02/02/2010
Sunday 31st Jan. 2010 Russell, Bay of Islands, NZ
New Years Day was too windy to spray so it was postponed until the day after, and we were lucky to get Ishka painted, as the winds strengthened big time by the afternoon, thus making it impossible to have held the tarps down on neighbouring boats [protecting them from over spray], never mind aiming the paint onto Ishka's topsides! But we got her glossed up by 2pm so it was just a matter of pulling off the masking tape and mentally telling the rain clouds to bugger off until the following day. They did, thankfully! Over the next week, Ian also decided to put some extra layers of epoxy fibre-glass on the bottom of her keels to cover up any scratches and dings that she's managed to collect in her busy life....kinda like a new pair of jandels. New helm seats have also been welded in place, rudder bearings changed, drive shafts serviced, blah, blah and new NZ woolen carpet installed, just so our feet find the winter months up in Russell more bearable! So Ishka is a younger-looking 'cougar' and we were proud to re-launch her on 22nd Jan. Hoping to take her into the Viaduct for a few days to catch up with some mates and experience downtown Auckland, we were disappointed to find out they only had a berth costing $125 per night! And that's not including room service! The manager, Scott, at 'The Landing' Boatyard [who does a great job there with his team] rang around all the other Auckland area marinas trying to use his charm to get us a more realistic priced berth, but unfortunately they were full or couldn't fit Ishka's 7.47metre beam. So once again the Heavy Haulage Tow trunk lowered Ishka into Okahu Bay, and we were asking "where the hell are we going to anchor for the night in our flash, new-looking home"? It was near sundown, the wind was about 25kts onshore, so we just headed out to Orakai Basin and dropped the pick. "Oh no, you can't do that, move please." Said the Harbour Master, so we move and pay for a mooring in front of Royal Akarana Yacht Club. This will be fine until the wind subsides in few days we think. Mr Pain in Arse Harbour Master pulls along side us telling us we're too big for that mooring. We ask him where else we can go to a quick response of "that's your problem'! Finally we agree to give our mobile phone number so that if anyone complains or they need to contact us in the next couple of days they can, and in the meantime we can shelter from the ....... .
After 4 days we hadn't had a phone call thankfully but we were ready to move on anyhow, so with fuel, grocery and gas runs complete, Ian sailed around to Maraetai to pick Ida up, after she dropped the car at James' house. [Her parents are driving it up for us next week.]
It's exciting to be going up to get the house projects moving along, but also a bit sad to be leaving the warm, friendly surrounds of Clevedon. Debbie thank-you so much for letting us stay in your lovely home longer than expected, and it was such a treat to have all the holiday time with Alanah and Kiera, their auntie and uncle will be popping down from Russell often, just to chew some fat, practice the cryptic crosswords and make sure the wine cabinet stays empty. And James thanks for the unit use and container storage, we promise we'll get it unloaded as soon as we build a house to put the stuff in.
So its now Sunday 31st Jan, and we have just sailed back up to Russell, breaking the passage with a couple of days at Great Barrier Island. Hopefully we'll get back down there over the next few months, as theres so much more to see on that awesome Island. And it will be worth seeing Ian go even bluer when he jumps in at the waterfall again, he couldn't dress quick enough never mind trying to stop his teeth chattering....and it's still summer!
But for now, let's hope our house plans are approved quickly, and let the building begin.
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01/01/2010
December 2009, Auckland
Well, being shore bound has made us a bit lazy regarding blog writing. The trip down was relaxing with light winds, blue skies and plenty of quiet little anchorages to spend the nights in. An interesting benefit of being back in civilization was when we caught a big fish and didn't know which species it was so we were able to Google up it's identity before we dispatched it. The 20+kg fish turned out to be a Yellow Tail King fish and was very tasty.
On Dec 1st, Ishka was hauled out at Okahu Bay and the steep ramp meant we had to get a heavy haulage tow truck to finish pulling us up on our trailer, which was nerve wracking to say the least but now she sits on the hard, all safe and work is progressing. Next we bought a car so we can fight our way through Auckland's traffic chaos twice a day traveling from Clevedon to the boat yard and back every day. This is where James and Debbie [Ida's brother and sister] live and we have been sharing our time between their 2 houses, really enjoying the company and the country life that they lead. Christmas came and went as each day we just find another job on Ishka that needs doing. And it is nice to have Ida's parents and her other sister Hazel here too, just to make the family holiday celebrations a bit more like an excuse to have a day off working and away from the boatyard....eh Ida? What with niece's sports days, shopping days out in Botany and the Ellerslie Boxing Day Horse Races, so as Ida spends her minimal winnings on wine and shoes, Ian and Rosco get the priming coat on Ishka, ready for the re-spray on New Years Day. Thanks Boys. It sort of feels like we are back at work and living normal lives again but it wont be for too long, mid January should see us back in the water and sailing Nth to the Bay of Islands. Our house plans are progressing as well as can be expected too and we hope to start our build by Feb. Wish us luck!
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11/23/2009
Tues. 24th Nov. Opua
We've socialized, partied, slept, socialized, visited and sailed over many hours the past week, getting accustomed to our new environment and are enjoying it heaps. Frank & Jane came and stayed with us for a couple of days, having an awesome picnic at Haruru falls, great 'real' coffees in Paihia and 'to be frank' guitar solos on Ishka. Good time guys, thanks for the visit. We also visited Waitangi on the other side of Paihia, and if you want to know more about Maori and European history, this is where to start. New Zealand's founding document 'The treaty of Waitangi', was signed 1840 between Maori and the British crown. The 506-hectare area has James Busby's Treaty House, the intricately carved meeting house which was completed for the centenary in 1940, and our favorite, the 35 metre Kauri carved waka taua [war canoe] Ngatokimatawhaorua [spell check!] which is being touched up for the 70 year anniversary happening early Feb 2010, when 30 similar canoes from all around NZ will create a superb scene for Waitangi day...that's down on Ishka's diary.
Re the land...we did buy the mattock, round-up, etc, but realized the job was way too big for manpower, so decided to get some extra horsepower in the form of 'Wayne the builder' and his excavator. This morning we knocked the clearing of the primary block off in 4 hours....leaving no gorse, no thistles and just as important, no blisters. While clearing we have also realized that we share our section with a few, rare Weka birds roaming around from time to time. Known for their curiosity, it wasn't long before they were checking out the contents of our backpacks, lets keep them on our side.
Now we can take Ishka down to Auckland for Christmas, see the family and do important things like socializing, partying and sleeping.....again!
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11/18/2009
Wed. 18th Nov. Opua
Customs actually woke us up at 7.30 on the Sat. morning, we had over slept as is normal after a week of night shifts, 1 hour sleeps and broken cat naps, but when scantily clad Ida explained to the friendly customs guy she would be about 5 minutes to make herself, Ian and Ishka presentable, he happily wandered back up the Q wharf saying he'd be back in half an hour. On the Q-wharf there is a world famous, 'rain-water catching, solar-powered, floating toilet, and during that half hour thank goodness there were no queues! The entrance procedure was easy and very welcoming, with only a few 'not so fresh anymore' veggies and a jar of mayo being confiscated. Our antique Tongan, kava bowl was given the Ok for borers and our big Fijian 'Fuzzy Wuzzy' sculpture wasn't even looked at, so thankfully we have some memorabilia from our year cruise to decorate our new house....when we build it!
Ishka needed a good clean, as did we, so we booked a berth in the marina for a few days, giving us a more accommodating access to supplies, services and Milton, our architect. ! You see, we have a block of land here which we have been getting plans drafted up online while we've been cruising, just to cut down on time restraints, and we still hadn't met Milton, so there was a lot to cover in our first meeting. Exciting times ahead as we go through the NZ build project [More on that as it evolves.].
There are so many yachts arriving into Opua Port at the minute, so there have been lots of organized events welcoming us global visitors, and we're socializing our thick woolly socks off with friends old and new. We celebrated Ishka getting here by fitting her with a new wind generator, as there's more wind here than sun, and so far we are really pleased with the performance of our 'Kiss' wind generator. These units are made in Trinidad, and are seriously 'no thrills', they even used an old toilet roll tube to protect the shaft! No Shit!
Oh, a really cool thing that happened, at one of the functions at the Opua Cruising Club, we bumped into Frank & Jane, who are great old friends [not in years] from Brisbane. They sailed down from New Caledonia with our great new friends, John and Leanne on 'Migaloo'. So there's a bit of catching up on the Aussie scene since we left, hearing about other friends and having a few coldies out of the chilly bin. Followed by a super meal at our favorite 'Duke of Marlborough' Hotel in Russell, we realize why we have decided to spend a fair bit of time up here, and we now look forward to joining the Bay of Islands community.
Paihia is the closest 'big' town to Opua, so that's where we've bus rode, taxied, dinghy-rode and trekked to in order to fill our empty fridge, buy more jumpers and open a bank account. We also need to clear the house block for an engineer's report, before we take Ishka to Auckland next week for a haul out, so if we don't hear back from our 'Local Classifieds Handyman', we'll need to buy a mattock, weed killer and Powerade to do it ourselves. Watch this space!
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11/07/2009
Sat. 7th Nov Opua, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
The morning before we left was a busy one, Ian finally got the generator going with the part we'd had to get shipped from NZ, which arrived the day before. But at least there's now going to be hot water available on passage, and a lot of the other cruisers are telling us we'll need it after we cross the Tropic of Capricorn. After a detour for one final surf check at the infamous CloudBreak, we enter Namotu Passage with a fleet of about 15 yachts and soon found ourselves close reaching into 25+ knots of breeze. It was rough, and fast and wet, but we had left our sea legs back in Fiji, so for the next 2 days we felt like crapp, and didn't eat much. There were normally lights from other yachts visible on the night shifts, and the full moon helped too but on one occasion we were surprised to pass a large catamaran with no sails up, no sign of anyone on board, and no response on the VHF when we tried calling them. A few hours later, Ian notices the same catamaran on our stern with full sails up, so we spent the whole night sailing hard, making sure we stayed in front, the race was on! Seas were uncomfortable and the starboard tramp even blew out, so it made walking up the bow a bit precarious, when a wave hit.
Day 3 had the wind dropping away to nothing so motors were turned on, with an odd hour of gusts here or there but this didn't stop for near 3 days. We still had the main up for the Mon and Tues, but on Wed. evening Ida had heard a 'twang, thud' on deck, Ian then heard the same noise early next morning, so after scouring the rig and decks, we realize 3 batons had punched out the baton tension bolts, therefore we drop the main to fix the prob and keep motoring in unusually light variable winds. Thankfully the winds were so light that an albatross just circled and sat in the water beside Ishka as we motored along at 6 kts putting 'temporary' tension holders in the main sail. We came to the conclusion the whole falafel was worth it being able to see this magnificent bird. [and he was delicious!!!]
On Friday we get a Southerly change....30+ knt on the nose, when you want wind it comes from the wrong direction, but we're still up with the front 6 yachts so let's just hope the wind is veering West enough for Ishka to get into her momentum of 8 knts. Nope....its a Sth Easterly change at 10am Friday morn....bugger because now we know its not going to be a NZ arrival until early Sat morning. Whatever....'On..On' as our good 'Hash House Harrier' mates would say, and by 3pm we see New Zealand, with 36NM to go before the Nine Pins mark, we have a celebratory G&T knowing its just another 8 hours or so before we enter the port of Opua. The first inhabitants of New Zealand, the Maoris, who migrated here from the Pacific named this country Aotearoa which means Land of the Long White Cloud and its not until you sail here by small boat do you appreciate the significance of that name. Long before we could see any land we are guided by this cloud. [Check out the photo, because it really is true!]. As we approach sunset with earl grey tea in hand because the G&T's are finished, a pod of dolphins welcome us, getting us more and more excited for the final landing.
Of course it has turned much colder, so now we are happily salvaging from the stores, socks, leggings, long-johns, vests, wooly jumpers, turtle necks [!!!], that haven't been worn for however long its taken the moulds to attach themselves to these items of clothing, and we may smell like camphor but we are warm, cozy and happy to be presently tied up to the Q wharf in Opua Marina, New Zealand. It's now 02.50 am, Sat. 7th Nov and we have already had a few welcome drinks with 'Splash Tango' and 'Innovation', but Customs are coming tomorrow morning early, so....good night.
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10/29/2009
Fri. 30th Oct Musket Cove, Fiji
Back in French Polynesia we gave a lift to a young Irish Guy called Brian, who had hitched a ride across the Pacific on a lovely old timber boat named 'Inherit the Wind'. After spending 62 days at sea with no motor and a leaking hull, Brian thought it would be wise to change horses so to speak for the rest of his journey. Well it was a good decision as we heard 'Inherit the Wind' sank off Rangiroa in the Southern Cook Islands a couple of weeks ago! And Sylvain, the very nice French/Canadian owner, spent 3 days drifting in his little dinghy with his Jack Russell by his side before being thankfully being rescued by Cook Island authorities. Glad you're safe Sylvain.
A few times on our walks along the beach here we've noticed a pile of logs strapped together in the shape of a raft, well it turns out they're not logs, they are carefully crafted bits of steel and fibre glass, and the raft was actually the one used by Tom Hanks in the movie 'Castaway', which was filmed around here. We searched hard but unfortunately didn't find 'Wilson'.
The weeks fly by lately as we luxuriate in "Island mode" but we soon start scratching at our itchy feet. New Zealand will be our new frontier and the call of the wild is getting stronger, we have spent our time fixing the generator and going for long walks, fixing the generator some more and going surfing, golfing, fixing the generator again and........well there are dinner party's, sand bar party's, Island bar party's and sometimes we just hang out on Ishka and have a private party. Mix that up with boat maintenance and preparation for the trip south and all of a sudden the time to leave is upon us. We are fuelled up, stocked up, scrubbed clean above and below the water, so today we clear customs and will be joining a few other cruisers from the departing to NZ fleet for a 'Farewell to Fiji' party. What a great country, we look forward to visiting again. We'll blog you from New Zealand.
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