Whangarei boat jobs

I haven't posted in a very long time, but, rest assured, we are still alive, well and as usual, very busy. We've been here in Whangarei almost four months now. The time has flown by! We've been working on the boat seven days a week since we arrived. We started with over 150 items on 'the list' and are pleased to say we've gotten through most of them. We hope to be heading off to French Polynesia sometime in the next few weeks. We are still waiting for two major boat items to arrive before we can go. Two new solar panels will be delivered this week, we're still unsure of when our new windows will be arriving. Delivery was supposed to be six/eight weeks. The templates were delivered to the supplier eleven weeks ago and we are still waiting for delivery, extremely frustrating. Living without windows hasn't been much fun either. July, winter here, is very rainy with frequent downpours and we're down to single digit temperatures overnight. We're coping, but, hope the wait will soon be over.

The main reason we came to Whangarei, NZ was to complete a few major jobs on the boat. The largest and most expensive job being to replace our windows. The boat is only eighteen years old and had already had its acrylic windows replaced three times by previous owners. The acrylic was so badly crazed that we could barely see out. We were unable to enjoy the boat's best feature, the 360 degree view from the deck-level salon seating. As we also didn't want to be replacing acrylic again in five years, we felt a glass replacement was our only option. It took a solid week to prise off the acrylic panels, scrape down the adhesive and make factory templates for the new windows. We will be living with no windows before the new ones are made. Luckily, we were able to fabricate some covers using plastic sheeting, duct tape and old, clip-on sun shades to get some degree of waterproofing. There has been lots of rain, but, only a few minor leaks.

When we first arrived at Marsden Cove, we had to wait a few days before heading upriver until a boat left the very full marina to make room for us. There wasn't a spare inch available, on the hard, or, in the water. That first wait was a sign of things to come. At first, we were like two kids in a candy shop. It seemed like there were multiple suppliers here for every possible boat service we could need. What a welcome treat after spending the two years since acquiring the boat in areas with no services at all. We were very excited thinking we could wrap up the jobs where we needed professional help in a couple of months and be on our way to French Polynesia. The reality was somewhat different. It's true that there are many good suppliers. We arrived late in the season and thought they would be winding down and have time for us. Actually, most of them were burnt-out, so busy and backed-up with work they weren't able to take on anybody else, just told us to put our name down on the list and they would get back to us when they could. We're not that good at waiting and found this very, very frustrating, but, there was no alternative.

At Easter, large numbers of boats starting departing with a small flotilla passing our stern almost every day at high tide. Most were heading to Fiji, Tonga, New Caledonia, or, Vanuatu. It took a few weeks after that, most boats that were leaving had left and we finally got our turn. We've now been able to get professional-level engine, generator and outboard servicing done, some welding done, ordered some new, redesigned upholstery, had our rig inspected (not yet fixed), had our leaking dinghy fixed, had hydraulic hose with new fittings made, had some tricky carpentry done, had a chartplotter fixed (card reader had failed) and as mentioned above, ordered our new windows. In-between we have been working daily on the long list of jobs that we are capable of doing, including removing the electric toilet and all its complicated hoses and valves, replacing it with a manual, maintenance-free Lavac. We've also replaced the crazed acrylic in all the deck hatches and installed new nav lights on our newly-welded bow plates.

The South Pacific cruising season lasts until the end of October and from this location, we can leave any time a good weather window presents itself. In the meantime, we're celebrating each day, trying to work through the many frustrations and enjoying the small satisfactions as we cross each long-anticipated job off the list.

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Still in Whangarei NZ

After arriving at Marsden Cove marina and briefly catching our breath after the tiring passage from Hobart, we headed up the Hatea River towards Whangarei town centre and Riverside Drive marina.  It's a bit of a different environment here than we're used to. We're far from the sea, fourteen miles up a small, tidal river. It's very quiet and peaceful, the wind never blows too hard, the water is never rough and so far, the weather has been perfect. We're located a short distance away from the town centre and the rather crammed conditions at the Town Basin marina. From our berth, we can enjoy a view both up and down river. Upriver, we look towards the town centre.

Downriver, we have a good view of the lifting bridge known as 'the Fishhook of Pohe' which we passed beneath to get to the marina.

At Whangarei, the water is tidal and shallow. Thus, it never developed as a commercial port. Instead, it has become a haven for international yachties. Over 400 international boats visit NZ every season. There are many that come back year-after-year, spending the NZ winter in Fiji, Tonga, or, New Caledonia, returning to Whangarei for the NZ summer to avoid the Pacific cyclone season and to work on their boats. The boat in the berth next to us is an immaculately maintained, sixty foot, Dashew-designed Sundeer. The US owners have been back and forth between the islands and Whangarei for twelve years! Another US boat in the marina has been here doing a 2-1/2 year refit. They were elated this week as they were able to finally move off the dock for the first time since starting work.

The Town Basin area has been redeveloped and is full of coffee shops and trendy eateries. The marina office, gazebo, restaurant and clock tower are central to the activity.

Flower beds abound and benches are many, a lovely spot to park yourself for a while on a sunny day.

The Hatea Loop is a 5k walking loop that runs alongside the river, around the basin, across the lift bridge and through the marina we are at. It's very popular with tourists and locals alike.We walk some part of it every day to get to the shops and suppliers in town.

At first, the weather was very summer-like. Now, we're definitely into autumn and the weather has changed, just this week, to a lot of grey skies and rain. It's still near 20C, so, we're not complaining, not too hot, not too cold, just right for boat jobs.

In-between jobs, we've also been taking advantage of a network of local walks that go a little further afield. The walk to Whangarei Falls went upriver through dense forest.

We could hear the falls and feel their mist before we saw them. The trail opened up to a perfect little cove with multiple falls. It was a fantastic setting in which to enjoy our packed lunch.

We've only left Whangarei once since arriving here almost eight weeks ago. Luckily, we've already seen most of the NZ tourist sights during our 2016/7 three month campervan tour, so, don't feel like we're missing out and are enjoying being in one place for a while. We took our first break from boat jobs last weekend to go to a boat show in Auckland, about a two hour drive away. We visited the boat show and did some shopping, then, on our last day drove to the top of Mount Eden. After parking the car, it was a very short ascent to a spectacular view across the old volcanic crater to Auckland Harbour bridge and Sky Tower. There are many of these old volcanic craters scattered about the local area, fascinating to visit.

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Crossing the Ditch-Tasman Sea to NZ

We left Hobart, enroute to Whangarei NZ, on a warm, calm and windless day. We motored down the D'Entrecasteaux Channel towards the open sea. The quiet conditions gave us time to reflect on how much we had enjoyed our visit to Tasmania. Being a weekday, there weren't many boats about, but, we enjoyed watching this pretty one pass us by.

We entered Storm Bay and as we reached open water, conditions soon changed. The wind and waves picked up and before we knew it, we were close-hauled and bashing into a lumpy sea. We'd hoped to pass close-by scenic Cape Raoul, but, it wasn't to be. All we got was a camera-zoomed image, still spectacular nonetheless.

We were barely away from the coast when we got hit with two, short, but, intense low-pressure systems a day apart. We hove-to for a while in both as it was gusting into the forties overnight and very squally. We were expecting unpredictable and quick-changing winds for this passage. We were hoping for a good run of maybe 18 days to do the 1800, or so miles. Instead, we ended up sailing 2,325 miles over 26 days in very frustrating conditions.

We got within 400 miles of Cape Reinga (the north tip of NZ's North Island) and were headed. The wind blew from the NE for eleven days straight, barely budging direction and directly on our nose. We beat back and forth endlessly, but, made very poor forward progress. If there'd been somewhere to go back to, we might have turned around, but, the NZ government, in its wisdom, has decided that there are now only four official ports of first entry for yachts and they are all on the east coast of NZ, not the west coast we were approaching on (it now looks like Auckland, on the west coast, may be added back to the approved port list soon). So, we persevered. We felt like sitting ducks, just waiting for the next huge low pressure system to swing up from the south and engulf us. We had to keep sailing back and forth as heaving-to would have caused us to drift backwards at 1-2 knots, losing hard-won ground. We held our nerve and worked hard to get within 100 miles of the Cape. Finally, there was a glimmer of hope when the gribs showed a coming one day window of reasonably calm conditions and lighter winds which, if the sea calmed quickly enough, would allow us to motor directly to the Cape and around the top. And so it was. At first it didn't look like it was going to happen as the winds were up all day. Then, all of a sudden, just when we were dreading another miserable night of waiting, at 1600, there was a very violent, fast 180 degree wind shift and the wind immediately dropped to almost nothing, just like somebody turned the switch off. It felt really good to just get that motor on and get out of there!  The first sight of land was very exciting.

We made it around the top and it was just getting dark as we passed the Cape on the north east tip of the island. We started down the east side and you guessed it, the winds were now from the SE on this side, not favourable at all, again. We did manage a few hours of sailing, but, in the end, just kept powering, we were like horses heading for that barn door. The scenery was probably spectacular as we passed by the Bay of Islands, Poor Knights Islands and other landmarks, but, it was pitch-black and we saw nothing.

The morning brought, rain, mist, wind and grey/yellow skies. We checked the gribs and noticed that everywhere in NZ had light winds except for where we were. As we approached Bream Head and the spectacular entrance into Whangarei harbour, the winds were a steady 28, gusting 30's. We surfed into the entrance channel with a container ship coming up quickly behind us. After almost missing the marina entrance, we doubled back and with great relief finally landed at the quarantine dock at Marsden Cove Marina. Another passage complete, but, I wouldn't say it was an enjoyable one.

During our campervan tour of NZ a couple of years ago, we visited Cape Reinga by road, Here are a few pictures of what it looks like from the land side and in better weather.

This is Cape Maria Van Diemen, arcing off to the west, very close to Cape Reinga. We were a few miles off, but, could clearly see the mist created by these huge rollers.

Although it maybe hard to tell in this photo, the waves in front of us were clashing in a decided v-shape, one side from the Tasman Sea, the other from the Pacific. I remember thinking at the time, that, if I was ever to round this maelstrom from sea to stay well off and we did!

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Overland Track, Tasmania

The highlight of our recent visit to Tasmania was to complete a bush walk, the Overland Track and we did it, sixty-five kilometres in six days!

We had to book the walk months in advance as they limit the walkers allowed onto the trail each day. When we booked we weren't even sure we would make it to Tassie in time as sailboat travel can be unpredictable, but, luckily we did and all the advance logistical planning paid off. It's not an easy place to get to. The walk is done one-way, in season and we had to start at Cradle Mountain and finish at Lake St. Clair. The track traverses an alpine area in the northwest area of the state. There were many buses to book, a ferry and hotels for the start and finish dates. Walk fees were also quite expensive, $200 each and another $30 each for park passes.

It was tough and the weather was wet and miserable. At least it wasn't snowing which it was the week before we walked it and it wasn't too hot, the week following us had temperatures into the 30's. Looking on the bright side, all the rain we had showed the rain forest to its best advantage and the waterfalls and creeks were in full flow. We carried all our food, clothing, supplies, tent, sleeping bags, cookstove and fuel in our backpacks. There are huts available on the track, but, you're not guaranteed a bed, so still have to carry a tent. Luckily, due to the strict access restrictions, we were able to get a bed in a hut for each night, a relief to be able to dry out in readiness for the next day. The huts sleep 20-35 people and are just basic dormitories. Each hiker is carrying 15-25 kgs each of gear, so, it does become bedlam when everyone is trying to pack up in the morning.

The first and third days were very hard, the other days were easier, but, not easy. The first day we had to get to the track from Launceston, then walk 10.7 km. It also had the most elevation and was almost vertical in places. Near the top there were chains to assist in your passage up and over the sharp rock. We were rewarded at the top with spectacular views of Cradle Mountain, Crater and Dove Lakes. The walk down to Waterfall Valley was almost as difficult as the up. On arrival at the hut, we were really wondering whether we'd taken on too much, but, we knew the worst was over, or, so we thought at the time.

Day 2 was only 7.8 km, Waterfall Valley to Lake Windermere. An introduction to the varied terrain on the walk. Many sections with wet and slippery tree roots, long sections walking through sharp rock falls and other rocky areas  that were like walking through a dry riverbed, lots of mud, many puddles and running water. This was interspersed with sections of man-made boardwalk over the marshy bits and often wooden steps. It definitely wasn't a 'walk in the park'.

Day 3 was very tough, the longest day's distance, 16.8 km with a very long, steady climb at the end. Once we arrived at the Pelion hut, we had a spectacular view across the buttongrass meadow to Mt. Oakleigh.

Day 4, just 9 km, but, a 300m climb over 4 km, to Pelion Gap. Here, we should have been able to see Mt. Ossa, Australia's highest peak, but, a dense, grey mist enshrouded the mountain tops and we only saw brief glimpses.

Day 5, 9.6 km, the coldest day and we were wet through at the end of day. Glad to arrive at Bert Nichols hut. As the days passed, you tended to end up with the same people in the huts each night. It became quite a convivial atmosphere and we met other tourists from the Netherlands, Italy and France. Many locals were also on the track. We met up with one friendly Australian group: Phil, Sophie, Mel and Abby. They really made our trip. On the second night out, when they learned it was our wedding anniversary (46!), they presented us with a camper's dehydrated apple pie to celebrate. I know this doesn't sound like much, but, it was delicious and very welcome. To give up food rations you've carried a long way was really something special. Maybe they also took pity on the two oldest people on the track that week.

Day 6, 9 km and mostly flat terrain. Our legs were tired, but, we had to make our ferry booking at the Narcissus hut which would take us to Cynthia Bay, the Lake St. Clair visitor centre and the end of the track. The morning was misty, beautiful and the sun came out, finally.

This is the end of the track, at Lake St. Clair, the deepest lake in Australia.

The last day was the only sunny one of the entire week. We were exhausted, but, elated, we can't believe we actually finished it. We were able to soak up some sun and bask in our accomplishment while waiting for the bus which would take us back to Hobart. We also managed a burger, chips and ice cream, who cares about fat and calories at a time like this!

We encountered some wildlife along the way, many cute wallabies.

We saw our first wombat.

Unfortunately, there were not many birds, but, we did see our first currawong. These birds are incredibly intelligent and can open zips on backpacks to find and remove snacks!

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Port Arthur, Tasmania

Of course, any visit to Tasmania needs to include a nod to its rather notorious past as a penal colony. The history of convict settlement is evident throughout the state. We only had time to visit one site and we chose historic Port Arthur. Frankly, on arrival, it looked more like the setting of a Muskoka summer camp, but, the natural beauty of the spot couldn't hide its brutal past. Port Arthur was the prison for recidivists, those convicts who had been sent to Australia and who had then recommitted a further criminal offence.

The site was more than just a prison. By 1840 there were more than 2000 convicts, soldiers and civil staff who lived in the community there. The penal settlement was closed in 1877 and many buildings were destroyed by later bush fires, however, there are still over thirty intact historic homes and buildings as well as extensive ruins.


The homes of the professionals and free settlers were substantial and solidly built.

The Commandant's house occupied a prime waterfront site on a point of land.

There was a church where up to 1100 people attended compulsory services each Sunday.

In addition to the main prison, there was a large complex known as 'the separate prison'. This building was designed to deliver a new method of punishment to try and reform convicts through isolation and contemplation, rather than work and training.

The few women in the community had formal gardens in which to enjoy a convict-free space, as well as a separate beach.

This was the hospital.

After leaving the site, we drove back to Hobart enjoying the stunning scenery along the way.

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Another Hobart visit

We first visited Hobart on a very quick cruise ship stop, in 2016. We were so taken with it then that we decided we definitely had to return on our own boat. This time, we've had four weeks to enjoy Hobart and some other areas of Tasmania, but, have only just scratched the surface. We wish we could stay longer, but, autumn is now here (although you'd never know it with the 39C temperatures we experienced yesterday, a new record) and NZ is beckoning. For our one month visit, we were lucky to base ourselves at Oyster Cove Marina, in Kettering, about twenty miles south of Hobart. It was a lovely place to stay, the rural setting was appealing, the people were friendly and the price was very reasonable. The bus service wasn't the greatest, but, we rented a car for the first two weeks which got us where we needed to go. Just up the hill from the boat, was a nice inn and restaurant overlooking the cove and we enjoyed a few meals there after our day's boat work was completed.

We had our usual share of boat problems and fixes to deal with, but, there's always somebody worse off. This local boat came into the marina after what must have been a rather bad day of sailing!

We took the car one day and headed to the lookout at the top of Mount Wellington, which looms over Hobart. Unfortunately, the top was completely clouded over and we turned around before getting to the summit. Here's the view from about 1/2 way up, from the top it must be even more spectacular, but, this view was great too, don't you think?

We had originally planned to stay at a marina in town, but, due to our arrival just a few days before the Wooden Boat Festival was due to start, everything was booked up. With hindsight, Oyster Cove was a better choice for us anyway, so, it worked out for the best. The Wooden Boat Festival is only put on every second year, so, you might think we couldn't have planned it better, but, wooden boats aren't really our 'thing'. However, they're very pretty to look at and the history and workmanship on display were bound to be interesting, so, we were eager to visit the show. It was small, as boat shows go, but, the variety of boats was tremendous and the atmosphere was very convivial.

Lots of great food stalls and demonstrations rounded out the activities. They even had Morris dancers! Not sure what they have to do with wooden boats, but, it was fun to watch them for a while anyway.

Our last night before we headed to Hobart to clear out was spent at anchor in Barnes Bay, just across the channel from Oyster Cove. That's Mount Wellington in the distance. It was a lovely, warm, calm evening. We sat out in the cockpit for a while and listened to the kookaburras in the woods adjacent to the shore, a great sendoff.

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Welcome to the Roaring Forties

Sunday, January 27, 2019.
44 19.6S  145 01.0E

It was all going so well, but, we just knew it couldn't possibly last forever.  We were hoping to have made it all the way from Perth to Hobart without getting whacked by a nasty low pressure system and we almost made it. Almost... The first 80% of the passage was great, the last 20%, not so much. We knew we had to head down from 34S at Cape Leeuwin to 44S in order to clear the bottom of Tasmania. That ten degrees of latitude is 600 nautical miles. Each mile south would take us closer to Antarctica and deeper into the 'Roaring Forties'. Like the 'Furious Fifties' and 'Screaming Sixties' the names of these bands of latitude give you some idea of the conditions to be encountered there.

We monitor the weather once daily on passage and use our satellite phone to download weather 'grib' (binary gridded data) files. These can be used, in some cases, to avoid low pressure systems that are in your path. The low pressure systems found in the forties latitudes travel continuously from west to east, around the globe unimpeded by any land mass and usually very quickly. They had been staying down south, lower than 44S where we needed to get to and were only a few degrees of latitude in diameter. Just a few days left to go in the passage we opened a grib file to see that our luck had run out. There was a huge wall of wind coming right at us. It was 600 miles wide and there was no avoiding it.

Here's how the grib file looked just as we were on the edge of the coming low, a forecast of 40-57 knots and 8.1m waves right where we were going to be (see our little boat icon). A little further south it was going to be 47-60 knots and 9.5m waves. Gribs typically underestimate wind strengths and gusts will always be more than indicated.

We had thought we had enough time to outrun it, but, we had underestimated the strength of a smaller, local low pressure system that was forming near Cape Leeuwin which was also coming right at us, before the wall was going to hit. The seas got quite large and winds were in the 35-38 knot range. It was hard going so we hove-to for a while overnight, knowing that any delay increased the likelihood that we wouldn't be able to outrun the coming 'wall'. The winds from the small, but, intense low passed and we were back sailing again, but, only for a short while as the wind then died. We put the engine on to keep going. At this point, we were only about 135 miles from Tasmania's southeast cape and we were pushing to get there. If conditions remained the same, we were thinking our eta would be about 1300 the next day.

We turned the engine off and were sailing again, fast to the E in the increasing NW wind. Around 3 am, the wind backed W and we could then only sail mostly N, or S. We chose S to avoid Tasmania's western lee shore. After about three hours we were motoring again to try for a better course, it was our last chance. The wind was now into the high 30's and increasing, we were heading mostly S, when we needed to go  E. The wind started into the 40's and the seas were rising and starting to break. It was a disappointing decision, but, there didn't seem to be any other choice and at 0730 we aborted our plans to round the Cape, we just couldn't make it in time. With the wind forecast to be well into the 40's and more the only option now was to deploy our new, all-dyneema Jordan Series drogue to slow us down and wait for the low to pass over us before continuing. Before we did that we wanted to get as much searoom as possible, so, turned directly south. By 1100, the wind was gusting into the 50's and it was time to deploy the drogue. The launch went fine and the boat immediately slowed down, we started to drift at a rate of 0-3 knots. We were glad to head down below and close the hatch.

Right after launching the drogue, there was an incredible deluge of rain, heavier than anything we've ever seen before, it was a spectacular sight and flattened the seas for a short time. We were quite comfortable down below, warm and dry, the boat's movement was fairly gentle, with occasionally a wave strike that knocked us around a bit. As designed, the drogue let us rise on top of the waves rather than through them and they passed mostly underneath us with little drama.  The only anxiety we were feeling was how long were we going to be 'stuck' here, we had been so close to completion and now we had this unwelcome delay.

The first day we laid with the wind off the stern quarter, we're not sure why we were laying like this as both drogue bridle legs are of equal length, maybe it was wave vs. wind orientation. The second day we became stern-on to the wind which is what we had expected to happen. This caused a few severe poopings. Unfortunately, this allowed some water ingress into the engine room through a faulty gasket on its overhead hatch. This kept us busy bailing and wiping up for a while.

We hung off the drogue for sixty! hours before there was a forecast twenty-four hour lull which allowed us to start moving again. The wind had stayed consistently between 45-50 knots, with no sign of abating, for the whole 2-1/2 days, with gusts to sixty knots. It had seemed like it would never end.

We waited until we were sure the lull was going to be real, then retrieved the drogue as quickly as we could and we were off. The wind was now in the twenties. We passed Tasmania's South East Cape in the dark and started up the channel that leads to Hobart. There looked to be an easy-in/out anchorage partway up and we decided to try for that. When we got there, around two am, the wind had changed to the north and increased to 35 knots. There were breakers rolling down the shallow bay and it was a pitch black night, so, we quickly abandoned any plans to try and anchor, another frustrating disappointment.

We pointed our bow directly into the north wind towards Hobart, but, didn't want to enter the shallow, narrow channel that leads there in the dark as the chart indicated there might be fish farms and other obstacles in our path. Instead, we drove back and forth to kill time for a couple of hours until four am and dawn. At dawn, the wind died to nothing and it turned out that, in daylight, the channel was wide, unobstructed and very beautiful. We quickly headed to the anchorage at Barnes Bay. There were pretty hills on both sides of the channel, but, they were shrouded with smoke from the bush fires and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air. On entry to the Bay, we were greeted by a family of large seals cavorting off our bow. The anchorage was calm, the morning sunny and warm. We were so grateful to finally get the anchor down, it set first time and we crashed into our bunk. We had made it, 24 days and 2345 miles after leaving Two Rocks.

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