6 November 2024 -New Zealand

It was a nice morning in Oke bay when we woke. The bay was still and most had a bit of a lie in. We had a cereal breakfast and we chilled. Many wanted to go ashore so all of us apart from Keith we all went ashore. The beach was lovely and there was a walk up the rocks on the beach leading up to the cliffs. The picture of the day is the girls on the cliff with Stormbird behind.

There were some steps down to the road and this gave a view over the other side of the island. These views were lovely but showed how narrow this part of the island is. We retraced our steps and then walked along the coast which provided nice views of the bay and seeing Stormbird at anchor.

We walked along the shore and passed some lovely modern houses on the cliffs. We also passed a cemetery which had some unusual things on the graves including a road sign! Erika thought it may be where the person died.

The views were lovely but the trees blocked the view a bit. We returned to Stormbird at about 12.00 noon and we upped the dinghy on the davits. We headed off toward Cape Brett which is at the end of the southern promontory of the Bay of Islands. We had to motor as there was little wind bit we kept close to the shore and motored between various islands. We came across dog rock and motored round the end. There were lots of fishing boats around these rocks so there must be good fishing.

Once round the end we headed on to Whangamumu Harbour some 7 miles away. This was an inlet which had a nice beach around it and when we came into the final part there were two boats anchored. There was plenty of space and so we anchored and had some lunch. We then rested and chilled and enjoyed the break.

We had a sundowner and then had tuna and risotto rice with pesto and peas which we all enjoyed.

We will move on tomorrow to Whangarei where we will drop Carilyn off.  

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