Firefly sailed North from the Bay of Islands a week ago and we have spent a glorious week in Whangaroa, travelling from there by road to Cape Reinga.
The 20 mile sail (on Sunday 30th November) to the Cavalli Islands was quick in a brisk but chilly south west wind. Our intended stop at the Islands was curtailed as it was gusting to 30 knots as we passed - Barney and Juanita sensibly clearing the cockpit and going down below to warm up while we reduced sail and decided where to go instead. Passing Flat Island the wind dropped away again and Susie spotted a promising looking bay on the chart called Whangaihe. We decided to have a look and hoped that the swell would not be entering this perfectly shaped bay. In fact it was calm, with the anchorage off a beach and surrounded by steep wooded hills - just perfect.
The following morning we motored around to Whangaroa, entering the spectacular harbour between cliffs on either side. Despite the steepness of the surrounding land, the large bay is surprisingly shallow and the sandy muddy bottom provides superb holding when anchoring. Our first night was spent in Rene Bay, also called Lane Cove. The anchorage is right below the Dukes Nose - a very prominent 'roman nose' shaped rock projecting from a towering column. We went ashore and found the steep path that leads to the top - to get onto the rock column above the Dukes Nose involves a climb for the last 20 meters, aided by a chain, installed for safety by the NZ Department of Conservation.
After another night of calm we moved around to Whangaroa Marina where we planned to leave the boat for a few nights while we went exploring by car. Despite being a sea fishing marina, full of game fishing boats and quite shallow we managed to get Firefly safely tied up before Paul and Susie left to collect the car. The car, borrowed from Juanita's cousin had been left with Nina in Opua, the OCC port captain, a few days back and our plan was to hitchhike back to get it.
With our thumbs being exercised outside the Whangaroa Store, the proprietress initially made Susie a bit unsure by saying 'I would not do that, you might get in a car with a murderer'. Before Susie could change her mind, a local lady stopped and we had our first hitch as far as Kaeo, the only drawback being Susie had to share the backseat with a Rottweiler. The dog turned out to be old and soppy and we were soon in Kaeo and climbing into another car to get ourselves to Keri Keri. The Polish lady driver who had lived in NZ for some time had sailed in the Pacific Islands so there was a lot to discuss. Five minutes after being dropped off we had another lift and in an amazing coincidence, Brett and Barbara who picked us up were neighbours of Nina and we driven the last 20 miles and were dropped off at our car.
During the journey we had asked about the best places to see when we went on our land trip and a trip to Cape Reinga was strongly recommended. Brett and Barbara added that we should consider staying at Hukatere Lodge, totally remote on the 90 Mile Beach and owned and operated by Gabi, a very exhuberant and entertaining German (do they exist?).
On Thursday 4th December, with more glorious weather and having taken the advice we left Firefly and drove to Cape Reinga. It was a long trip but well worth it as the scenery was fantastic near the Cape, this being the place the Mauori People believe to be their 'departure point for souls as they depart on the journey to their spiritual homeland'. We walked down the lighthouse that had guided Firefly to New Zealand almost 4 weeks ago on our trip from New Caledonia. On the way back south we detoured to see some huge dunes on 90 Mile Beach. There was a surf board rental van in the car park and a number of people climbing up the steepest part of the dune and 'surfing' down on their boards.
Hukatere Lodge was found at the end of a long unmade road and was nestled into the dunes just off the deserted beach - the sand seemed to go on endlessly in either direction. Bruce, the Moari caretaker told us to go in despite Gabi not being back as yet - and when we entered the Lodge we met Uve, a German guest who was travelling around NZ on his own was there - It was Uve's Birthday and in the next posting we will describe what fun we had celebrating with him.
Paul, Susie, Barney and Juanita
-------------------------------------------------
Do not push the "reply" button to respond to this
message if that includes the text of this original
message in your response. Messages are sent over a
very low-speed radio link.
The most concise way to reply is to send a NEW message
to:
[email protected]If you DO use your reply button, be sure to delete
the original message text and these instructions
from your reply.
Replies should not contain attachments and should be
less than 5 kBytes (2 text pages) in length.
This email was delivered by an HF private coast station
in the Maritime Mobile Radio Service, operated by the
SailMail Association, a non-profit association of yacht
owners. For more information on this service or on the
SailMail Association, please see the web site at:
http://www.sailmail.com