The following morning, we set sail for Auckland, expecting a fairly bumpy and windy crossing, having listened to the early morning forecast. However, we found ourselves in a big, empty Hauraki Gulf, in perfect conditions to have a 6-7 knt passage. The weather forecast seemed to have put a lot of other sailors off. We shot into Auckland with the tide, passing Devonport, the NZ naval base and in towards the city. I have always wanted to sail under the Auckland harbour bridge, so we did that and then tacked and came back again. We were lucky, as an Auckland Harbour Bridge bungy jumper timed his jump to perfection, swinging alongside us as we sailed back under the bridge.
We dropped sails and came alongside the Spirit of New Zealand berth in Princes Wharf. This is smack in the middle of downtown Auckland. We had the super yachts one wharf to the north and the huge cruise ship ‘The World’ one wharf to the south. We fitted in well where we were though, alongside all the old boats at the Maritime Museum.
We had lunch ashore and caught up with quite a few of the Spirit crew. Thanks to Ashleigh, Edward, Kim and to Nigel and Ruth (thanks for the yummy Brownies!), for coming to see us.
We tried to shop unsuccessfully, forgetting that it was Good Friday, and had a run ashore again for dinner.
The night was surprisingly quiet, apart from a local nightclub cranking up its bass for the hours between 2 and 3 am. However, we slept and were in the supermarket just after 7.30am. We also came across a great Farmer’s Market and came back with a pile of local tomatoes, fresh free-range eggs, black and white aubergines, blue brie, fresh bread and croissants.
Leaving Auckland, we had a cracking sail up to Kawau Island, beating, but still getting to 7.5 knts with the tide. At anchor here, along with half of the population of Auckland, out enjoying their Easter break!