24 November 2024 -New Zealand- Waiheke Island

We woke to a nice day which looked promising and had a bit of sun and cloud but it proved to be a lovely day in the end. We had a cereal breakfast and mango which was good.

We upped anchor reasonably early as we were towing the dinghy so the wind was effectively light. We came out of our bay and hugged the coastline and there are so many nice coves and bays many with little beaches. We came round to Onetangi Bay (which has a number of coves within it) which is a large bay and known for surfing when the wind is in the right direction to give it waves. This had quite a few boats in it sheltering from the wind. We motored into the bay and had a look round but decided to carry on passing more bays and potential anchorages. In fact, you could spend weeks here trying them out depending on the wind direction.

The next main bay is Oneroa Bay where we will rent a house shortly and this was very busy. It is a nice town Oneroa and probably the most chic on the island. We skirted in and thought we will see this quite a lot so we moved on and there was only one more sheltered bay from the Southwest and that was Owhanake Bay on the Northwest corner. Whilst there were quite a few motorboats anchored here we could fit in on the outside and still be sheltered from the wind. We anchored and got ourselves settled. There were a number of beaches in the bay and we decided to go ashore after lunch.  We therefore chilled for a bit.

Lunch was carrot and butternut squash soup which Keith had prepared the day before with a bit of bread and banana cake left over. We headed ashore and pulled the dinghy up on the beach. There were some well-marked coastal paths and we decided to walk to Matiatia Bay which on the west side of the island and the path took up the hill. We could see some really lovely properties on the hill with magnificent views out of the bay. We saw a sign saying that if we see a stoat let them know – apparently there are only native ones on the island left!. We did not see any luckily.

We climbed the hill to the road ( see a vineyard on the opposite hill) and then the track led us down to cove from which at low water we could walk across to Matiatia Bay where the ferries go to Auckland. The problem was that the tide was in and we could not walk along the beach so we had to go back up but were rewarded by seeing a lovely heron on the path.

As we got back to the road we passed some World War 2 buildings as there was a look out here across the bay and soldiers billeted here during that period. They were now abandoned and had been come an art gallery for the graffiti gangs!

We soon found a path after them and descended through the woods and down to the ferry terminal and Matiatia Bay. This was a nice bay but a bit exposed to the current wind direction and also boats had to contend with ferries coming in every 30 minutes. However, the ferry terminal meant we could get a tea/coffee and an ice cream. We enjoyed these sitting on a bench in the sun whilst watching the ferry activity and it was certainly busy bearing in mind it was a Sunday.

Once we had had enough we retraced our steps back up through the woods to the top again and then we descended down to our bay along the coast path. The scenery and vegetation are breathtaking. It felt good to be alive and how lucky we are to be doing this.

We returned to Stormbird and it was our last night at anchor and we go into the marina tomorrow. We therefore had to raise the engine off the dinghy using the crane and then we hoisted the dinghy on the davits. We took the preventers up and put the running backstays properly. I also prepared the line necessary to take the mainsail down which hopefully we will do tomorrow.  We prepared the boat for going into the marina.

Jobs done we sat on the sun chairs at the back and had a sundowner. It was lovely and warm in the sun and we were sheltered from the cooling wind. It felt a bit like the end of a chapter. Keith and I have been together since the end of August and although there have been times when we have had 6 crew, this was the second period when we have been just the two of us. I think I can say we have got on well and are now a well-oiled crew and we have had great fun and I am grateful for Keith spending this much time as it has meant continuity of crew for me.  The picture of the day is the two of us enjoying a sundowner.

We had a salad supper of bacon, avocado, tomato, cucumber, lettuce and sweetcorn with a Nick Hine salad dressing which Keith said was bloody good!!.    

It is up at a reasonable time tomorrow to go to Waiheke Marina. Life will be different and time ashore beckons after a year afloat (save the time I went home).

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