From
Great Barrier Cruise
From
Great Barrier Cruise
From
Great Barrier Cruise
From
Great Barrier Cruise
From
Great Barrier Cruise
The time we spent at Great Barrier Island in NZ's Hauraki Gulf was just what we needed. Gt Barrier is a large, stunningly beautiful, high island with tons to do. Great anchorages meant we could hardly even feel the boat move most of the time and the peace & quiet was welcome. We had perfect fall-like weather. There were a few other boats around but none we recognized and everyone was pretty spread out. We got into a routine of hiking or biking all day until it was almost dark (gets dark by 6 now) and then we'd come back to the boat, maybe clean & re-lube a winch quickly or do some little project in the waning light and then hurry up to shower & bundle up because the nights are chilly these days! The area reminds me of Maine with rocky headlands and protected coves but it is made more beautiful by the fact that it's so undeveloped and it has NZ's crazy near tropical colored water.
We moved around to 3 different anchorages while at Gt Barrier, each one was beautiful. The DOC has trailheads leaving from everywhere it seems so it was always convenient to hop on one and go. We climbed the highest mountain, Mt Hobson, strolled to waterfalls and a hot spring, walked along an old tramline trail which was used by the Europeans to haul out the huge kauri trees during the big forestry boom, and thankfully saw a few huge, old kauri trees that they missed. The tree ferns are sending up new shoots and we tried to get a few close-up pics since this is a popular art subject here, along with the fantail bird. We so enjoyed listening to & seeing so many birds. Everywhere we went, we seemed to have to ourselves as the summer tourists have gone.
Meanwhile, the main road was a great place to bike since there's hardly any traffic. About 700 people live on the island and there are few facilities really. There is no mains power which is how they want it and so everyone relies on solar & generators. Like a lot of NZ, water catchment provides most houses with water in large plastic reservoirs. In between the small towns, the road goes up and over seemingly every hill there is so biking is a great workout, often with faraway views. Then you come down to strikingly white beaches and bright green pastures. They look like they should be full of colorful shells, but they're not. We biked some serious miles and really got to see most of the island that way. These bikes do get around. We tend to take them on mtn bike trails and some pretty rough roads which isn't great for them. On one of the rides we had to continually get off and ford a stream. We'd no sooner get across, get back on, bike a few yards and then the darn trail would cross the stream again! I got a stick caught in mine and now one of the shift cables is damaged. Time for another bike maintenance day!
The day before we left we decided to thumb a ride in to the main town where the library has internet. So we headed ashore, then hauled the dinghy up the boat ramp since the tides are more than 10 feet here with no floating dock. We started walking, a car finally came along and Jon stuck out his thumb and boom! we had a ride with 2 nice ladies on their way to an arts & crafts day. We got our internet stuff done, grabbed a pie for lunch and walked all the way back to the dock on trails. It was such a great day!
Not that we were ready to leave the island but... the time is dwindling down so we set off to another island 40 miles away very close to Auckland. It's actually 2 islands connected together by a small bridge and a very protected harbor splits the two. One is a volcano that erupted 600yrs ago called Rangitoto and although it's full of plants, they are stunted and scrubbier because the island is pretty much volcanic rock. The adjoining island Motutapu, is open, rolling, lush pastureland for contrast and you can walk all over both. We thought you could also bike on them, got one done, then went to bike on the other and were told by some guys in a DOC truck that they'd seen our tire tracks and had been searching for us since no bikes are allowed on the island. Huh?! We didn't even ask why since it would never have made sense so we just brought the bikes back to the boat and returned on foot.
Life wouldn't be normal if we weren't struggling with some piece(s) of equipment while we would appear to be only having fun. Both the watermaker and the SSB radio are giving us trouble. The watermaker continues to make low quality water despite us going through every piece of it and the SSB isn't tuning all the frequencies we need & used to be able to tune. These are both ongoing issues that drive us crazy since usually you can get something figured out with perseverance, but apparently, not these. So we left Rangitoto yesterday to head into Gulf Harbor Marina outside of Auckland. It would enable us to order yet another part for the radio, take apart the watermaker membrane housings again to recheck for cracks or o-ring issues (and get replacements) and to meet up with Richard & Ali to give them their computer back that Jon worked on. Plus we need groceries and a laundromat. So we pulled in here and wouldn't you know, they needed to put us on the opposite side of the marina from where all the services/Richard & Ali are. It is a 25 minute walk from one side to the other so we need to use the dinghy to move across the marina rather than the dock. We have no internet and a poor cell connection too. So.... with all of these great benefits we might only be here for a day or two and then continue on. There are a couple more islands we want to visit before getting more serious about leaving. After taking apart the membranes last evening, we can't see any cracks in the endcaps to warrant replacement so it doesn't look like the watermaker issue will be solvable this season; we'll just put up with less than optimal water until we come home again. And the radio, that still has a glimmer of hope but we're not banking on that either. Today's addition of copper strapping (we've been down this road before) may be the last attempt for now as well.
We're looking forward to spending some time with Richard & Ali tonight and tomorrow since we probably won't see them again until we get to Australia because they're headed straight there and we're planning to go via Vanuatu & New Caledonia. It's fun meeting up with fellow cruisers in different places. We're starting to get pretty excited about Australia. Many years ago, in the laundry room at Shipyard Quarters Marina, I picked up a little travel book on Sydney from the book swap shelf. It was back when we were saving for this lifestyle and sailing around the world was still a dream. I carried the book on the boat for several years and then got rid of it in one of my worried moments about weight on the boat and now, we are getting so close. Sydney's iconic waterfront is something I want to see, from the deck of this boat, a milestone of sorts from the seed that was planted many years ago. We've hit many milestones so far and I hope this one is looming in the near future. I always say it with caution though because so much could go wrong. It's part of what makes it so rewarding, to finally get there. Maybe by then the watermaker & radio will be working like a top!