SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip

The gps said it would only take 3 hours one way from Opua. Cape Reinga is the northern most point of North Island NZ. It is a georgous drive to nowhere. That is a full description of our destination. Its a park and it is majestic when you can see it. The last time we were here it was too foggy to see the hood ornament (if we had one). On this particular day it was overcast but not raining or foggy. There are beautiful trails to hike everywhere. Most go to nearby points. Some go to the beach. If you have the moxie (and overnight camping gear) you can walk to a very large collection of sand dunes. You might think you were in Oregon except the foliage is much more diverse. Tourist busses come here, so there is a steady stream of people on the trails even though there is very low population density in this part of NZ.

On the way back we stopped at a Kauri wood pile. That is a collection of very large trees and tree stumps that have been dug up from swamps where the mud protected them for centuries. Apparently NZ 4000 years ago had a lot of Kauri forests that were all leveled in a collossal storm (a hurricane). Some survived under the mud. Now you can buy very expensive furniture (and less expensive do dads) made from those buried trees. Strolling around those wood piles is a fun way to spend an afternoon.

The rest of the scenery was sheep farms and cattle farms and green grass hillsides where they are all eating. It is absolutely a georgous drive.

We are working on our maintenance list now. The parts for the windlass and the motor for the refrigerator are ordered. Our mast is getting its spreaders rebolted with oversize bolts to replace the existing pins (they were loose) and retensioned to decrease the pumping of the mast. All the blocks are getting fixed (dissimilar metals has caused corrosion) and our engine is getting its 1000 hour services. We will be hauled for bottom paint and the shaft seal replacement early next week. We'll replace an engine mount too.

You would think that we would get to the end of the fix it list soon. We are certainly working hard to do that. It is actually unexplainable how much work a boat takes to keep it going and safe.