We're visiting our friends Gary and Sue Callen in Hurstbridge which is in the foothills about 30 miles northeast of Melbourne. This pic was taken during our walk yesterday down by the Yarra River which flows to the downtown area. It's been an incredible 2012 for Don and I and we can't wait to see what happens in 2013. Happy New Year to all of our friends and family around the world, wherever you may be.
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Friday afternoon Alan dropped us off at the airport for our flight to Melbourne, Australia. The Kiwi's are all going crazy for the upcoming release of the movie 'The Hobbit' which was filmed at some of the most remote and incredibly beautiful locations in New Zealand. Even Air New Zealand got into 'The Hobbit' mood in a big way. Their 'Inflight Safety Video' which played on every passenger's personal entertainment screen featured many of the stars of the movie with hobbits and dwarfs walking us through the safety features of the jet. A terrific production and one we all thoroughly enjoyed. Plus the food on the plane was fantastic. Throughout the entire flight I watched the 'Making of the Hobbit' Blog and now I can't wait to see the movie...filmed completely in New Zealand and also it's 3D! The last time we were in Australia was six years ago, for Christmas in 2006 and for Don's younger brother Keith's 50th birthday in January 2007. Big brother Barney and his wife Dale picked us up at the airport and took us to their home for the night where we enjoyed each other's company and also a nice Thai takeaway for tea. We all drove up to Don's mum's home in Euroa the next day. It is great to see Mum and to be here in lovely Euroa once again. Younger brother Keith and wife Maureen brought a large eye filet and tossed it on the barbi. We had a wonderful dinner with three of the four brothers all together at the table (the fourth, Alan, still in Auckland and due to fly in with his family in a few days). Euroa is a small country town about two hours north of Melbourne up the Hume Highway. It's right on the 'Seven Creeks' and has lovely creekside picnicking areas and walking tracks and is surrounded by hundreds of lovely Australian gum trees. Historically, Euroa is known for the fact that bushranger Ned Kelley robbed the bank here in 1879. More on the fasinating Ned Kelley later.
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Regards, Cam “H”
We spent a few days getting Buena Vista ready to leave in 'boat storage' while we travel to Australia for the holidays and for most of January. Don's brother Alan (who caught our lines in Opua) drove back up to Whangerei and picked us up when we were done. It was an interesting feeling rowing away from our boat with all of our luggage, saying goodbye to Buena Vista for six weeks or more. We have been living aboard for an entire year this time; we are both ready for a break, that's for sure. It was a beautiful 2-3 hour drive back down to Auckland and of course we stopped at several pubs along the way to test the Kiwi brewers and also to sample the local fish and chips shop along the way. The countryside coming down from Northland is absolutely stunning and seeing the Auckland skyline across the harbor was really exciting too. Alan took us on his tiki tour, driving along the waterfront and pointing out all of the hot spots along the way. Alan and his wife Pru, along with daughter Cara live in a gorgeous home in this trendy beach town maybe 10 miles from downtown Auckland. Their son Andrew lives in Sydney.
We spent the next three days with them relaxing and enjoying their home. Don golfed with Pru and had a great round which was not too bad considering he hasn't golfed in over a year.
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I finally recovered from the awful flu bug just in time to celebrate my 56th birthday with six other sailing couples. We went to the local pub for pizza and beer and lots of chocolate cake. A few days later Jim and his crew member Tom sailed the 24 foot Dana Pacific Seacraft 'Sockdolager' into Marsden Cove Marina, arriving from Tonga after 13 days at sea. Don and I and Jim's wife Karen met them at the dock. What a feat and what a happy reunion for Jim and Karen. Jim and Karen were on hand a few days later to help us move our boat 'Buena Vista' to her new home at Kissing Point, where she will spend the next six weeks while we travel to Australia. The pile moorings at Kissing Point are two or three miles down river from the Town Basin Marina at Whangerei. It's a tidal river so we had to time the move to coorespond with high slack tide (or else you get stuck in the mud). I must say I did an awesome job turning Buena Vista around in very tight quarters at the Town Basin and also showed expert boat handling skills in pulling the boat in to the mooring area at Kissing Point :) There are about 50 boats on pile moorings at this spot on the river and it's right in front of the Whangerei Cruising Club. You are not allowed to 'liveaboard' here so it's pretty quiet but we found a fellow who agreed to keep an eye on Buena Vista for us. It must be the cheapest place to leave your boat in all of New Zealand...it's costing us $4.78 NZ dollars per night. A real bargain.
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We got to know Rob and Jo on 'Blue Moon' in mainland Mexico as we were both preparing to do the 'Puddle Jump' in 2011. 'Buena Vista' and 'Blue Moon' left Mexico on the same day sailing towards the South Pacific. As you may remember, Buena Vista had engine problems and was forced to turn back (and ended up staying in Mexico for another year!) while Blue Moon and all the others continued on and completed their South Pacific voyages more than a year ago. Well, that was a devastating time for me and I always regretted not being able to spend alot more time with Jo and Rob. They have been 'cruising' for sixteen years and it would have been incredible to sail with them, but alas, shit happens! They ended their cruising lives (temporarily they hope) here in the Whangerei area and during the past year have been building their dream home overlooking McLeod Bay. I've been in email contact with Jo the whole time and we finally caught up with them here. The 'La Fiesta' clan along with Chris on 'Ladybug' drove down from Opua and picked me and Don up and we all drove to McLeod Bay. It was a very happy day (even though several of us weren't feeling so hot) and it was a wonderful moment for me especially, finally reconnecting with my friend Jo and Rob too. Now I can left go of that feeling of disappointment that has been stuck in my psyche for far too long. We had a great barbeque, got the grand tour of their beautiful property, and also enjoyed the case of Pacificos that Cath and Linz had left for us there.
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OMG I have been so sick since we arrived at the Town Basin. I threw up all Saturday night and have not been able to eat or even move for a few days. Meanwhile Don has been quite busy. He's not feeling 100% yet either but he's put the pedal to the metal as far as boat work goes. Here's a list of what he's doing now and over the next week...Serviced windlass motor and reinstalled, had bike serviced, fixed air leak in dinghy (something that has plagued us since the Marquesas), fixed our Honda generator, tuned-up and new spark plugs etc. on outboard motor (it idles without stalling -hurray), soaked all sheet lines to remove salt, installed our new water heater (which we picked up in American Samoa) and installed all new sanitation hoses (that have no-stink warranty of 5 years!) and installed our new Jabsco (no-squeak) toilet! I managed to take our computer in to get a backup of all the data on it...it's running again but I've been warned that it's got a faulty hard-drive and should be replaced ASAP. We want to get as much done here and now as possible so when we return from Australia in early February we'll be ready to go sailing and not have many things left on our to do list. NICE JOB DON!
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This morning we're headed about 10 miles northwest to the head of the Whangerei Harbor and then continuing up the Hatea River to the Town Basin at Whangerei. You have to time the tides...did I mention there's a very large tidal movement here (here on the North Island or everywhere in New Zealand...not sure yet). Anyway, it's impossible to take Buena Vista up the river at low time. High tide today is either 8am or 8pm so we get up early and off we go. We pulled out of the entrance to Marsden Cove Marina and turned upwind towards Whangerei. Unfortunately we're headed directly into a pretty strong wind and the fetch across this large harbor is shoving 2-3 foot waves right on our nose. It's a bumpy and wet ride up but after an hour or so we're nearly in the river and the shoreline is starting to offer us some protection from the wind and the fetch. As we follow the winding river is gets more and more narrow, and shallower. At one point we saw 8 feet and that's with the rising tide. There are boats sheds here and there and also moored yachts at the edges from time to time. Around one corner is 'Kissing Point', home of the Whangerei Cruising Club where there are maybe fifty boats on pile moorings. This is the place where we think we'll leave Buena Vista in a week or so when we take off to go to Auckland and then Australia for Christmas. Around another corner...hey...what the heck is that? It's a bridge across the river...still under construction, with all completed except the middle bit and we motored right through. Hopefully it will be a draw-bridge so boats can still go up and down the river. We passed Riverside Drive Marina where 'Orcineus' is, and there in the distance at the end of the line...the Town Basin Marina. We call Sharon on the VHF and she directs us to the Guest Dock which is a side tie right in front of the marina office. We can stay there for 8-10 days until we're ready to go to back to Kissing Point for extended storage. It's still blustery so we're glad when Sharon comes out of the office and helps up tie up to the dock. Now that we're here, the boat project list gets pulled out as Whangerei is supposed to be a great place to get all kinds of boat stuff done. Don gets to work and Deb gets the FLU! Bummer!
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We got up early and pulled out of Whangaruru at 6:30am and headed south. We need to get to the Whangerei area, past Bream Head before the weather turns nasty. We had fairly light winds for four hours and then those westerlies finally kicked in and by the early afternoon we had 20-25 knots gusting to 30 and Buena Vista is flying down the coast. Off to the right we see another sailboat...it's our mates on 'Charisma' also making a run for the Whangerei area. Later, we both pulled in to Marsden Cove Marina which is just inside the Whangerei heads. The tide is dropping fast and the wind is still blowing like crazy. We're happy to be pulling into a marina but getting into that very skinny berth with a tailwind/sidewide was very challenging. Luckily a bunch of other boaters were there to assist - thanks guys! We did a bit of damage though. Don tied a big fender to a stanchion (the thing that holds the lifelines up) and as we pulled in the fender got caught up on the corner of the dock and bent the stainless steel stanchion right over. After everything we've been through between Mexico and New Zealand, this is the first damage we have done to our boat! Not to worry though, it was easily fixed. We were very happy to be here and were making plans to get together with 'Charisma' for sundowners when Don said he wasn't feeling well...we spent a little while putting the boat stuff away and then Don went straight to bed...very unusual. Poor Don was pretty ill that night and much of the next day. He couldn't venture far from the head. First thing on the second morning he said he was feeling better and the wind/tide was on the calm side so we pulled out of Marsden Cove Marina and headed up the river towards Whangerei and the 'Town Basin.'
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