15 November 2024 -New Zealand- Auckland

It was a more pleasant morning when we woke and the rain seemed to have passed.

We had breakfast and I put the new washing machine on and all seemed good. However, it stopped part of the way through in its programme and it seemed the water could not drain out. I was a little annoyed as I told the installers about this and they assured me it should be fine. It was not. I got on the phone by WhatsApp to check if the plumbers were working today – no answer annoyingly and so I will have to wait until they come back on Monday now. I got an answer later in the day to say someone will be there on Monday am which means we have to stay another day. Hopefully that will resolve the issue.

The weather by this time was cheering up and the sun was even beginning to appear. We decided we would try and go to Devonport which is on the Northern side of Auckland Harbour. We first all went to the chandlery to see if they had any New Zealand Yacht Squadron shirts but they did not have any. However, I got some fishing gear – 300lb line and some more local lures so when I get it going hopefully we will have some more luck.

We walked toward the Viaduct area and the wharfs and the docks which were toward the city center having an almond croissant and coffee en route. We came across the fish market which was closed but there are lots of restaurants and cafes and bars here and it seems a modern well looked after city. We walked along and came to Viaduct Harbour and due to works had to walk around it which takes about 20 minutes to get round. Along the way there were various plagues explaining that a lot of the current area was reclaimed from the sea and replaced the old docks and warehouse areas. It is no full of boats – motorboats mostly and modern flats overlooking the harbour. As we got to the eastern section we got to the city with the usual office buildings for companies like HSBC, Microsoft, PWC etc. The office buildings mixed in well with the modern restaurants and bars although there is still the odd old building left such as the Ferry Building.

In walking round the harbour, we came across some famous boats such as Steinlager 2 which was a Bruce Farr designed yacht and skippered by Peter Blake which won the 1989-90 Whitbread Round the World Race. She is the only yacht in this World race to ever win all six legs which had never been done before and I do not think so since. We also saw a NZ monohull which won the Americas cup in the 90’s and from which you can still have a sailing experience.

We decided to get a ferry from the wharfs to Devonport. This is only about a 15-minute ride and is an area which has well preserved Victorian and Edwardian Buildings and lots of cafes etc. We took the ferry and took some good pictures looking back to the city and there was lots of racing going on in the harbour.

We got off the ferry and saw the old buildings and walked up the main street with the cafes and shops toward Mount Victoria which is an extinct volcano or cone and this takes you up a large hill and gives you a 360 degrees view. We could see down over Auckland and the city and the Harbour Bridge and then up toward Rangitito Island and then up the Hauraki Gulf where we could see Kawau Island in the distance. This was a fantastic viewpoint and we sat on a bench staring at it for about 20 mins before we were asked to move on by another tourist. It was well worth the effort to walk up.

We walked down and had lunch and an ice cream which was nice and we then took the ferry back and went to the Maritime Museum which was fascinating and we ran out of time to see it properly.    

This has a section dealing with the Mauri canoes and outriggers and their sailing boas they had. There was then a section on cargo boats, sail cargo boats, steam ships, cruise ships etc. There was an interesting section on assisted immigration between 1947-1975 when at least 77,000 Brits were assisted to come to settle in NZ. We moved on to the more modern era of sailing and Keith and I watched part of a film about Enza a catamaran in 1994 which set sail to win the Jules Verne Trophy (round the world challenge) with Peter Blake as skipper and Robin Knox Johnson was on board. We could not finish it but we will download and watch it properly but they won having to go through some terrific storms.

We came out of the museum and had a drink and then met Sarah and Louis again for a meal at Giraffe. This was fun and we caught up more.

The town was buzzing and everyone as out for a good time it seemed. We walked back to Stormbird and had to let ourselves back into a deserted yard and marina. Joyce leaves in the morning.

The picture of the day is us up the top of Mount Victoria looking down at Auckland.   

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