12 November 2024 -New Zealand-Mohurangi Heads – Motuike Island

It was another lovely quiet morning when we woke and sunny and calm. The beach was quiet although I could see 2 people walking on the foreshore -perhaps looking for crabs or other food.

We had a cereal breakfast with pineapple and enjoyed a nice coffee. We decided to pull up the dinghy on the davits as we were going some 20nm plus and there had been some swell yesterday. Once done we upped anchor. There was little wind-perhaps 2-3 kts. We motored out of the bay and left Te Haupa Island to port where there was one yacht anchored in the saddle of the island. It was relatively low water and we could see quite a lot of rock uncovered and it was an island not to be messed with from a navigation point of view. Te Haupa is known locally as Saddle Island and there is a long reef which extends from the North of the Island marked by a red buoy which you would best avoid.

We motored on and headed for Tiritangi Mantangi Island. The land mass of Whangaparaoa was on our right and it comes out some way from the mainland.

The Hauraki Gulf Island of Tiritiri Matangi Island is now a scientific reserve and an open sanctuary for endangered birdlife. In the 1800’s the land was cleared of its natural vegetation and farmed for years. It was also the sight for one of NZ’s earliest lighthouses. This lighthouse has been in place for over 159 years and was erected in 1864. This lighthouse was prefabricated in England and shipped out to NZ. It has guided mariners since 1864. It is 21 meters high and the light is 91 m above sea level and can be seen from about 18nm.

Between 1984 and 1994 many trees were planted and now provide shelter to a wide variety of birdlife. Of particular joy is the singing of the numerous birds and it has become locally known as the “Singing Island”.

We came to the island and anchored off the commercial wharf on the Southwest of the island. It was a nice spot but with lots of rocks around to watch out for. We can vouch that singing island is a good name as we heard so much birdsong so that we remarked that it is an apt name.

We had a nice lunch and enjoyed eating it in the sun and light wind listening to birdsong. There was no sign of life apart from the odd small fishing boat. Once we had cleared up from lunch we read for 30 minutes or so and then upped anchor and headed toward Rakino Island and Motutapu Island and the pass between them called the Rakino Pass. The wind had got up so up went the sails and Stormbird picked up her skirts and we shot forward at 8.5 kts. We continued on a direct course for the pass. It was a lovely sail and we could see the center of Auckland on our right in the distance. There were white horses on the water and a lot of small fishing sort of speedboats that they have out here with everyone anchored or drifting and a lot generally fishing. It seems a craze here.

We sailed along about 8 kts through the pass and saw a lot of nice houses on Rakino Island with a few nice bays on the western side which had a number of sailboats and motorboats anchored in the bays behind the rocks. The island looked nice with a reasonable ridge and light-coloured rock and trees. Mototapu Island on the right was different. It was very green with little trees but some rolling hills but little habitation. We sailed on between the islands and then beared away to the Mototapu Channel which separated this island from Motuihe Island ,which was our destination and Waikalabubu Bay on the Southeastern corner which would be sheltered from the wind.

We came to a stage where we took the sails in and motored through the channel and came round to the south of Motuihe Island. We saw en route a number of ferries going to Waiheke Island which is where we will go soon.

We came round to our bay and anchored in quite shallow water (8m) and settled down with a cup of tea. Our view from the anchorage was Auckland – see the picture of the day.

Whilst at anchor the Spirit of New Zealand, a 3-mast tall ship came in and anchored. I looked her up but she was only built in 1986 and is now a training ship for slightly way wood kids. There were 4 people up the masts as they came in.

The evening turned out to be lovely and the sun came out and the wind died. We had sundowners in the cockpit and it felt one of those good to be alive moments.

We had supper of spag bol with rice and broccoli which was as good as last night.

We will head to central Auckland on Thursday to meet the plumbers who will fit the new washing machine. In the meantime, we will enjoy this area tomorrow.

The picture of the day is our view of Auckland from our anchorage.

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 continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com