The End of the Road
22 October 2021 | Marsden Cove, Whangarei Harbour, New Zealand
Graham Walker
We left Opua a couple of days ago and headed south. There was a very strong wind forecast for Friday and over the weekend and we were keen to get down to Whangarei Harbour before the weekend, to start making plans for haul out. We had a good trip along the Northland coast thinking we must come back and explore all this properly – it looked stunning – but were determined to get as far south as possible on Thursday, to get ahead of the weather. We dropped the parking hook at dusk and spent the night in the very protected Urquhart’s Bay before slipping into Marsden Cove Marina yesterday morning, just as the wind was really starting to blow. We arrived in the marina in 30 knots of wind, which was a tad stressful. So we finished our last passage on this trip half way round the world in full oilies in the chilly wind and rain, and were just glad to get tied up and down below to get the heater on and celebrate with a nice cup of tea.
Marsden Cove looks like it will have all the services we need to get our work on Barracuda done, and all the locals have been ultra friendly - though it may be a slow process getting things lined up, especially given the current weather conditions. Northland was released to COVID level 2 a few days ago but some new cases announced today could mean going back up to level 3, at which point nothing can really happen; our haul out, scheduled for next Friday, is dependent on us staying at level 2. So we will see what the weekend brings and take it from there. In the meantime, we are hunkered down on board, sheltering from the cold, wind and rain.