an exhausting day, pounding into huge waves straight into the wind getting sprayed constantly and just generally not enjoying myself. Why am I doing this again? It was like a different planet when we got anchored below a cliff for protection just after sunset – we could finally relax and have a drink. What a great sleep!
Back to Auckland again, Ian went racing all weekend with Gav on the little yacht he just brought (Ian will fill you in on the technicalities I’m sure). We were there as the support boat or the “Mother Ship” providing beds, cups of tea and Tim Tams for the “crew”. They were a lovely bunch of blokes and it was nice to have some company on the boat. I, of course, was not racing and opted to do our 3 month food shop at Woolies instead (2 trolleys and four hours later, and I only got 2/3 through it!), as well as oiling timber and trying to pack all the shopping away – fun fun fun!
So now we are back in the big smoke with an endless list of jobs and an even bigger list of shopping (you should see the alcohol wishlist) and plan on leaving for French Polynesia mid to late April. We estimate a journey between three and four weeks to reach the Austral Islands (the Southern group). All I can say about that is….YIKES!!!
Australia to Auckland - A Hef perspective
Not much sailing happening here, dead calm reflection.
Well
it has been a while, about 1200 miles, nine days at sea, a couple of islands, a
new country and a few fish, to be precise. Apologies to anyone out there that
thought they might actually have been able to follow our progress on this blog.
All in all it’s been a fairly poor exercise thus far, the blog that is, not the
voyage! If New Zealand could be arsed dragging themselves into the 21st
century we may have had a bit more success in updating you all on events, it
seems, according to our 10 year old Lonely Planet (best cruising guide around)
that NZ embraced the internet about 10 years ago but for some unfathomable
reason then decided to dump it, probably in favour of winning America’s cup
races and being generally better than the rest of the world at rugby. We paid
for a one-month subscription to a service provider that covered “the entire
country”, it worked in one place. We thought when we rocked up to Auckland that
we would once again be in contact with the wide world but alas the guy at the
marina reception warned us off even trying to connect to any wi-fi in the area
as it is wholly unreliable, the marina in right slap bang in the middle of the
feckin city! Ah well, c’est la vie.
Anyway I’m sure the last things you want to be reading about is me complaining and you have probably read Laani’s glowing description of the voyage so far. To this end I shall endeavour to give my take on the past ohh two months or so. First things first. I’ve read a few blogs and e-mails from people in a similar position to myself and the one thing that all seemed to omit was the details! In an effort to address this I’ve come up with the following details from our log. Those with no interest in sailing should probably glance on over the next bit, those with an interest read on……
Coffs to Lord Howe: Distance sailed 326.5’, 67 hours, average speed 4.87 knots.
Lord Howe to Opua, NZ: Distance sailed 774.3’, distance over ground 800’, 147.8 hours. Average speed 5.24 knots, average SOG 5.42 knots.
On the trip to Lord Howe we only used the engine to leave the harbour in Coffs and to enter Lord Howe. The trip across to NZ was a different affair; we motored about quarter of the time. We didn’t turn on the engine without giving the sailing a good lash; we spent about 36 hours drifting in circles at one stage.
We only motored when it was dead calm and the frustration got to us. We had some awesome sailing too, beam reaching at seven knots with Sheamus the Flemming wind vane doing the steering.
Winds varied from 25 knots to nothing. We had fog for the first time since beginning the trip, as we approached the Three Kings Islands off the tip of New Zealand the wind deserted us completely and we were left in a proper ‘pea-soup’ job with the visibility reduced to about 50 feet.
Checking in formalities was reasonably straightforward in both Lord Howe and Opua. The guy in Lord Howe covers many jobs, maritime, customs, immigration, welcome party, tourist information and all round nice guy. In Opua there is a special marina berth for clearing in. We were met there by two guys whose first question on boarding the boat was if we had heard the cricket score, Ireland had just beaten England.
Anyway I’m sure the last things you want to be reading about is me complaining and you have probably read Laani’s glowing description of the voyage so far. To this end I shall endeavour to give my take on the past ohh two months or so. First things first. I’ve read a few blogs and e-mails from people in a similar position to myself and the one thing that all seemed to omit was the details! In an effort to address this I’ve come up with the following details from our log. Those with no interest in sailing should probably glance on over the next bit, those with an interest read on……
Coffs to Lord Howe: Distance sailed 326.5’, 67 hours, average speed 4.87 knots.
Lord Howe to Opua, NZ: Distance sailed 774.3’, distance over ground 800’, 147.8 hours. Average speed 5.24 knots, average SOG 5.42 knots.
On the trip to Lord Howe we only used the engine to leave the harbour in Coffs and to enter Lord Howe. The trip across to NZ was a different affair; we motored about quarter of the time. We didn’t turn on the engine without giving the sailing a good lash; we spent about 36 hours drifting in circles at one stage.
We only motored when it was dead calm and the frustration got to us. We had some awesome sailing too, beam reaching at seven knots with Sheamus the Flemming wind vane doing the steering.
Winds varied from 25 knots to nothing. We had fog for the first time since beginning the trip, as we approached the Three Kings Islands off the tip of New Zealand the wind deserted us completely and we were left in a proper ‘pea-soup’ job with the visibility reduced to about 50 feet.
Checking in formalities was reasonably straightforward in both Lord Howe and Opua. The guy in Lord Howe covers many jobs, maritime, customs, immigration, welcome party, tourist information and all round nice guy. In Opua there is a special marina berth for clearing in. We were met there by two guys whose first question on boarding the boat was if we had heard the cricket score, Ireland had just beaten England.
.
I’d recommend visiting Lord Howe, lovely spot. The incessant rolling at
the compulsory mooring does get to you after a while but we found a very
successful way to cure the rolling was to stand on the island which was
infinitely more stable, although Laani was convinced it was moving for the
first few hours. There is this spot called Ned’s beach where the fish are tame,
seriously, it’s a freaky place. You stroll into the water and these huge fish
swim right up to you just to check you out. There was one kingfish there, it
must have been over a metre long and did a very convincing jaws impersonation.
The snorkelling was brilliant but I couldn’t shake the urge to keep checking
over my shoulder, it just didn’t feel right being surrounded by all these big
fish, surely something bigger must be lurking out there? I mean the place would
have been the equivalent of a drive through fast food place for a hungry Noah.
We enjoyed our time in Lord Howe, it rained, it was sunny, we walked, we swam, and Roy the Met man down by the airport was very helpful with the weather. The place could do with a good pub but that’s probably just the Irish in me, it’s not the same going into a restaurant to have a beer is it? Oh and there are feckin huge spiders, monster jobs, all over the place. Apparently they are fine and to be honest we didn’t see them do anything any more menacing than hang out on their equally big webs and kind of blow about in the wind but still, it a bit off putting when you walk into one of their webs! An old episode of Tarzan kept running through my mind where he runs into a tarantula web, I should probably get out more.
We enjoyed our time in Lord Howe, it rained, it was sunny, we walked, we swam, and Roy the Met man down by the airport was very helpful with the weather. The place could do with a good pub but that’s probably just the Irish in me, it’s not the same going into a restaurant to have a beer is it? Oh and there are feckin huge spiders, monster jobs, all over the place. Apparently they are fine and to be honest we didn’t see them do anything any more menacing than hang out on their equally big webs and kind of blow about in the wind but still, it a bit off putting when you walk into one of their webs! An old episode of Tarzan kept running through my mind where he runs into a tarantula web, I should probably get out more.
The
six-day trip to New Zealand was great; at least when I look back on it now I
seem to have fond memories? I’m sure it wasn’t all roses and it certainly
wasn’t all plain sailing as the wind deserted us for quite some time at the
start and again near the end but all in all I found it highly enjoyable. We weren’t sure how we
would take the week at sea but it wasn’t long before we fell into a pattern of
watch keeping, tea drinking and book reading. One day slips into the next,
watch on watch. We reefed a few times, even had the cruising chute out for a
bit. Did a bit of fishing and a lot of book reading, next thing we knew we were
in New Zealand. Our next trip is a bit more of a daunting prospect as we will
be at sea for 3 or 4 weeks but sure we’ll tackle that horse when we get to it.
One of the odd things about arriving in New Zealand (or anywhere I suppose)
from a different country is that there are only certain ports that you are
allowed to arrive into. It was a little difficult spending a day and a half
watch the top part of the beautiful North Island slipping by without being
allowed to stop off for a quick look around and they take it seriously too, as
nice as the customs guys were they still checked our log, charts and chart
plotter to make sure that we made our way directly to Opua and hadn’t stopped
off anywhere else along the way. I’ve mentioned before the drawn out and
protracted process involved in registering the boat in Ireland, I’ll write
about it one day but as an aside, after all the dramas involved I couldn’t help
having a little chuckle to myself as the customs guy looked over the
registration and despite the Irish flag flying proudly and clearly said ‘Cork
eh, so is that in the UK?” if only he had a spare few hours I could have
explained the past 900 years of Irish history and how difficult it is to
register a yacht on the Irish register but instead I just smiled and pointed to
the ‘Irish Ship’ part of the registration.
New Zealand is fantastic but it can get a cold here. We were a bit chilly when we arrived but have got used to it, that’s what you get for arriving somewhere at the end of summer/start of winter. On the up side, the anchorages are pretty empty. We spent a week around the Bay of Islands, should have stayed longer but I was keen to be in Auckland for St.Patricks Day! The place is fantastic, lots and lots of great islands and protected anchorages. On our way to Auckland we stopped in a great protected little bay that was advertised as an abandoned whaling station, now in my line of work I’ve come across quite a few of these places and was expecting the usual fare. Old harpoon heads lying about, maybe a few whalebones and a whaling station that’s well, been abandoned, not too much to ask for eh? You can imagine my disappointment when I set out to explore the place only to find a few concrete slabs and a monument claiming there once used to be a whaling station there, poor show. In an effort to make up for mankind’s lack of foresight in providing a bit of entertainment for me nature turned on the charm and produced a tsunami, while Japan didn’t appreciate the show it was amazing to sit at anchor and watch the tide rush in and out. I must be honest, we are kind of out of the loop when it comes to world affairs, and our world pretty much revolves around the 36 foot we live on. We didn’t even know there had been a tsunami until I got a few messages from home asking if we were ok. We thought something was a bit odd as the tide was doing very strange things and all the boats at the anchorage were swinging around at an alarming rate. It was fascinating to sit there and watch the tide go from dead high springs to dead low and back in again all in the space of ten minutes, it was also kind of funny to watch the hikers on the foreshore wander along the beach one minute then have to wade through the incoming tide to get back to the shore a few minutes later.
New Zealand is fantastic but it can get a cold here. We were a bit chilly when we arrived but have got used to it, that’s what you get for arriving somewhere at the end of summer/start of winter. On the up side, the anchorages are pretty empty. We spent a week around the Bay of Islands, should have stayed longer but I was keen to be in Auckland for St.Patricks Day! The place is fantastic, lots and lots of great islands and protected anchorages. On our way to Auckland we stopped in a great protected little bay that was advertised as an abandoned whaling station, now in my line of work I’ve come across quite a few of these places and was expecting the usual fare. Old harpoon heads lying about, maybe a few whalebones and a whaling station that’s well, been abandoned, not too much to ask for eh? You can imagine my disappointment when I set out to explore the place only to find a few concrete slabs and a monument claiming there once used to be a whaling station there, poor show. In an effort to make up for mankind’s lack of foresight in providing a bit of entertainment for me nature turned on the charm and produced a tsunami, while Japan didn’t appreciate the show it was amazing to sit at anchor and watch the tide rush in and out. I must be honest, we are kind of out of the loop when it comes to world affairs, and our world pretty much revolves around the 36 foot we live on. We didn’t even know there had been a tsunami until I got a few messages from home asking if we were ok. We thought something was a bit odd as the tide was doing very strange things and all the boats at the anchorage were swinging around at an alarming rate. It was fascinating to sit there and watch the tide go from dead high springs to dead low and back in again all in the space of ten minutes, it was also kind of funny to watch the hikers on the foreshore wander along the beach one minute then have to wade through the incoming tide to get back to the shore a few minutes later.
Tsunami effects! These
photos are taken from the same spot about 5 minutes apart; note the level of
the water in relation to the tree and the little stream.
And some more sailing.
Not the boat I was racing............ this time!
Now some might think that after spending the past few months living, breathing and eating sailing on a boat one of the last things I might do on reaching a major city is hop in a smaller boat and go sailing. Ah sure you probably don’t know me very well then, anyway, as I’ve learned racing and cruising are very, very different fish of kettles. It was fantastic to get out there and thrash someone else’s boat around the place, to sail at the boats best possible speed rather than the most comfortable speed, to anyone thinking of making the transition from racing to cruising let me tell you, its not easy, for one you don’t have the luxury of stepping off the boat at the end of the day and walking away! Some or maybe most of you will know Gav McPherson; he hooked me up with this boat. Gav is a fairly accomplished sailor so I reckoned he wouldn’t land me with a dud boat, he was racing on another boat. After the celebrations of Paddys Day I probably wasn’t operating at 100% but then again neither was anyone else, day one was poor, day two got better on day three we blew the competition away and won by a long margin. I knew the guys I was sailing with were fairly good but got a bit of a surprise when I found out I was in the presence of New Zealand’s yachting royalty, among the crew were team NZ, Alinghi, Olympic, Etchel and Volvo race winners. I found out this quite by accident on day two when we lost a winch handle, on the way in the bow-man casually mentioned that he would see if he could pick one up from work. Sitting on the coach-roof shooting the shit I asked him where he worked expecting that maybe he worked in a local chandlery or yard, “I’m still with Team NZ” he replied “we just launched the AC45 on Wednesday”, now that was one answer I wasn’t expecting. Nice guys too.
Another highlight of Auckland was catching up with a friend of mine from my time in Rothera, for those of you that don’t know where Rothera is just go south,find the ice then go a bit further until you find one of the most amazing places in the world, that’s probably Rothera. It was great to catch up with Agent (a.k.a Andy Miller), you know when you haven’t seen someone in years but when you do it’s like you its like its only been a short while. Having an eight week old and a two-year-old slightly curtailed Agents activities but only slightly. After a week of shopping and city life it was time to check out the islands around the Hauraki gulf, as I’ve said before winter is fast making its presence known around here so it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that we spent four nights at anchor in the lee of an island called Ponui awaiting a bit of a blow to pass over. We did try to make a break for a new island at one stage but got rudely turned around by a much angrier than expected sea and went running back to our anchorage with our tail between our legs! We have met some fantastic people on the voyage so far, we were told about a place called Smokehouse Bay by a few long-term, liveaboards we met earlier up the coast. It sounded inviting so we swung by it when we reached Great Barrier Island and ended up staying for five days! We even managed to get some work done and painted the light blue stripe on the side of the boat back to her original navy. The most amazing thing about Smokehouse Bay is that there is a bathhouse with water warmed by a wood stove outside. It a fantastic facility, we enjoyed a number of long lazy warm baths and a barbie, if you felt so inclined you could use the facilities to smoke some fish or do your laundry. Volunteers and donations have put it all in place, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, possibly the best facilities I’ve ever come across. There was even piles and running water so you could dry the boat out if you wanted and do a little work to her. The land is privately owned but gifted to the public, in many other parts of the world I suspect there may be those that end up taking advantage of the facilities but the isolation of the island has somehow managed to keep them in great condition allowing all those that stop by to enjoy what surely must be a little slice of Paradise. We had the pleasure of spending a night sitting around a fire sharing stories with a few interesting ‘locals’, that is, a few old guys who live on their boats and spent pretty much their entire time in or around Great Barrier. Some great stories not to mention a fantastic reminder that you don’t have to have much to enjoy this lifestyle. One of the highlights so far has been the characters we have met along the way, the warmth and hospitality of the cruising community has been one aspect of this life that I’ve been pleasantly surprised with, I thought that once we left Cammeray that was it but I suspect I’d be able to write a book on the characters we have and will meet.
Smokehouse Bay, Awesome spot!
Thanks for reading; sorry it took so long to post an update. Hope you are all well out there.
We are back in Auckland now, bit more racing, bit more shopping, bit more work on the boat. Before we strike off on the next leg I'm sure one of us will try to update the blog and fill you in on the latest.Hef
Thanks for reading; sorry it took so long to post an update. Hope you are all well out there.
We are back in Auckland now, bit more racing, bit more shopping, bit more work on the boat. Before we strike off on the next leg I'm sure one of us will try to update the blog and fill you in on the latest.Hef
STOP PRESSS.... we are off again. 20th April 11'
Well as it happens, the weather Gods have decided that instead of having Easter in Auckland we will be at sea. Its that or wait until some time in May for the next window and we are keen to get going, its getting cold here! So thats it for now folks, next update will be in a month or so from somewhere in French Polynesia, could be longer depending on how long we spend cruising around the smaller islands :)