02/07/2010, Picton, New Zealand
Yesterday we traveled to the S. Island of New Zealand, via a three hour passage on the inter-island ferry. Mary's continuing passage angst was not helped by the sight of an ancient and decrepit looking ship with distinctive rust stripes as it pulled in to pick us up, but we had a very smooth trip crossing the Cook Straights and weaving through the breathtaking Marlborough Sound.
Last night was wild with a big Southerly gale funneling down the valley and through the camp site, flattening our neighbors tent during the night. Tomorrow morning we are taking the water taxi to the start of the Queen Charlotte Track which will take us 4-5 days to complete.
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02/03/2010, North Island
The 4malones are very foot sore but happy to have completed their first trek.
We walked for the last 4 days on the Northern Circuit in the Tongariro
National Park. For Lord of the Rings fans, this is where the movie
was set and filmed and the trek took us all the way around "Mt Doom". This is probably the most specular natural scenery that we have
visited; barren stretches of lava strewn moon scape with boulders
of pumice light as styrofoam and knife edged ridges dropping into
volcanic craters and steaming vents. We stayed in the shelters / huts
and were glad as the second day a sudden mountain storm swept in
packing gale force winds and over an inch and half of rain. We holed
up and played cards and then then covered the last three legs in two
days of hard walking carefully watching out dwindling food supplies.
The Tongariro national park is designated a World Heritage Site, this
recognizes amazing geographic and cultural standouts such as the
Pyramids, Grand Canyon, and Pompeii in Italy. It is that amazing.
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01/30/2010, New Zealand
We made it off the boat and started slow, camping at Piha beach on the
Tasman Sea.
It was slightly chaotic and the first day was a bit rough: driving,
driving on the wrong side of the road, navigating with the little map
that the rental car company gives you, setting up tents for the first
time, cooking over a stove roughly the size of a flashlight and so on.
Piha is a spectacular beach with a tiny little village and they were
hosting the youth world surfing championship while we there . This
was a huge affair with teams from all over the world competing. The
surf cooperated and was big enough that they occasionally postponed
for the younger competitors, and the area was overrun with excited
surfers and spectators.
We spent two days enjoying the scene and the sunshine and reluctantly
drug ourselves off the beach and headed towards the volcanic regions
of North Island.
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01/23/2010, New Zealand
Today is the day! We are in the final countdown to leaving the boat and I am gazing blankly at a row of backpacks and wondering how I am going to carry that huge green thing that looks like it weighs more than me.
The saving grace is that after calculating bus costs for the four of us, it was close to the cost of a rental car so we have rented a cute little beater car for the next two months. Thank goodness, all the stuff that we thought we needed but definitely could not carry is now stuffed into the car and we will figure it out as we go.
We are not taking a computer and will basically be off the grid for the next couple of months. I will try and post something on the blog when we can and we will hit internet cafes periodically to check e-mail.
Off on the next adventure!
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01/20/2010, Auckland
Whisper is finally back together and we are very happy to be back out on the water.
The trip down to Auckland was two very short day sails in feeble breeze, and then frustrated by the lack of progress, we did the remaining 100 miles in a lovely overnight sail. Timothy kept us fed with a beautiful kingfish on the way.
We love Auckland, the city is exciting and reminds us a bit of Seattle. Our marina is right off the downtown skyline and we have been walking and bussing through wonderfully diverse neighborhoods and the very upscale and cosmopolitan downtown.
We finally made up our minds and are going to park the boat and go camping on the South Island of New Zealand. The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of camping stores trying to find everything we need. We made the big decision yesterday and committed, buying a small mountain of backpacks, tents, and sleeping pads. For the last 24 hours I have been trying to pour most of the contents of the boat into these 4 packs (picture 5 pounds into the proverbial 1 pound bag) but no matter how I arrange they either will not close or no one can hoist their packs off the floor. We are getting closer, it is a good thing as we are moving to long term moorings and can not stay on the boat after Saturday night.
There is a palpable feeling of excitement and panic in the air as we prepare to leave our very familiar boatie world and venture off - living out of a backpack.
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01/09/2010, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Somehow, everything seems to work out for the best and we have decided to just enjoy having an extra couple of days here in the Bay of Islands. After bolting most of the broken gear back onto the deck, Whisper is in pretty good shape and since the boat yard is closed on Sunday, we spent a picture perfect day fishing together.
Timothy "Snapper Snatcher" Malone was the fishing king and hauled in two enormous snappers in a row. His quotable quote, "Bummer, I think I snagged the bottom... no wait! ... it's a HUGE fish!". We were fishing in about 130' of water so we had a fun time cheering him on as he labored to get them to the surface.
Tonight we are having a fish fry with friends that we were not sure we would see again, so there is a wonderful silver lining.
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