Lyn's Log, 27th August 2010
Winter in New Zealand

Whangarei
S35º43', E174º20'

Cape Reinga

Andrew's illness precluded us leaving New Zealand in early June as we had planned, so we resigned ourselves to the New Zealand winter. The winter months are much wetter than the summer, with deep lows coming across regularly. These make it difficult for the yachts still wishing to make a passage north to Fiji or Tonga, as the gaps between lows never seem long enough. So the trick is to find a not so deep low, which, if unavoidable, will not be too severe to manage. Thoughout July and August groups of yachts have banded together and left Opua, but half return after a few days with tales of terrible seas or gear failure. While sitting for long periods in harbours or light weather sailing, developing problems tend to go unnoticed.

Two boats we last saw in French Polynesia, Neville and Katherine on Dreamtime, and Geoff and Geraldine on Blue Dawn, have passed through Opua waiting for the weather slot to return to the tropics.

Although our yacht was left un-sailed for perhaps 6 weeks, we went out on a fine day and as we raised the mainsail, a bird’s nest fell out!! It had made a mess of the inside of the sail cover and the bottom edge of the sail. You would have thought we had left it unattended for several months, especially as it is not the season for birds to nest. But one of the great things about the winter here is that between the rains, there are short warm sunny days where we can still walk about in a T-shirt. It is more like an English spring than winter.

There are still places of interest that we had not yet visited in the North Island. At Wairere, half way across the island from Opua, giant boulders of sandstone and granite are tumbled down a river valley. The couple who own the land had worked hard to build wooden bridges and steps so that a we had a great time walking up one side of the river and back along the other side, exploring around many of the boulders.

Andrew and I have been trying to get more exercise. We have walked a circular route up the hill from and marina and back, taking around 15-20 minutes, nearly every day. One fine day we walked along the old railway track from the Opua to where it crosses the main road, just outside of the town of Kawakawa. The railway was originally used to carry coal from a mine at Kawakawa to the port.

The walk was about 10 km and took about 4 hours including a stop for a picnic lunch. Much of the track passes through mangrove swamps, so there is no way off. It hasn’t been used in years and is much overgrown, for long stretches we had to push through gorse growing higher than my head. At least it only pricked the skin without stinging or leaving any thorns behind. There is a tunnel at one point which we found with some difficulty as a landslide had buried the track by the entrance and left only a small gap beneath the top of the arch through which we could just crawl down to the tracks inside the tunnel. Just before the track reaches the main road, it passes over a long bridge over the Kawakawa river. Railway enthusiasts have renovated a steam engine and some carriages that travel out of Kawakawa the short stretch as far as the bridge, but the bridge needs renovating before the train will be allowed to cross it. The hope is to get the trains running all the way between Kawakawa and Opua again.

On Andrew’s birthday, we drove to the very northern tip of North Island. The northern end becomes essentially a long sand-dune, with enormously long beaches on either side. Few people live there. We had fish and chips at the self-proclaimed world-famous fish place in Manganui (so-so); took in “Gumdiggers Park” where fallen kauri trees that had lain in swamp for thousand of years, were found to yield a very profitable golden gum from which copal varnish is made; and had a look at the white sand beach at Rarawa, on the east coast. We drove our car onto the western “90 Mile Beach”, but with the wind blasting in off the sea and the tide rising, decided against driving its length, which is possible. At the northern end, to get off the beach, you have to drive up a shallow stream just wide enough to take a car, between two great walls of sand-dune. Maybe in the summer we will take the coach trip along the beach and the stream and then we could body-board down these sand dunes, it's a popular sport.

At Cape Reinga (above) we got nearly blown off the path to the lighthouse by the gale force wind, but it had to be done. An atmospheric spot, from where according to Mauri legend the spirits of the dead depart for their mythical Polynesian homeland.

Over the winter solstice in June in many places a second Christmas was celebrated. The local yacht club held their Christmas Dinner, complete with Santa, and for £12 each it was extraordinary good value: 'Angels on Horseback', Pate, Pumpkin Soup, help-yourself roast main course with all the trimmings, very alcoholic plum duff or sherry trifle, plus as much mulled wine as we could drink.

Our ill-fated car on 90 mile beach

The following weekend we took the boat over to Russell where they were holding their annual Bird-Man competition. There was a carnival atmosphere with various stalls and competitions on the land, but the main event was of eighteen competitors who were willing to leap into the rather cold water in the fanciful hopes of getting airbourne. Much time and effort had been put into costumes such as ‘Red Bull’, ‘The Red Baron’, ‘James Bond’, ‘Super Heroes’, and the parade was led by two motorcycle cops with wings on their backs. Each competitor had their own piece of appropriate backing music while they showed off at the end of the pier before running off a short ramp. We had a great view from our dinghy hanging off the rear of the judges’ boat. No-one actually got any further from the pier than they could jump, and the rescue boats and divers were quick to retrieve everything that landed in the water.

Another day we drove to Stone House near Kerikeri, on the river where it stops being navigable. We took the one-hour walk up the track alongside the river, through the bush, until we reached ‘Rainbow Falls’. It was a lovely walk mostly under trees and with glimpses of the river tumbling over rocks. The track took us to the bottom of the best waterfall we had seen for some time, and then around to the top of it. It was like a narrow section of Niagara Falls with lots of mist rising in front of the falls. At the top we got the view of the rainbow in the mist. The walk was a good work-out for us that day.

I went to a weekly Pilates group in the local school hall. Andrew tried it, but did not think it was his thing. It certainly helps to get more movement out of all the joints even though it hurts for a bit sometimes. We have also been swimming lengths in the nearby swimming pool. It is very basic and a bit run down, but only costs $3 (£1.30). The water is a good temperature, it is a large pool, usually empty, and we can get a hot shower afterwards.

We now have a nice new solar panel attached to a stainless steel arch at the back of the boat. It took a while to get it all put together with new wiring through the boat, to a switch and ammeter, and to the batteries. By the time it was ready, the weather has been cloudy and very wet, and given us little chance to see just how much power it will deliver, but in light cloud cover we were getting 1 amp.

We were feeling nicely settled into Opua for the winter, until Andrew’s next medical check, when an issue arose with the use of electrical power in the marina. The manager claimed that new legislation meant any yacht using shore power has to have a “Warrant Of Fitness” certificate. We asked to be tested, but when the electrician came, he refused to examine Sentinel. The only reason he could give was that our power plugs are fused, unlike NZ plugs! No power meant no heat on board, and it is just too cold and damp for that. So, after a period of grace, we had to go elsewhere. No other marina seems to have heard of this legislation. We left Opua during a spell of dry weather, for Whangerei. There appears to be no lobbying body in New Zealand to help protect yachties when such legislation is being decided.

It was good to be sailing again as the sparrows have been determined to get inside our folded main sail, under the sail cover. They have made a mess in three areas that are now looking mouldy, and we have had to tie several more ties around the sail and push plastic bags into any small openings to prevent any further access.

We took three leisurely days to get to Whangerei. If the weather forecasts were to be believed, the time to start was midday on Monday 9th August. During the morning the thick clouds scurried across the sky dropping rain almost constantly. We drove to the supermarket to do our three-day shop and then everything was ready to leave Opua. As we left the supermarket, the sky looked clearer to windward and then it stopped raining. We checked out of the marina and blasted along under genoa to the north of the islands in sunshine. Then Andrew said that the forecast had changed and the gale force winds were now predicted in the afternoon. We headed into the shelter of the islands as a large cloud came over and deposited some rain. Then the wind dropped and the sun reappeared, so we motored the twelve miles around Cape Brett and into Whangamumu harbour well before dark. I am sure that running the engine helped to keep the inside of the boat warm, but we were not too cold that night under anchor.

There was sunshine and light winds on Tuesday as we sailed and motored to Tutukaka, where there is a marina. As the previous night had been ok, we decided to risk staying at anchor again to save the money. We could see our breath in the cabin in the morning, but we had been warm enough in the evening and cosy in bed. There was no wind on Wednesday so we motored around Bream Head to the start of the river to Whangerei. We anchored for lunch and waited till after 3 pm before going up river with the tide. It would be dark around 6 pm but that was only half tide. We hoped we would be able to find enough water for the final bends in the river before mooring in Riverside Marina again. We made it with only a foot under the keel at times, mooring up around 6 pm helped by Marc on yacht Quetzal beside us. The air was chill as we came up the river, and we were than glad to have the power again for our heater.

Friday we took our liferaft to Auckland to have it’s three-year service and be collected on our next visit to Auckland.

Back in Whangarei we eventually sorted the problem we had with the hot water tank discharging a little water from its pressure relief valve each time the pump stopped. It began to look like the pump was at fault so we took it to Waikato Milking Systems, who had earlier checked out our accumulator tank. The man found that the pump’s switch cut out at twice the pressure than it should have, so causing our problem. He refused any payment and left us to buy a new switch from a Jabsco dealer down the road.

That was the good news, but at the same time we had bad news. As we left the marina yard in the car and began driving along the road, another car coming in the opposite direction decided to cross the road to enter the other end of the yard, directly in front of me giving me no time to stop. I hit him broadside and crunched up the front of the car. The engine was still running ok but the bodywork was pushed back to the front wheel, scraping on it while I drove off the road. The people who towed it away reckoned it would be a write off. The other guy admitted liability in front of witnesses and everything is going through his insurance. But we fear that car insurance in NZ is not like that in England, and we may see very little back for our car. In any case a decision will be interminably slow. So we are out of pocket again and greatly inconvenienced. We probably will not get another car.

Andrew had his final medical check in Auckland on 25th August which went well, only to go down immediately with some sort of flu-ey bug. We are waiting for that to clear, and a spell of better weather so that we can take off for Tonga.