Farewell to New Zealand

Beautiful Bay of Islands, NZ

Well after being in New Zealand for nearly six months, it is time to move on.  With a high pressure cell moving towards us from Australia this means nice weather and sailing.  In fact it is hard to leave when we know that the sailing locally here in the Bay of Islands will be lovely, but winter is coming here to the far south, so we’ll bid this lovely place adieu.  It also means saying good bye to many other cruisers that we have met along the way and shared many an anchorage with.  New Zealand seems to be a bit of a crossroads, where some are heading to Fiji, some to Australia and Southeast Asia and some even back towards North America.  We hope to sail in the beautiful lagoon of New Caledonia next.  Safe sailing to everyone heading out to sea somewhere!!!

Shipyard: Heidi’s favourite part of boating!

After 15 years, the topside paint (sides of the boat above the water) was looking very tired, so we decided to paint her while here in New Zealand.  After a bit of to-and-fro we decided with International’s two-part polyurethane system.  With the condition of our paint before we started we had to sand it right back to gelcoat in most places first and then start with an epoxy primer.  After two coats of the primer, we painted two undercoats and then two final coats; it meant sanding the entire boat 5 times and painting it six times.  With the usual boatyard full of opinions on how to, when to and what to paint with, we think we had the tools sorted by the last coat and the technique of rolling and tipping nearly figured out.  All would have been perfect(or as close to perfect as we managed) had a 20-second shower not speckled our port side on the final coat.  With another week of rain forecast, we have left the dots as a reminder of New Zealand.  From 30 feet away we’ve had lots of admirers and if you discount the odd run and sag even the pro’s were a little surprised with our final result.  In the end it was worth the arm workout and tensions. 

The steering gear also came off and had a complete polish and service, we replaced our rudder bearings and now after nearly 3 weeks, we’re glad to be floating again.  Women are scarce in a shipyard, so I consider myself lucky to have Heidi working beside me, but that’s how we met in the first place!

New Zealand Species List

New Zealand Fur Seal

Brown Kiwi*

NZ White-capped Albatross (Mollymawk)*
Salvin’s Albatross*
Black-browed Albatross
Buller’s Albatross*
Northern Giant Petrel*
Sooty Shearwater*
Fluttering Shearwater*
Hutton’s Shearwater
Flesh-footed Shearwater
Buller’s Shearwater
Common Diving Petrel*
Black Petrel
Fairy Prion
Cook’s Petrel*
Yellow-eyed Penguin
Blue Penguin*
Fiordland Crested Penguin*
Australasian Gannet*
Black Shag*
Pied Shag*
Little Black Shag
Little Shag
Spotted Shag*
King Shag
Stewart Island Shag*
White Heron
White-faced Heron*
Reef Heron
Royal Spoonbill
Black Swan*
Canada Goose
Paradise Shelduck
Blue Duck
Mallard
Grey Duck*
Grey Teal
New Zealand Scaup
Australasian Harrier*
New Zealand Falcon
California Quail
Weka*
Pukeko
Pied Oystercatcher*
Variable Oystercatcher*
Spur-winged Plover
Pied Stilt
Banded Dotterel*
NZ Dotterel
Arctic Jeager (Skua)
Black-backed Gull*
Red-billed Gull*
Black-billed Gull
Caspian Tern
White-fronted Tern*
Black-fronted Tern
New Zealand Pigeon*
Barbary Dove
Kea
Kaka*
Eastern Rosella
Yellow-crowned Parakeet (Kakariki)*
Orange-fronted Parakeet*
Red-crowned Parakeet*
Shining Cuckoo*
Long-tailed Cuckoo
Morepork*
Kingfisher*
Welcome Swallow*
Rifleman
Silvereye*
Grey Warbler*
Blackbird*
Song Thrush*
Dunnock*
New Zealand Pipit*
Fernbird*
Brown Creeper*
Yellowhead*
Fantail*
Tomtit*
New Zealand Robin*
Tui*
Bellbird*
Saddleback*
Hosue Sparrow
Chaffinch*
Redpole*
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Starling
Myna
Australian Magpie
Bottlenose Dolphin
Hector’s Dolphin
NZ Fur Seal
Hooker’s (NZ) Sealion

* I have already raved about our time on Stewart Island, the * indicates that we saw this species on Stewart Island, could mean that we also saw it elsewhere, but illustrates what a great place it was!

From the Sketchbook:

Boat Sabbatical Part 2: Stewart Island

Most people think of New Zealand only having two islands, north and south, but there’s a third major island and it turns out it’s our favourite!!!  After a short visit to Australia to catch up with family we headed back to the trails in NZ for some more hiking.  Not only was Stewart Island to be our last tramp before returning to Narama, but we loved it so much, that it deserves its own blog entry.  Our plan was to hike the Northwest Circuit, which is meant to be a grueling 100+km of serious, deep mud and then head north for one more tramp.  But we loved Stewart Island so much that we spent an extra week exploring around the small town, visiting Ulva Island, which is pest-free and therefore has loads of birdlife and even catching a Rugby game on Waitangi Day (NZ’s national day). 

12 days of food; our packs were very heavy at the start of our tramp

Learning the field marks of the elusive Kiwi

 Apparently we picked a really good year to attempt this hike as the unusually dry weather meant that the mud was reasonable, and not “thigh-deep” as we were warned about.  The coast line was very dramatic with a few long sandy beaches and lots of rugged rocky headlands.  And the wildlife was special!  We had a very rough ferry crossing from Bluff on the “mainland” but the wind meant that we could spot more albatrosses gliding past.  One of the other things that makes this island so special is that the Brown Kiwi, which is normally nocturnal, will feed throughout the day, making this the best place in NZ to spot them.  For a national icon, we think the kiwi is one funny bird, but we were still thrilled to see them rooting around on the forest floor. 

Mud: even in a good year there will be some on Stewart Island

Always check the depth with a stick before stepping in!

I’ll include a species list later, but for anyone interested in wildife in NZ, then I couldn’t recommend Stewart Island enough.  We were actually a bit sad to finish our hike here even after 12 days and a chance to wash the mud off!

The Kiwi and the Aussie!

Watching Albatross from shore: a rare opportunity elsewhere

Boat Sabbatical Part 1: Hiking the North and South Island of New Zealand

Hiking up the Poulter River, Aurthur's Pass NP

In an effort to rid ourselves of “Boat Body” we bought our first car!  That sounds like an oxymoron but it’s an easier way to get between trailheads and campsites than hitching.  The plan was to tour New Zealand doing as many hikes (tramps) as possible along the way.  NZ parks are amazingly well endowed with hiking trails and its hut system is fantastic.  The huts are dotted literally everywhere (there’s over 1000) – a legacy of post war deer culling efforts, grazers, tramping and other outdoor pursuit clubs.  Hunters still remain a large user of huts off the main trails, but everyone seems to coexist ok on the surface.  We certainly give kudos to DOC (Dept of Conservation) who maintain the majority of the huts and campsites throughout the country.  For the use of the huts we bought a $92, 6 month pass which paid for itself over 4 times, while in between hikes the DOC campsites are free or a few dollars each.  So if your happy to camp and freshen up in the rivers, then these facilities certainly make travel affordable.  The huts range from basic 2-bunk Biv’s in the alpine to 30+ bunks with wood/coal stoves and gas cookers.  All come with mattresses.  So our tent has been replaced by a tarp for emergency use and even the thermarest has been left behind on occasion.

Our favourite campsite: above Speargrass Tarns, Nelson Lakes NP

Heidi has nearly turned into a hobbit though Stephen is far from Gandalf, though he thinks a cane may be necessary soon!  We are impressed with the greater number of female trail users – maybe even out numbering the guys – way to go Kiwi girls!

Sketching the skyline at Travers Saddle, Nelson Lakes NP

One of the older and more character huts, Tararua Forest Park

A summary of the walks that we did, for those who want to look up the locations, etc.

1. Cape Reinga Coastal Walkway          4 days  53km
2. Whirinaki Forest Park                         3 days  36km
3. Kaimanawa Forest Park (Umukarikari Ridge) 2 days 35km
4. Mt Egmont NP (Taranaki)                  5 days 47km
5. Tararua Forest Park                             6 days 70km
6. Kahurangi NP (Mt Arthur                 3 days 31km
7. Nelson Lakes NP Travers-Sabine Circuit  8 days  100km
8. Paparoa NP  Croesus Track                3 days 34km
9. Arthur’s Pass NP                                5 days 73m
10. Stewart Island (Rakiura NP) NW Circuit  12 days 142km

Our total distance hiked was 650km after adding several day hikes as well as these longer tramps.

Trails were well marked!

A few NZ Icons we’ve become aquainted with:

• Whittaker’s Chocolate – a 250g bar of 72% cocoa was consumed on average every 4 days of tramping
• Tramping – this verb means hiking or bushwalking in Canada and Australia respectively
• One-lane bridges – sure they exist in other countries, but here in NZ even the busy Hwy’s have some
• Orange triangle trail markers – it is feasible that they may even out number sheep here!
• Typical NZ tramping attire: shorts and gaiters (no matter what the weather!) – we think this has developed due to the local love of fording rivers
• Sandflies – similar to Canadian Blackflies and Scottish Midges (in a contest the NZ Sandflies would win!)

Minchin Saddle, Arthur's Pass NP

Fording Townsend Creek, Arthur's Pass NP

Landfall Opua, New Zealand

Highest point on Minerva Reef?

We finally had to tear ourselves away from Tonga, the hurricane season is approaching and we are getting excited about all the hiking we would like to do down south.  We had a dramatic first day at sea when a thunderstorm overtook us.  The torrential rain and wind was one thing, but I came a little unglued when I watched lightning strike about 200m behind the boat.  That’s close, too close!!!  The next three days were light sailing and we even had to motor to get into Minerva Reef.  This was an interesting stop.  Minerva is actually two reefs (north and south; we stopped at North Minerva) with the coral forming a ring like an atoll, but there’s no actual land.  Not a palm tree or even a shrub to be seen.  The reef makes for a protected anchorage, but without land in sight it feels like you’re anchored in the middle of the ocean.  At high tide when the seas are rough it gets a little bouncy, but still pleasant.  We had a few days to soak up the experience and walked on the reef at low tide as it dries out, with only the surge of the waves washing across the reef which is nearly half a mile wide. 

Heidi enjoying the easy sailing

We were not the only yacht holed up here, but all five boats left together as the weather “window” had opened.  The passage to New Zealand can be rough and has a notorious reputation, so there was lots of discussion and every GRIB file and weatherfax was analyzed by all of us novice forecasters.  For the very fast yachts it’s a little easier to decide when to leave, but for us small and slow craft, it can be dicey.  It isn’t the conditions as you depart that are the worry but the chance of a strong low pressure or frontal system as you get further south, where the storms pack more punch.  Well the weather gods were with us and we had a lovely passage!  In fact we had our spinnaker up for 2 days of light wind sailing.  It was the first passage where we sailed in sight of other boats the whole time (ie Narama kept up with bigger yachts!).  We enjoyed seeing dolphins and albatross again, in fact the wildlife increase the further south we sailed.

Some passage stats:

North Minerva Reef to Opua New Zealand distance:  800 nm

Best 24 run for Narama:  126nm

Worst run: 106

Time sailed:  7 days

Engine hours:  14

Sail changes:  10

Exploring the tidepools of Minerva Reef