We left Whangarei and sailed to Urquharts Bay Wednesday and had our first meal while cruising.
After a lazy morning we went ashore and hiked for a few hours. Saw the WWII gun replacement, and went to Busby Head which gave us a great view of Smugglers Cove.
Carol and I hiked up the short spur off the trail to the top of Busby Head and looked down into Smugglers Cove .
Cindy and Ian on the beach at Smugglers Cove.
1192 stairs and about 1000 footsteps.
Friday the 26th we departed and had a nice close reach sail for 50 miles to Great Barrier Island.
)
Of course there was a 45 minute hike to a waterfall that was somewhat anticlimactic and my calves were screaming from yesterday's trek. Although it's only been 4 days since we left the marina, I find myself already slipping into full on cruising mode. Sleep in, eat, read, sail, watch the scenery, or not. Carol made a fabulous eggplant parmesan for dinner and we killed a couple bottles of wine.
I have been faithfully fulfilling my usual duty; sometimes with Ian's assistance.
Scrubbed the bottom today, or at least the top 3 feet. Ladies from the dinghy and the men in the water with mask, fins, and snorkel. This strenuous activity then necessitated a rest/nap after which we took the dinghy around to the next cove and had a leisurely stroll on another footpath.
Our hosts Ian and Cindy and their Oyster 54.
Hiked Mt Hobson; 627 meters, 3 hours up, little over 2 hours down. 14 km rt. A slight drizzle started when we were about 2/3 the way up, but we kept going. At the top we had a great view in most directions for about 15 min, but the clouds closed in and visibility dropped to about 100 meters. I did notice there were two other couples that made it up while we were there and both were well into their 60's; Kiwis are very fit!
Remnants of the Kauri dam leftover from the logging days.
Some of the stairs were very narrow!
The view from the top!
We sailed to Whangaparapara, caught a nice sized fish en route. Decided to have dinner ashore at Great Barrier Lodge and left the fish for the next night.
Ian displaying MY catch!
We've moved to Tryphena. Hitch Hiked to Pa Beach Café for lunch. I found almond croissants! Yummy. We spent a couple of days in Tryphena harbor, did laundry and the four of us spent an exciting afternoon stripping some of the winches. We also met Michael from CA who has been sailing about on his Catalina 42 for 5 years and his lovely English fiancee Allison and had dinner ashore with them.
One of Cindy's lovely meals!
Ian and Carol at one of the many waterfalls we have seen on our hikes.
The tide ranges about 7-8 feet; our dinghy will be in 3 feet of water when we leave!
No shortage of views like this.
On the downside, we got a message that our 20+ year old Calico cat had a stroke, was partially paralyzed and died. Thank you Nica for taking good care of Noonie.
Yesterday we left Great Barrier Island and motored/sailed to Great Mercury Island. I took advantage of the light wind to convince Ian to try out his Code 0 sail. After we fine tuned the setup it flew just fine.
That's all for now, don't forget to FOLLOW the blog so you get a reminder when I post next time. Probably another couple of weeks. CHEERS!
1 comment:
Love the fun you are having. We'll keep watching!
Noonie had a good last couple of months - she was active and happy right up until the end. Thanks for sharing her with us. Hugs all around.
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