Return to Whangarei

Well, it seems Murphy has been watching again! We had high expectations of a favourable wind for the 43 mile passage to Whangarei Heads but for the whole distance we had a maximum of 6 knots of wind and that for only a short time. As well as that as we got closer to Whangarei the wind went ahead of us, neither of which condition was forecast. So, it was a relatively boring passage with the engine droning on for 8 hours! However, it was a pleasant day, albeit with a large leftover swell from the east. We came straight up the harbour to Marsden Cove Marina where we took on fuel after our circumnavigation of the Hauraki Gulf. It was pleasing to see that we only took about 150 litres so the old engine is fairly economical. We spent the night in the marina as the tide wasn't conducive to coming up to the Town Basin and had an early night.

The next day we had a slow start and then about 1130 left Marsden Cove and negotiated the entrance without hitting the bottom this time. We put the sails up as there was a light following wind and so this, combined with the flood tide gave us a respectable 4.5 knots over the ground. We had her goosewinged - that is the main with preventer out on one side and the Genoa on the other. We should have poled the Genoa out but for the fairly short time involved felt it wasn't strictly necessary. We gybed around Onerahi and soon after sailed past the Norsand slipway hoping that someone would notice this display of intricate seamanship! However, there was so little wind by that time that our forward motion was almost solely due to the failing floodtide so there wasn't anything to get too excited about. Then there is a left hand 90 degree bend to negotiate off Kissing Point. We crept around the bend and then decided it was time to furl the Genoa but the furling drum stuck and we couldn't wrap it up. So we hastily anchored and wrestled with it for a while until we dropped the sail on deck as an alternative to getting rid of it. Then we motored the short distance left to the Town Basin and we tied up on the courtesy berth right outside the marina office - very handy for the showers and washing!

We stayed there overnight and enjoyed the luxury of being able to walk ashore and get anything we wanted. Kranskys for example!! Hamish and Sara had been storing Gina's car and very kindly Hamish came to the marina to pick us up to collect the car. We had dinner with them and then drove back to the boat pleasantly exhausted.

The next afternoon at 1530 we left the marina as we were due to haul out on the top of the tide at 1600 at Norsand. Jim took the boat back down the river (about 20 mins.) and Gina drove the car down. The slipping and hauling went without incident and we are now positioned almost back in our old spot. Quite a case of deja vue although it's unlikely we'll drag the anchor here! It's been good to catch up with fellow cruisers we have met before as well as everyone in the boatyard. There's David and Mary on "Giselle" who have sailed from the UK and have decided to refit the boat here. We met them at Urquarts Bay a couple of months ago when they came alongside in their dinghy attracted by our Scottish flag. Mary is Scottish with a very recognisable accent!! And Tim (who is South African) on his catamaran "Camissa". He is having a very extensive refit done after having sailed here through the Carribean and across the Pacific. You can see a record of his voyage on his website www.sailcamissa.com

We are now well entrenched in the boatyard regime again and getting our heads around sanding and painting! There is unfortunately work to be done on the watermaker too which is disappointing after 2 visits to Opua recently but better to get it fixed here rather than worrying about its performance back in the water. But no doubt it will all get done in time for our departure north in about 7 week's time.

We'll let you know how the work is progressing.

Cheers again

J & J (G)    

 

Departure from Barrier

It's now looking very likely that we will leave early tomorrow as the forecast has at last shown a more friendly face. Still, the proof will be the conditions in the morning. It's still very windy right now at 1900! Although we've been fairly frustrated that we haven't been able to follow our original plans because of the weather, we are feeling sad to be at last leaving this intriguing place. Today we went ashore in Karaka Bay where there is a substantial residential establishment known as Orama. It is run by a Christian group in conjunction with the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre and is open to virtually anyone and groups of all sorts. They can accommodate well over 100 at a time. It's a very impressive place which has had a great deal of investment over the years. The huge commercial kitchen would do justice to a major hotel!! After talking to them for a while we walked up the hill following a recently built predator fence right to the top from where there is a wonderful view right to the mainland. The predator fence is a joint venture between Orama, DOC and other adjacent landowners and it encloses the entire peninsula between here and Port Fitzroy. We'd heard of predator fences but to see it in the flesh and the rugged country it traverses is very impressive. It is over 6 feet high and built with posts and closely spaced mesh to prevent any pests getting through. It has closely fitting gates which are really doors at intervals and along the entire top is a metal V shaped roof to prevent determined animals from getting over the top. On top of that is an electric wire which is an added barrier and which is powered by solar panels at intervals. The total length is 2 kilometres. It is sad that to preserve endangered species which in some cases have been all but wiped out by negligently introduced predators such as cats and mustelids it is necessary to go to such lengths but at the same time it is good that Government agencies and others are prepared to make the investment in our future. In the main from what we have seen, DOC is doing a great job and also in providing public access in the form of walking tracks. There is always criticism of some of their methods and now increasing concern with funding cuts along with reduced Govt. spending generally. However, in our opinion, while there are substantial inefficiencies with DOC which need to be addressed, funding to DOC should be increased as there are many other areas where funding should be cut or abolished altogether. Politicians' perks (rorts) would be one as would the continued appeasement of never ending Maori land claims. On this latter there should be a fiscal cap and an end brought to the Waitangi Treaty gravy train - not just for the direct recipients but also for all the other hangers on such as lawyers who have been and are continuing to extort fees in this most destructive and divisive national issue.
Speaking of walking, a general comment about walking on the Barrier would be that a good percentage is more vertical than horizontal but at least when one has conquered a particular objective such as the Kaiarara Kauri Driving Dam there is a substantial sense of achievement. Especially at our advanced age - but the crew wishes it to be known that she most vociferously wishes to be disassociated from that last observation!!!!!
Early to bed tonight as there is an early start in the morning. Everything is ready to go with the dinghy on board and sail covers off! More later.
Cheers again,
J & J(G)

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(no subject)

This pesky weather just keeps on. We have abandoned our plans to leave the Barrier for now and it is 1130 on Sunday. We had heard the forecast last night which was encouraging with a wind shift more to the south and dropping in strength. However, at 3 this morning we were having 19 knots at anchor - and in a sheltered anchorage at that! Fortunately here (Karaka Bay in Port Abercrombie) the wind was offshore so no real problem but just unpleasant with the wind howling and the wind power generator screaming its little heart out! Still, we do need to make some power. Other than that the weather is fine and the sun is shining so not all bad.
If one can believe the forecast it is looking a lot better for tomorrow so that's most likely when we will leave. The wind is at last expected to be more southerly and a more comfortable wind strength - not hanging on by our toenails!!
As always watch this space!
J & J(G)

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(no subject)

We have been having a quieter day today. We are still in Kaiarara Bay and late this morning went ashore and had a walk through very pleasant bush, crossed a couple of small waterfalls scrambling on moss covered rocks, then returned to the boat where Gina cooked another banana cake and a Gluten free bread loaf. We've just been feeding a pair of fairly rare Brown Teal (Pateke) Ducks who are quite dark brown and smaller than the common brown duck. They weren't particularly keen on banana cake but thought the Gluten free bread was just the ticket! Apparently there are only about 1000 left in the wild and over 50% are on the Barrier.
We are planning to leave the Barrier for Whangarei at dawn tomorrow morning and have just heard a forecast of S 20 knots rising SE 30 knots with a 3 metre SE swell! Sounds like fun but normally the wind doesn't really get strong until late morning by which time we should be well on our way. The dinghy is on deck all lashed down and we are just about ready for sea. Gina has just made a lovely mince pie with a mashed potato top which we are about to consume. Maybe there might be some left over for tomorrow??!!
We expect to be in Urquarts Bay, Whangarei Heads tomorrow night and will regale you with details of the passage.
Cheers,
J & J(G)

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Weather bound

Well, we are still here at Gt Barrier as the forecast for today and the next few days is for high winds, although in the main from the right direction for us. It looks as though Saturday will be the best day for us because after that the winds are supposed to go to 30 knots +. Some people would no doubt say we'd better get used to it but it is different at sea because if you can't keep to the rumb line course then you just sail off to a point of sailing which suits best and then do a series of tacks, whereas for a day sail such as Barrier to Whangarei we don't want to spend too long on passage because it's preferable at our state of experience to arrive in daylight. At the end of an ocean passage one would always try to ensure that landfall was made in daylight by slowing down or heaving to, but we really don't want to spend all night hove to outside Whangarei after a long sail! Having said that though, we would be OK entering Whangarei Harbour in the dark because we've done it many times in daylight. Saturday looks promising because we can sail vectors to avoid having the wind directly behind us. All sounds good in theory!!
Meantime we are in Kaiarara Bay again which is giving good shelter in a reasonable depth of water. Most bays with reasonable shelter in these winds around here seem to have depths of 50 feet + which means that to obtain good holding we would have to deploy more anchor rode than we would normally wish. We had tried out another bay earlier but decided to come back here for peace of mind when asleep because the depth is 25 - 30 feet! "Spirit of NZ" is in here tonight also and the trainee crew had come ashore to do the walk we did yesterday to the Kauri dam. They had a couple of big inflatables which they then had to paddle some distance in winds up to 25 knots back out to the ship. Just as well they weren't elderly like us (!) as rowing our little dinghy back to the Tiare yesterday was all we could manage after our mountaineering exertions!
We also had a surprise visitor just after we dropped anchor back in the bay. Brian Parker (who Jim had spoken to by phone some time ago) was a previous owner of the Tiare when she was based in Wellington and was known as "Reflections of Wellington". He is now retired to Whitianga. He was in here on his present boat and couldn't believe his eyes when he saw us come in. He had owned her (the Tiare) for 15 years in Wellington and had raced her extensively. She won a cross Cook Straight race on one occasion against 17 other boats and the winning margin was 7 seconds!! He was tickled pink to see the old girl and to see all the work we had subsequently done. He and his wife had come up from the Mercury Islands and had a very rough trip. Tomorrow if the Fitzroy anchorage is reasonable we will go in there for a few supplies and then come back here in readiness for an early morning departure to Whangarei.
More later!
Cheers,
J & J(G)

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Kaiarara Driving Dam

Today was an energetic day - to say the least!! We had been anchored in Kaiarara Bay overnight and went ashore briefly yesterday where we noticed a DOC sign pointing along a track to the Dam; 2 hrs it said. So, 1st thing this morning with a very high spring tide we rowed ashore and could literally walk out of the dinghy onto the grass at Bush's Beach. So, off we went all bright eyed and bushy tailed along what was to start with a very pleasant easy track. As we climbed up the valley it gradually became steeper although interspersed with some beautiful sections of easy walking through native bush with a large number of young (and sometimes not so young) Kauri. DOC has done a great job with walking tracks but there were some spots where it simply wasn't possible to construct a track and these saw us scrambling round rock bluffs and climbing on all fours. After more than 2 hours we at last arrived at the dam and it was well worth the effort as the mind absolutely boggles at the sheer engineering feat of constructing such a massive timber structure high up in very rugged country.
The dams were used to dam water and Kauri logs until there was enough weight of water to send with sheer brute force all the logs down to the bay where they were rafted together for eventual sea transport to Auckland or the Kauri Timber Company sawmill at Whangaparapara. Apparently there were 2 smaller dams even higher up the valley which were tripped a few seconds before the main Kaiarara Driving Dam was tripped to ensure the maximum effect from the pent up water energy. The action of tripping the dam (which is 40 metres across) at relatively high altitude and sending hundreds of tons of water and logs crashing down the river evidently could be heard as a mighty roar for miles and the ground shook as if there had been an earthquake. Quite apart from the actual logging itself and the damage that must have been caused in getting the logs into the artificial lake that had been created behind the dam, the damage to the riverbed and surrounds when the whole conglomeration crashed through on its way to the sea must have been enormous and the whole enterprise of Kauri logging was certainly devoid of any environmental concern. In spite of that one has to have great admiration for the engineering genius that lay behind the construction of these massive timber structures so high up in what seems now to be virtually impassable rugged country with many sheer drops down high rock faces. The most well known of the bushmen was one George Murray and there is a photo of him and his 2 sons at the viewing platform in front of the dam. Apparently he was 6'8" and his 2 sons also both well over 6 feet tall. Not only did they need to be possessed of great engineering ingenuity but they also needed extreme physical strength.
We eventually arrived back at the beach 5 hours later but the tide had gone out of course which meant carrying the dinghy for some way over the mudflats. Not exactly what we felt like after our earlier exertions. However, we sat a while and had some more fruit cake which we'd taken with us and Gina exercised her hairdressing skills once again and cut Jim's hair. We're sure Noel would not have approved of the amount actually removed!! After arriving back on board Jim in particular was absolutely exhausted and slept for an hour. After some TLC from Gina in the form of appropriate homeopathics and some liniment rubbed on the knees he made a good recovery and we then prepared the boat for sea - getting the dinghy on board, sail cover off and everything lashed down in readiness for an early departure tomorrow morning. Weather forecast is looking good so here's hoping for a good sail back to Whangarei.
We'll let you know how it went!!
Cheers again,
J & J (G)

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