1/13/16 Wednesday
Having left the Kook in Manly, Au and flown to Auckland, we’ve been traveling around the north island of New Zealand since 12/16. We stayed at a couple of B&Bs called “bachs” here and visited cruising friends who made this their final stop for the cyclone season. Gorgeous low rolling green hills and water everywhere. The weather has been interesting. It is much like the northwest in June—warm sunny days alternating with rainy cool ones.
The kids-Casey, Britt and Ben flew in to Auckland on Christmas day. We had rented a house in Matakana near Warkworth near the Eastern beaches north of Auckland. It was a great visit for us (I hadn’t had any face to face contact for about 13 months). They are off now and back home and we are traveling again.
Tonight we fly to the south island landing at Christchurch. Amanda, of the sloop Clark Gable (e.g. Gone with the Wind), who we met in Fiji with her husband Terry, had given up their house to us between Christmas and New Years and extended her hospitality by mapping out a land course for us through the south island. We’ll let you know how it goes!
In our absence, our sails are being inspected and a new boom blank is being shipped in from Western Australia. Wouldn’t you know, the distributor for my spars is on the west coast with our boat on the east coast with 90% of the Australian population and her boats. Go figure.
So what have we seen and learned. The people are great. Gracious to a fault; though a bit pressured in the cities like everywhere else in the world. Whangerei (pronounced Fangera) is the place to base your boat if you want access to every part and service needed within a walk around town. It’s a great little town as well. They have an iconic tree here, the Kauri, something like how we view our giant Redwoods. We saw one that had been excavated and carbon-dated. It was 2,000 years old when it fell and that had occurred 30,000 years earlier. It was still millable for wood uses. This wood is “hard” and was used extensively in construction in the 1800s and 1900s.
Deforestation has now taken its toll and the species is protected now. But trees are still found buried in swamps, perfectly preserved over thousands of years. It also makes great furniture. We were able to tour a museum dedicated to this giant tree. The gum industry was fascinating. The sap (gum) was harvested from the tree. It’s a bit like our maple syrup but the sap dries hard. It is used for jewelry and as a harder in varnishes. Similar to what we call amber. Very well done!
More later on the zoo (had to see a Kiwi before leaving) and Mauri Pa (village/fort).
Well, all for now. We are leaving our little motel at Mission Bay in Auckland.