1 November 2024 -New Zealand

It was another nice calm morning when I woke. The ladies went off to do yoga so Keith and I had a nice quiet breakfast.

The workmen came about 8.30am and replaced the tap in the galley as it had been leaking. The Raymarine guy came and identified that there was an intermittent issue with the antenna and it was likely that it was the fitting at the top of the mast. The question is whether we could get someone to go to the top of the mast. I left this with Seapower to see if they can sort this.

The car we were hiring arrived which was good. The outboards were ready and were to be returned to Stormbird. I still needed the certificate for the cable and the man was supposed to come.

We set off in the car to do a bit of a tour of Northland which is what this area of NZ is called. This ended up as quite a drive in that we went south on route 1 to Whangerai which was quite a large town where we stopped to have lunch which was nice next to the marina in the town. It looked quite busy and had modern shops etc.

We then carried on  to Dargaville and then headed north and stopped in the Waipoua Forest which was interesting where they have a lot of Kauri Trees of which there are about 40,000 left in NZ. These are iconic trees and historically and culturally are of great importance to NZ ‘ers. The walks were closed due to a disease which risks these trees. North of this at Omapere we had a fantastic view over the Tasmin sea with the large sand dunes on the shoreline. The picture of the day is the view and the bay.

We returned to the marina and had seen a lot in the hours we had toured. The scenery is stunning and very rural. The roads run through fantastic countryside. There are a lot of rolling hills some with trees on them and others without. There are scenes like the UK – the lake district, Umbria etc. This land is very green with lots of green fields or hillsides with the odd bush here and there. There are forests every now and then and of course lots of sheep and cows grazing all over the place.

There are so few people and you have a feeling of great space. The houses are mostly bungalows and single storey and they have wonderful views. There is clearly some poverty as some do not look in good condition. The trip gave us a good impression of the landscape and a feel for what this area is like.

When we returned which was about 7.00pm we went to the café which was having an Indian evening and we had a nice curry.

Opportunity Year Two

In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com