13 November 2024 -New Zealand Motuike Island- Waiheke Island

It was a rather grey drab day when we woke and everything looked just grey. I saw the Spirit of New Zealand (also grey/black!) up anchor and head off toward the center of Auckland which also looked grey with its office blocks and tower.

We had a leisurely breakfast and brightened up our day with a poached egg on avocado on toast with a nice coffee. I had some admin and calls to do to various workmen in Auckland who are going to work on Stormbird.

We eventually upped anchor and the wind had built and was now 14-17 kts from the Northeast with gusts in the 20’s. The wind felt cold and I contemplated changing my shorts for long trousers but resisted the urge a little longer. We headed out of the bay on Motuihe Island and headed over to look at Islington Bay which divided the bottom of Rangito and Motutapu Islands, which are joined. This was a wide big bay with nothing dramatic or interesting about it and in the grey did not look that inviting.

We therefore turned to starboard and headed up the Motuihe Channel and then headed toward Waiheke Island. There are quite a few shallow areas with rocks which we had to navigate round and we headed over to Motukuha Bay and Island which is on the mid-west side of Waiheke and then we headed south along the coast seeing various vineyards on the rolling hills.

Our pilot book says even though Waiheke Island is on  Auckland’s doorstep it still maintains its own character. Apparently the ambient temperature is several degrees warmer than the mainland and is mediterranean in character. It is only 9 nm from downtown Auckland and is the second largest island in the Huaraki Gulf. It has at least 8 thousand permanent residents many of whom commute to Auckland each day on the numerous fast ferries which we have seen.

It has 71 nm of coastline and 21nm of beaches and a lot of sheltered harbours and estuaries. It has a rugged Northeast coast and the Northern side has most of the beaches. The southern side is more estuarine. It is a bit chic and offers a wide variety of attractions ranging from bustling towns like Oneroa, through to the 30 plus vineyards, some of which feature cafes, restaurants and guided vineyard tours. They even have a hop on hop off bus going round the vineyards!! It is known as somewhere you should go to get away from the city and Auckland which is not a particularly attractive city.

We motored on down to the southwest corner and round Park Point between the shallows and the island. We rounded the corner and saw a large bay called Huruhi Bay but continued on to Putiki Bay as Waiheke Marina was there and we are going there about the 25th November 2024. We had a reke and this is where some of the ferries come in taking people to Auckland. It looked as if there was some space in the marina and being so close to the ferry will be handy. This bay is not deep and I was in about 5-6 meters of water by the marina. It was also a little exposed and would have not been easy to anchor in with the ferries coming back and forth.

We therefore went back to Huruhi Bay where we found a more sheltered by shallow spot anchoring in only about 4.2m at low water in mud. We should hold fine albeit it is a lot shallower than where I normally would anchor.

We decided to go ashore and took the dinghy to the local beach and pulled it up and tied the painter (rope) to some rocks. We wondered up some steps and found a main road called Donald Bruce Road and using google maps  and Mapsme gradually walked toward where it said there was a bistro. This meant going past some schools and we cut across some playing fields and came down a road to a shop and and there was an Irish Bar! Next door was a bistro and so it was a difficult choice! We were sensible and went for the bistro which was trying to be French and we had a galette each which was nice followed by a slice of lemon tart and pistachio chocolate brownie, which we shared. This was what the doctor ordered and we did not turn right when we finished but left and thought we should go to Oneroa where I am renting a house at the end of the month for a few days. We found a bus stop and a bus came almost immediately but the driver said we needed a bus card as they do not take cash. He let us in anyway and said we should go to the library in Oneroa and get a bus card.

We were dropped off in Oneroa which is a nice little town on a bay back from the beach. It is trying (and is) to be upmarket and chic and has the usual special cafes, delicatessen and a posh supermarket and many bars and restaurants. It has a number of shops selling posh clothes and nic knacks. It had a lovely atmosphere and I came across a barber and had my haircut which was good and my hair is now tidier.  We walked around and there was even a posh ice cream shop and we resisted the temptation after what we had eaten.  We did have a quick drink after my hair was cut and we certainly paid more than we were used to.

We did find the library and decided to get a bus card as this would be cheaper than a cab and I may be able to use it when we return to Oneroa. We thought we better get back as the tide was coming in and we hoped the dinghy would be ok. There were only certain buses going where we needed to go and so we spoke to a driver and said he would drop us as near as he could which was near the school. We retraced our steps and before long were back at the beach where the water was fully in and the water was up to the level where we had tied the dinghy.

We launched and got back to Stormbird patiently waiting for us. We upped the dinghy on the davits in preparation for tomorrow. Once finished it started to rain which was good timing. We saw some sailing racing going on and watched for while with a sundowner. Keith then cooked sausages with mash and carrot puree which we all enjoyed.

It had been a good and interesting day and tomorrow we will head to Auckland and a marina in the centre.

The picture of the day is the three us in the dinghy on what was a grey day but we made the best of it and it was colourful after all.

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