"Happenings" Number 8 - 2003

Landfalls in Paradise

‘Races to the swift, Fortunes to the brave’ - goes an old ‘saw’ (adage) to which one might add, certainly in our recent experience, ‘Paradise to the seekers’, for wandering about and going the extra mile off the beaten track brought us its rewards in northern Tonga. But I’ll come to that presently.

Continuing on from our last report, ‘Envy’ spent a further two weeks moseying about more of Vava’u’s sheltered island anchorages, indulging the marvellous scenery of small secluded bays with their palm lined beaches, whilst enjoying making the acquaintance of both the local village peoples and some newly met fellow cruising yachties. However, not every day is a Valhalla in paradise, for we must admit to some yucky unseasonal wet weather, and a few horrible windy days as well, which kept us holed up in snug anchorages.

Captain Cook named Tonga ‘the friendly islands’ (although unbeknown to him the local chiefs were planning to kill him) and that moniker holds true today, for we met such friendly people everywhere we went. Whilst village lifestyle, away from the towns, is basically one of subsistence, these Polynesian peoples are a picture of beaming health and happiness, and their smiles, so pleasing in themselves, are further enhanced by the nicest pearly white teeth you’d ever hope to see. Such a contrast to their beetle nut chewing Melanesian ‘cousins’ with their orange and black stained teeth.

After 35 days of sailing around the many islands of the Vava’u group, we departed these excellent cruising grounds sailing out from Port Mourelle (not a port at all – just another lovely small sandy palm lined cove) on a moonless night at 2:30am to arrive in daylight the following afternoon 177 n/miles away at Niuatoputapu Island, the administrative centre of Tonga’s isolated far northern Niuan Islands group, and whose unlit dogs-leg entry through the reef is a ‘daylight only’ exercise.

The 33 hour trip was good sailing until mid morning the following day, just 15 miles out from our destination, when we entered the ever moving Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and it rained so heavily out of almost black clouds that we couldn’t see 100 metres ahead (on and off) for the next two hours and, fearing it may not stop in time, we took the decision to abort Niuatoputapu if necessary and sail on the further 180 nm to Samoa, but then the rain cleared 5 miles out and we had lovely sunshine and light airs to negotiate the narrow channel into the lagoon.

What a magic place this turned out to be. Very few yachties, or anyone else, bothers to go to Niuatoputapu, in their hurry to reach Vava’u or Fiji. It’s so small, so undeveloped, and so well off the ‘tourist track’ that almost no one’s ever heard of it, but little do they know what they’ve missed. Mind you, not much really, since there is not much here – no Bars, Restaurants, shopping opportunities or Hotels, etc. other than the small Palm Tree Island Resort, which seldom has many, if any guests, on tiny adjoining Hunganga Island, to which we waded across at low tide and were towed home in a motor-less dinghy at high tide, with the resort employee walking across the 200 mtr wide clear sandy channel with water covering his shoulders and only his head showing above it!

But what Niuatoputapu does have is a superb lagoon surrounded by a tropical island with a most excellent anchorage that looks across royal blue water to the perfectly conical volcanic island of Tafahi five miles away. It’s an absolute picture postcard setting and the perfect epitome of what our romantic “South Pacific” fantasy is all about.

Niuatoputapu has no sealed roads, indeed most are just 2 wheel grassy tracks, but then there are only about 1000 people on this small 9km by 4km Island, and very few vehicles. We walked 4.5 km each way from our lagoon anchorage at Falehau village, past Vaipoa village and on into the principal village of Hihifo to ‘clear in’ with Customs, and saw only four cars the whole time.

The few official government administration offices are located in old single level timber buildings, sorely in need of maintenance, paint, and ground works, but they ooze charm and character like something out of a Mitchener novel. Hihifo, with its grassy wheel-track streets, just wouldn’t have the same ambience if the place were ‘tarted up’!

The attractions here are nature and people, and especially the people, who were so ‘down-to-earth’ friendly that it was a pleasure to be with them. We noticed very few domestic pigs running around here, in contrast to the rest of Tonga, nor is there any television or internet cafes, but you can ‘phone anywhere in the world from the local TCC office.

The tropical scenery matches the beauty of the lagoon, with a high hill a little back from the sandy beach offering magnificent views of it all if one can survive the steep climb up. These three villages are the only places we saw in all four Tonga Island groups where traditional housing of bush material construction dominates. We felt privileged to be here in this wonderful ‘out-of-the –way’ part of old traditional Tonga.

But time and a good weather window beckoned us on, so after an all too short a stay, we sailed on a further 185 nm Northeasterly arriving in Apia, capital of Independent (Western) Samoa 40 hrs later, having lost a day enroute as we crossed the International Dateline into the Western Hemisphere. It was exciting to see all the village lights as we traversed the northwest coast of Upolu Island at night, and to arrive at Apia just after sunrise.

And what a surprising difference we found here. Clean, bright and on the move is the way we see Samoa, a nation that has reversed its fortunes in the past decade from having one of the Pacific’s poorest economies to being one of its success stories, and in that respect such a contrast to Tonga. Apia is buzzing with commercial activity, has numerous new buildings, mostly newish vehicles and a smartly dressed business community. And, of course, there’s a McDonald here, which Tonga doesn’t have, so we figure that’s another economic barometer as well.

Soon after arriving we visited ‘Vailima’, the former residence of Robert Louis Stevenson, located 4km out of Apia, and it took an hour to climb up Mt.Vaea to Stevenson’s tomb with its magnificent hill top vista overlooking Apia and the sea. Stevenson was a small framed sickly man most of his life, dying at 49. We’ve all heard his requiem inscribed on his tomb, but it warrants repeating here.

“Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie
Glad did I live, and gladly die
And I laid me down with a will.”

“This be the verse you grave for me
Here he lies where he longed to be
Home is the sailor, home from the sea
And the hunter home from the hill”.

That evening we went to the weekly ‘Samoan Cultural Dance & Fire Show’ at Aggie Grey’s Hotel, a famous institution in its own right throughout the South Pacific, dating back to WW2 when Aggie ran a burger joint here for US GI’s. It is now a new, modern up-market ‘5*’establishment.

Then we rented a small 4WD Suzuki and spent a day driving around the eastern end of this main island of Upolu. Stopping to chat at a few of the numerous coastal villages along the way, we came across some very interesting places and met some interesting people. All roads are bitumen sealed, and many villages have clean, white painted rocks lining both sides of the road, which looks quite striking, supported by their well kept lawns and colourful gardens.

All the waterfront land is privately owned either by individuals or the village, there are no public beaches as such, and you have to pay to go onto any nice white sandy beach. The usual rate is 10 Tala each (Aust$6), and by the time you’ve got out of the car, there’ll be a local telling you that if you stay more than 2 minutes then you’ll have to pay.

Other highlights included swimming in waterfront ‘cave pools’, where fresh water springs bubbled up into crystal clear rock pools at such a rate as to prevent salt seawater from flowing into them. We visited two different waterfalls up in the hills, sat and chatted with village chiefs, and inspected a large church three years under construction by local village tradesmen.

The villages comprised a mixture of both traditional and western style housing, but spotlessly clean and often painted in bright colours. The traditional Samoan houses were totally open, with no fixed walls, and a large overhanging thatched roof. There is little furniture in them for the people sit, eat and sleep on woven Pandanus mats on the floor, though some do have wooden easy chairs.

Each village has its own privately run bus service, and there are scores of them around Upolu. What these (tray-back truck) buses lack in their modest design and construction, is more than compensated for in their livery. Like the taxis in Manilla, Samoan buses are a blaze of colour, with no two the same, and the central terminal beside the seafront fish market is a kaleidoscope of colour and design as the buses constantly come and go, on the right hand side of the road, as in the USA. We rode one back the 4km to town following our visit to R.L. Stevenson’s ‘Vailima’ house, and they sure look better than their hard seat ride.

This time of year is known as the Dry Season here, rather than winter, since it’s always warm to hot in these latitudes (13º S), with daytime temperatures of 30º+C reducing to a warm 26ºC overnight. Thank goodness we have fans in the yacht. There have been a few showers but generally the weather has been favourable.

We plan to depart this vibrant South Pacific jewel in a few days time and, hopefully, from here onwards it’s the downhill, mainly downwind run back to Oz, albeit over 2000 miles of ocean sailing.

Our next stop will be at Savusavu, in Fiji’s northern island of Vanua Levu, and we expect the 580nm passage will take five days. We will probably spend several weeks cruising Fiji, so we’ll tell you about that later on.

"Happenings" Number 7 - 2003

Into The South Pacific - 2003

April 23, coincidentally six months to the day of ‘Envy’s’ arrival in New Zealand, finds us departing Auckland and heading the 50 nm to Great Barrier Island, and the beginning of the next phase of our South Pacific adventure. A few days there at the Barrier resulted in 32 fillets, mostly Snapper, going into the freezer before sailing overnight back up to The Bay of Islands where we relaxed and slowly re-adjusted back into ‘sea mode’ for two weeks, prior to clearing New Zealand Customs at Opua.

Light breezes were forecast for the following few days as we farewelled New Zealand from The Bay of Islands on May 13, in brilliant sunshine and friendly seas bound for Tonga 1080 nautical miles away, concluding a wonderful 203 day ‘kiwi experience.

By noon the next day ‘Envy’ was close hauled and bashing into squally 30kt headwinds, which blew continuously for the next 36 hours (so much for the forecast), after which they turned gale force E/NE gusting 40 knots (74 km / hr) ‘on the nose’ for the following two days, so we ‘hove to’ with tiny storm sails up (as did other yachts), drifting at 2 knots in the wrong direction going nowhere, but at least it was more comfortable than taking a pasting, and we caught up on some sleep.

And so it was to be, beating close hauled all the way to Tonga, 16 days and nights at sea with mostly strong headwinds and sailing zigzag more than 1300 nautical miles to get there. Merely balancing on the toilet took the strength and agility of a gymnast, to say nothing of Audrey’s balance skills whilst strapped into the galley reheating prepared meals, and having to hang on to avoid being thrown about with the boat’s constant pitching during the worst of it. By now we’d become accustomed to the ship’s noise and movement so sleeping wasn’t too difficult, and the only time of any decent relaxation.

Crossing the notorious Tasman last year was child’s play by comparison. Fortunately we don’t suffer seasickness to any extent, we ate well and slept well, and I hasten to say that at no time did we or the yacht feel compromised from a safety point of view; indeed “Envy” handled it very well – t’was just the crew that found the going tedious and uncomfortable.

The one highlight of the passage was on day 12 at sea when we stopped overnight in the large lagoon of North Minerva Reef, out in the middle of nowhere in the ocean and the only passage break on our entire route. We treated ourselves to a roast beef dinner that night, and 9 hours of ‘watch-free’ deep uninterrupted sleep!

We sailed into Nuku’alofa, capital of the Kingdom of Tonga, refreshed and happy on Wednesday 28 May, the passage taking 5 days longer than expected. By the time we were ready to ‘Clear In’ with Customs later that afternoon, seems like all three government officials wanted to finish early, so they all just stamped our entry papers ashore, without even coming aboard to check our quarantine items!

We’d been told Nuku’alofa, on Tongatapu Island, was a fairly ordinary place that many yachties don’t bother to visit but since it’s the first landfall coming from New Zealand and a Custom’s entry port as well, it seemed a logical stop for us. The town appears old, tired and dirty, like so many developing countries, yet offers the contradiction of a well-maintained causeway along the scenic reef strewn waterfront, and isolated pockets of civic pride.

The King’s Palace is an attractive 19th century, architecturally grand three-storied iron roofed timber complex, occupying extensive open lawns on the beachfront at the edge of town. Nuku’alofa’s business centre comprises a half dozen blocks of one and two storey mostly old poorly maintained shops, cafes and government buildings, interspersed with large shade trees, with the focal point of the large central market where locals sell a good variety of fresh produce, including fruit, green and salad vegetables, eggs, clothing, arts & crafts, woven baskets, mats, carvings and all sorts of local cultural artefacts.

Nuku’alofa’s topography is quite flat, town streets are basic bitumen sealed, there is a general profusion of broad leafed tropical green trees and colourful variegated flora with small grassy-lawned house blocks neatly aligned, and domestic pigs, scrawny half-starved dogs and happy, smiling children are everywhere. Several large churches dominate the town area, whose size and grandeur by comparison with all other town buildings reflect the importance of religion to this pious nation.

The Tongan people, though quite conservative but very friendly, and often big framed, are keen Rugby fans, live in small modest western style houses, drive mostly old Japanese wrecks of cars and enjoy a fairly easy-going lifestyle; they are very devout with church the only thing that happens throughout the nation on a Sunday, and though they sing with gusto and superb harmony, by all accounts many embrace an indifferent work ethic with a commercial culture frustratingly ‘laid back’, not that there’s any depth or variety of business activity here beyond the basic necessities.

In order to keep the country’s economy viable and competitive, the Tongan Pa’anga (dollar) is well over-valued, being pegged close to the ‘Kiwi’ dollar, resulting in a not so cheap cost of living other than for those fortunate enough to have strong currencies like the US dollar or UK pounds to spend.

Our second day in Nuku’alofa fortuitously coincided with the annual ‘Opening of Parliament’ by the King. This occasion is celebrated with a public holiday and a large Procession through the town streets, led by the 85 year old King’s motorcade and Foreign Dignitaries, followed by several marching Brass Bands with the Armed Services, hundreds of colourfully uniformed school children, church groups and other civic bodies marching in the one and a half hour long procession through waving crowds. What an interesting introduction to Tonga, their culture, customs and traditional dress.

Next job was to find someone to re-sew our Genoa headsail that suffered some stitching failure during the gale enroute from NZ, but since there’s no sailmakers here, we settled for a Pakistani shirtmaker who did a good job on it. While ‘Med moored’ in the tiny Nuku’alofa boat basin we discovered a bunch of nylon fishing line wrapped tightly around the propeller and shaft and, believe me, the half hour it took diving down in that filthy water to clear it was excessive punishment for all my past sins. Yuk!

One evening we joined several other yachties and went to The Tongan Cultural Centre in Nuku’alofa for a traditional feast and cultural night where we were treated to a great meal of local Tongan dishes followed by traditional dancing. Another interesting experience for T$ 20 per person, incl taxi fare.

After 10 interesting days in the capital, it was time to move on and see ‘the real Tonga’ – the multitude of islands that make up the four main groups, Tongatapu, Ha’apai, Vava’u and Niuatoputapu, as they stretch some 320 n/miles northwards, in that order, to comprise The Kingdom of Tonga.

The central cluster of Tongan Islands known as the Ha’apai (Har/pie) Group are interspersed with numerous coral reefs and unchartered shoals, so many cruising yachties bypass them for the safer, less hazardous Vava’u islands farther north. However, we joined two other yachts, ‘Dream Catcher’ and ‘Paula’, heading northwards from Tongatapu and day sailed up through the coral to tiny uninhabited Tau Island (15 nm away) where we anchored off overnight, then another 35nm on to Kelefesia Island, (uninhabited & 3km around) where we stayed two nights, followed by a lovely sail 20nm to Nomuka Iki Island, uninhabited site of an abandoned prison, once again going ashore to look around as usual.

Next morning found us sailing 15nm in a gentle 15kt breeze to O’ua Island, with its ‘S’ bend entry 1km long through the coral reef, where we stayed 2 days. Going ashore to meet the locals the following morning, we found a team of men building an 8 metre wooden fishing boat out of ‘scrap’ wood, which they assured us would give at least 15 years of service. Amazing! Their village covered about half a sq./km and was completely boundary fenced to contain the scores of domestic pigs that freely roamed the village. We were invited to visit the primary school here, much to the enjoyment of the children, who gazed in amazement at instantly seeing their photograph on the screen of our digital camera.

Sailing at six knots the 19 nm to Tofanga Island the next morning, ‘Paula’s’ trolling line caught a Wahoo, a game fish of international repute. A powerful swimmer, it took a lot of time and effort to land this over 4ft. specimen, and we all enjoyed its high quality, fine-grained white flesh.

Word got around on ship’s radio one of the several yachties sailing ‘loosely together’ through the Ha’apai was celebrating his birthday with a beach BBQ, bonfire and sing-a-long on the magnificent palm-lined sandy beach at Uoleva Island (they’re all like that over here), about nine miles northwards, so several boats gravitated there for a night to remember. There were perhaps 40 yachties there from Sweden, Canada, USA, NZ, Australia and Switzerland, and it was a night to remember.

After three days there soaking up this sandy, turquoise part of paradise ‘Envy’ headed a further eight miles north to Pangai township, the administrative centre of the Ha’apai Group, on Lifuka Island. We anchored 300 metres off shore in 4 mtr of crystal clear water on a sandy bottom. Pangai’s an attractive small village with a grassy waterfront shaded by large fig trees, surrounding clusters of romantic old timber government buildings with shaded courtyards where women swept leaves off the well-kept lawns. Churches were again the dominant feature of the landscape, and the people always so friendly. Big brawny Tonga football players were warming up for a game as we passed by, and I mentally cringed at the thought of playing against them.

Then it was on to Ofolanga Island, a short 15-mile sail from Lifuka, and our last Ha’apai destination, where we spent two days. This is another typical tropical small sandy coral island with a fringing reef around which we walked in 90 minutes, and an ideal departure point for our next leg, a 63-mile sail overnight up to the Vava’u Group. Here again, as in much of Tonga with its volcanic origins, many anchorages are quite deep, 15 to 25 metres not uncommon. We weighed anchor just before midnight so as to arrive at the Vava’u group in daylight to negotiate the many small islands and reefs enroute, and enjoyed a perfect overnight sail arriving at the cosy anchorage of Port Mourelle around noon. Our anchorage here was 14 mtr deep (45ft) but you could clearly see the sandy bottom, and we slept well that night after the previous overnight passage.

Next morning we motored the five miles or so around to Neiafu, the administrative centre of these northern Vava’u islands, where we again had to clear in with Customs. Unlike most places in the world, even though one doesn’t leave the country, it is necessary to ‘clear in’ and ‘clear out’ with Customs as you travel between each of the 4 Tonga Island groups.

The harbour at Neiafu is considered one of the pick anchorages of the south Pacific, and it’s not difficult to understand why. It is very scenically attractive, deep, safe, and wonderfully sheltered from all directions; kidney shaped and about 2km long by 600 mtr wide, its clear waters are surrounded by low hills all around with the township built into them on one side, offering magnificent panoramas overlooking the clean harbour and across to a verdant landscape of coconut palms interspersed with various tropical trees on the other side.

Vava’u (Var-var-oo) is a Mecca for international yachties and, for most cruisers, Vava’u is Tonga. There are perhaps 35 yachts here at the moment, of which four are mega-yachts - two huge motor yachts and two huge sailing yachts, one of the latter being larger than any we saw in Auckland during the America’s Cup, more than twenty times the volume of ‘Envy’, and more than twenty million $$’s I’ll bet. How our heart goes out to those troubled people, we feel terribly sorry for them; so much to go wrong, so much to look after, so much to worry about !! We’re blessed to be poor!

Accompanying the food, fun and facilities of Neiafu, with its waterfront bars and restaurants, are over 40 anchorages just hours or less away. The nearby ones are situated amongst the fjords of the main island, whilst the others are small islands surrounded by reef. Vava’u is considered one of the worlds best viewing spots for Humpback Whales, and its hills and shorelines are riddled with caves and crevices. Most are little more than shallow holes, but two of them are unique enough to have obtained near legendary status, and we enjoyed the exhilarating experience to swim in both of them

Swallows Cave near Port Mourelle on Kapa Island is large enough to take several dinghies into. It is a very attractive cave, particularly when its eroded limestone walls and high cathedral like ceiling are lit by the afternoon sun, which shines down through its quiet crystal clear waters to the floor 10 mtrs below. Many thousands of baby fish make the cave their home, and their extensive schools all but hide the bottom from view.

Mariner’s Cave is the most famous of the Vava’u caves, and also the most difficult to find and get into. The cave entrance is about 2 metres underwater and, to get inside, requires a dive similar to swimming from one side of a yacht to the other, passing under the keel. Entering Mariner’s is mentally difficult as what to expect is unknown, and there’s little light inside until ones eyes adjust to the dimness. But it certainly is a buzz to achieve it.

As I write this we’ve now been in Vava’u two weeks, spending most of the time around several of the island anchorages in picturesque, sandy palm-lined bays, and have experienced a couple more Tongan feasts. Yesterday one of the other yachties went trolling and caught a 3 metre Sailfish, looks similar to a Marlin with its ‘sword’ bill, but generally fishing for table fish is not so rewarding.

We’ll depart here for Samoa in about 10 days’ time.

"Happenings" Number 6 - 2003

Farewell ‘Aotearoa’ New Zealand- 2003

Autumn is here and its warm bronzing hues remind us that ‘cruising yachties’ are very much seasonal people and that change is in the wind for us as well. Soon “Envy” will depart this beautiful country, with both the land and its people indelibly in our hearts.

It’s late in the day as we enjoy a BBQ on the deck taking in another glorious crimson sunset from our privileged vantage overlooking extinct Rangitoto and Auckland’s other satellite islands in their postcard setting nestled in the Hauraki Gulf, just a kilometre or so across from our special friends’ Maraetai Beach home.

Last weekend we sailed “Envy” down the 20 nm from Auckland’s West Harbour to Pine Harbour Marina at Beachlands to be near Ralph and Yvonne for our last 10 days here in Auckland, as we prepare for departure.

Today is Good Friday and this Easter celebration pretty well marks the end of our New Zealand adventure as we attend final preparations and provisioning of “Envy” in nearby Pine Harbour, making ready for our departure on April 22, back up the coast to The Bay of Islands, where we will clear Customs out of NZ enroute to Tonga around 12 May 2003.

What a wonderful experience we’ve had here in ‘Aotearoa’, happily surpassing our greatest expectations, and since neither of us had been to NZ before, every day was excitingly new.

Now we have many happy memories, some wonderful new ‘Kiwi mates’, as well as hundreds of digital photos to share with family and friends, and also enable us to re-live those memories as we view them on our large screen TV during the years ahead.

Buying the old van was undoubtedly the best move we made, providing total independence, freedom and ‘free’ accommodation those 4+ months of ownership, whilst taking us 13,000km over much of this great country discovering both the North & South Islands and Stewart Island as well. It doesn’t come much better than this, but you need mobility to visit all the pick tourist spots and time to smell the roses along the way.

Fortunately we had both and saw a tremendous amount of NZ, at a surprisingly low cost, though no doubt, some friends may fairly question the lack of comfort associated with our travels.

We have a ‘buy back’ agreement with the man who sold us the van, at a small monthly rental cost to us, and arrangements are in hand to return it to him on Easter Monday, prior to “Envy’s” departure the next morning. Can’t get a more convenient deal than that!

Now our sights are set on putting as many Snapper fillets as possible into the ship’s freezer from the waters of Great Barrier Island enroute back up to Opua, (even we can catch fish over here!), as we settle down to sea life and get used to hanging on the anchor once again.

Then it’s all go with passage plans, course navigation and radio ‘skeds’ for our continuing cruising adventure into the South Pacific. It is almost the same distance to Tonga from here as it is to Brisbane, around 1100 nautical miles (2200 km), and we hope to cover the distance in 12 days of non-stop sailing, similar to our passage across the Tasman.

Final plans will depend on many factors of wind, weather, comfort, time and convenience but for the moment, we’re considering the following, and look forward to all the challenges and interest that Polynesia and Melanesia offer, though email contacts during the months ahead may be few and far between. We’ll keep you posted.


“Envy” Itinerary 2003

May 12 depart New Zealand at Opua

May 24 arrive Tonga

July 22 depart Tonga

July 25 arrive Samoa

Aug 5 depart Samoa

Aug 10 arrive Fiji

Oct 10 depart Fiji

Oct 15 arrive Vanuatu

Nov 3 depart Vanuatu

“ 6 arrive New Caledonia

“ 20 depart New Caledonia

Dec 1 arrive Australia
(Either Bundaberg or Brisbane depending on wind & weather)

"Happenings" Number 5 - 2003

Touring New Zealand 2002/03

For more than a century at least, according to our historical gleanings, this nation’s people have referred to New Zealand as ‘GOD'S OWN COUNTRY’, and frankly, the more we see of ‘Aotearoa’ the more we’re inclined to understand where they’re coming from.

New Zealand is scientifically acknowledged as being the only country in the world that experiences all climatic conditions. It’s simply awash with scenic beauty, has no snakes or other ‘dangerous bighties’ whatsoever (other than one venomous spider species rarely ever seen), and with a multitude of rivers, forests and year round snow capped peaks, plus it’s an angler’s paradise to boot, with a fascinating history and culture, we can readily accept why ‘the land of the long white cloud’ has been selected by the authoritative travel guide group ‘Lonely Planet’ as the world’s No. 1 tourist destination.

It all sounds so long ago now, but we spent a lovely Christmas festive season in Auckland sharing it with our local friends, and around the same time purchased a used Mazda panel van which we converted to a Campervan, complete with refrigeration, gas stove, queen size bed, hidden storage, a tent fly awning and 2 canvass fold-up easy chairs & camp-table. Though hardly luxurious, it is quite eminently suited to both budget and requirements.

Come early January we were doing 2 and 3 day discovery tours out of Auckland in all directions to places of interest around the North Island, including the orchard belt, several historical towns and places of special interest, rich sheep and cattle grazing country and the famous giant Kauri forests with some huge 2000 yr old trees whose size belies imagination; and all of it very scenic.

Two of our early observations involved flora and fauna. The North Island should be renamed Agapanthus-land to acknowledge the overwhelming saturation of these plants which grow just about everywhere along the roads, countryside and domestically. Australian Possums, protected by law in OZ, were introduced to NZ many years ago and have thrived alarmingly, to the extent that they are a serious pest to native flora here and considered public enemy #1, and their high road kill numbers are indicative of their abundance.

One thing we have learnt here has to do with weather, or more specifically, its unpredictability. We now very much understand the old adage – ‘If you don’t like the weather, just wait an hour or two’; from sunshine to rain and back again, and again, and sometimes rain all day, often with big heaps of wind thrown in for good measure, day or night makes little difference. Not a cloud in the sky and next moment it’s raining. Such is a maritime climate as opposed to the continental climate that we in Australia are used to. (Here endeth the lesson in meteorology).

By late January we were ‘chomping at the bit’ to commence our South Island experience, so, with an inter-island vehicle ferry booking confirmed, “Envy’s” two intrepid adventurers departed their floating home in Auckland’s West Park Marina to become land gypsies for the next couple of months.

Saturday afternoon 1st. February 2003 found us crossing boisterous Cook Strait, notoriously one of the rougher ferry crossings of the world, but we arrived cool and unruffled at Picton 3 hours
later and $190 poorer. Neptune smiled on us that day for it had been blowing 115km/hr (70mph) in ‘windy Wellington’ all the previous day, and that wind (speed) against tide would have resulted in a very rough crossing a day earlier.

We had agreed that as part of our South Island adventure we would not stop overnight in ‘paid’ campgrounds unless we wanted to, but rather ‘freedom camp’ in most places, we hoped, tucked away in a variety of scenic nooks beside streams, at ocean foreshores, or along wooded tracks, which is quite the done thing with campervans on the laid-back South Island. So our first night was spent beside the sea near Kaikoura, in company with other vans, and awoke next morning to discover a colony of fur seals sunning themselves on the rocks only metres away.

Then on to Christchurch, New Zealand’s third largest metropolis, a lovely garden city with its expansive town square, superb Cathedral and renowned private schools, with the lovely clear Avon River flowing through it. Here we enjoyed the hospitality of wonderful friends before heading west below snow capped peaks of the Southern Alps through Arthur’s Pass, across the stunningly deep Otira Gorge viaduct, and free camped that night at Hokitika Beach, facing the Tasman Sea. To our amazement the 200 metre wide beach was considerably covered with old driftwood, a phenomenon we were to discover all along the west coast, where trees are washed down rivers and out to sea and eventually end up as smooth bleached driftwood on the beaches.

Continuing southwards we explored the old gold mining town of Ross, now a sleepy village steeped in history, then visited both the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers and marvelled at their magnitude and frozen beauty right there at the ice face.

The South Island’s mountainous west coast runs back to distant snow capped peaks of the Southern Alps and offers a montage of scenic beauty in its clear, fast flowing rivers, high cascading waterfalls, steep winding roads through gorges and mountain passes opening onto fertile highland valleys with wildflowers including the attractive orange blossomed Montretia, and the commonly called ‘red hot poker’, a striking orange and yellow wild flower of bulrush appearance. We enjoyed some excellent freedom campsites along this coast at beaches and alongside clear running streams, though the sandflies were always quite active around sundown wherever we went.

Leaving the coast we ventured inland through the Haast Pass, alongside beautiful Lake Wanaka and on to Lake Hawea where we had a perfect lakeside campsite, and swam in its surprisingly warm, pristine clear fresh water, before continuing on over the scenic Crown Range Road which has the highest elevation of any road in NZ, past the isolated Cardrona Hotel (famously, the nations oldest existing hotel), before negotiating a seriously steep razor-back descent into the stunningly attractive resort hub of Queenstown.

Here we took the Gondola cable car up to the mountaintop overlooking Queenstown and its Lake Wakatipu, a view that is truly awesome and one of the most attractive sights we’ve ever seen. Little wonder it features so often in international Kiwi tourism promotions. Then Bruce, ever the big kid thrill seeker, took the ski chair lift even higher up the peak and rode ‘The Luge’, (it’s like a small one person ‘go-cart’) flying back down the winding mountain track, similar to its namesake in the winter Olympics. Great fun! But not as big a thrill as our next little escapade, when, the following day, we rode the rapids through the canyons of the famous Shotover River in a seriously fast Jet Boat, purposefully screaming along just a hair’s breadth away from the entombing rock canyon walls, and only centimetres above stony shallow rapids, then doing full-speed 360 degree ‘thrill spins’ that took your breath away and showered you with ice-cold spray, and of which we’ve got photos to relive it! Some people never grow up…

Our 110th day since arriving in NZ (late October) finds us on the uninhabited 121km long, slow, winding, mountainous, isolated road into Milford Sound on a cold, grey, drizzling day with snow capped peaks all around and driving in and out through low cloud cover, and we’re about to experience what will undoubtedly become one of our absolute ‘life-long memories’, the ‘Saga of Milford Sound’.

It’s around 5pm and time to call it a day, so we drive up a two-wheel track for half a km along Cascade Creek looking for a suitable overnight camp site, stop, then decide to look elsewhere, but the Van won’t start! When it does finally go, we (and our stress levels) decide to continue on to the safety of a Milford Sound garage, along the remaining very slow, totally mountainous 45km, which includes the 1.25km long Homer Tunnel high up in the cloudy Southern Alps.

Up the steep incline and into the Homer Tunnel we go, perhaps 50 metres or so in, and whooa !!, can’t see a thing, slam on the brakes and out shoots the van in reverse! We check that the headlights are working OK, and all the time concerned the engine’s going to conk out in the dark, unlit tunnel, but back in we go again. Still can’t see a thing; bloody frightening!! Stress levels rising! Wham..! On go the brakes and back out we shoot once again, just like a cartoon at a kid’s movie matinee! (Thankfully no other traffic around). Bruce then discovers he’s wearing his sunglasses, so off they come and, with lights on and wipers going, back in we go for round 3.

No one told us the tunnel was rough hewn, unlined, unlit, barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass and that at the entrance it continues to rise upwards for a short way before its steady decline for over a kilometre in the dark. But the main problem was that the tunnel was full of cloud, which the headlights could barely penetrate, as with thick fog we could barely see past our noses; there was water dripping through the rocky roof veins overhead almost like rain in places, it was eerily dark & gloomy and a long, slow 2nd gear downhill grind for those 1250 metres, and all this virtually in the dark, underscored by an engine that would not idle and much preferred to stop dead at the first unattended opportunity and cause an Autobahn style pile-up in the wet, cloudy tunnel. Thankfully there was no one behind us through the tunnel and we shot out the other end like pilgrims to the Promised Land! Phew!!

To our dismay we discovered there is no garage in tiny spectacular Milford Sound and the inclement weather added little to the whole affair, so after a restless sleep wondering whether the motor would start and how many millions of $$’s it would cost to fix, (the van’s done 329,000 km) a somewhat surprisingly better natured engine started next morning and had us retracing our steps of the evening before, and we were delighted to find the Homer Tunnel clear as crystal in the fresh morning air. Later that morning, 10 minutes and $15 after arrival at a Te Anau garage, the problem caused by incorrect points gap in the distributor was fixed, and we were back on the road again.

The ‘deep south’ lured us on and we discovered Riverton on the far south coast, a production centre for Paua Shells, which are NZ Abalone shells ground and polished to reveal their striking natural hues of blue, green, silver and turquoise and which, together with carved and polished greenstone (jade - prized by early Maori above gold) and white (bovine) bone, comprise the three most popular ornament items in the country. We had been gifted a number of ‘raw’ Paua shells by a coastal farmer and had them polished in Riverton. This whole area east of the Fiordlands and right down to the coast, including the greater Invercargill district, is quite fertile undulating farmland, used for dairying and crops, and has a most interesting coast of cliffs and sandy beaches.

After a look around Invercargill, an attractive big country town whose city centre streets were still festooned with Santa Claus and Christmas Decorations in mid February, we left our van in Bluff and took a high speed catamaran ferry 22km across the Foveaux Strait to picturesque Stewart Island with its pretty bays and scenic walks, staying 3 days at Jo & Andy’s quaint Bed & Breakfast in Oban, and also celebrated Bruce’s 59th birthday with a great local seafood dinner in the Boardwalk Restaurant above the wharf at Oban’s Halfmoon Bay, while Penguins swam around outside. Down here at 47º South, only Cape Horn and Antarctica are below us, but if you kept out of the wind, the days were quite hot in the sun.

Returning to Bluff and Invercargill, we took the Catlins scenic route across the Island’s south- eastern corner to the staunchly Scottish city of Dunedin, imposingly set in the hills around Otago Harbour, with its stately stone buildings and grand architecture which are arguably amongst the finest in the nation. Unfortunately the good weather we’d been enjoying turned otherwise, but it didn’t dampen our appreciation of this striking city, which like so many other southern towns, boasts magnificently colourful and well kept flower gardens that evidence and credit civic pride.

We then headed inland through the high country past Raes Junction to the Roxburgh Hydroelectric Station, going as far as Cromwell, then back through the open beef cattle grazing country of Ranfurly to the coast beyond Palmerston, where we saw the Moeraki Boulders, man-size spherical stone marbles on the beach, whose pre-historic origins are of world geological acclaim. Continuing on up the coast, Oamaru offered much interest with its many well-preserved late 1800’s limestone buildings around the old port area. Limestone was mined locally and comparatively inexpensive during that era, hence its widespread use within the south-eastern towns between Invercargill and Timaru, with their strongly Scottish character.

Our itinerary called for a return to the snow capped Southern Alps, but on the eastern side to visit famous Mt. Cook, so we headed up the mighty Waitaki River valley stopping to gaze in awe at the huge Hydroelectric Stations at Aviemore and Benmore Dams with their extensive colourful lakes, the latter having the second largest rock fill dam wall in the southern hemisphere. As we passed through Omarama and Twizel, steadily gaining altitude all the way, we watched very black storm clouds build, then down came heavy hail clattering on roof and windscreen while buffeting winds shook the van around. The storm quickly passed but misty rain and light snow took its place as we arrived at Mt. Cook, somewhat limiting our views of the nations highest peak, and easily being the coldest we’d felt in NZ. Glacial sediment colours the waters of the lakes and hydro canals a most brilliant turquoise hue, and both Lakes Pukaki and Tekapo are simply stunningly attractive. The historic small stone ‘Church of The Good Shepherd’, built on the shore of Lake Tekapo with its total clear glass wall behind the altar, offers a post card vista to equal almost anything, anywhere.

Having purchased some smoked salmon from the Mt. Cook Salmon Farm on Tekapo’s hydro channel, we returned to the coast at Timaru and drove up to Christchurch to again stay with friends and rediscover real beds! After a few days ‘holiday’, and the opportunity to organize hundreds of digital photos on the laptop, it was back on the road again.

This time we took in the hot thermal village of Hanmer Springs enroute across the Alps through Lewis Pass, another very scenic route of mountains and river valleys, through the old gold town of Reefton, the first town in the southern hemisphere to have electric street lighting in 1888, which they boast, was even before London or New York. We visited coastal Greymouth, stocked up with the nation’s best venison salamis in tiny Blackball, and inspected the nearby infamous Brunner Coal Mine, site of NZ’s worst mining disaster, killing 63 men and boys in 1896.

Further up the coast we watched the Tasman Sea at play in the blowholes at Punataiki’s Pancake Rocks, on our way to Westport, before our road took us away from the coast and back up into the mountains once again, where we shared the Lyell D.O.C. campground with several other foreign campers and several million sandflies. Next day found us continuing through the mountains with all the scenic panoramas of clear stony streams and rapids of the Buller River, plus its two gorges, and half tunnels gouged out of the cliff face. Throughout the Alps, almost every corner offered a striking new vista, and no doubt the slower travelling cyclists enjoyed the greatest views.

No matter where we went, the number of touring cyclists, and their stamina, never ceased to amaze us, especially here in the South Island (or ‘the mainland’ as they love to call it with their good humoured parochialism); we would come upon couples pedalling their bicycles, sometimes in the rain, laden with heavy saddlebags and packs up the steepest mountain roads that our van groaned up in 2nd gear out of 5! Girls and guys, mostly Germans by their flags, but Brits, Yanks and others as well, some on two, and three wheeled laid back ‘reclining’ bikes, others towing young children in little trailers, couples on tandem bikes, but mostly traditional custom made touring bicycles, usually with 27 gears. ‘Me dips me lid to ‘em!

We drove up the fertile Motueka River valley with its mixture of dairying, sheep, beef cattle and deer to the coastal town of the same name, then took a look at beautiful Kaiteriteri Beach, by far the nicest seaside spot in the South Island, with its golden sands and very attractive setting. Then came the seriously high and winding road from the Riwaka Valley through to Upper Takaka, which offered more lovely views and no doubt considerable brake wear, but we made it alright and continued our way up to Puponga at the western tip of the Island adjacent to Cape Farewell, enjoying an excellent beach front campsite at Pohara’s Ligar Bay enroute, with its natural stone archway covering the roadway, and hilltop ‘Abel Tasman’ monument, partly supplied by the Dutch Royal Family to acknowledge this famous son of the Netherlands and commemorate his discovery of New Zealand.

Our South Island adventure was in its last few days as we skirted around Tasman Bay zipping past orchards of mainly apples, sizable vineyards and hop fields on their high wire trellises, as we travelled on towards Nelson, another pretty downtown area full of multi-coloured hanging flower baskets suspended from the footpath awnings, with the magnificent Cathedral above ‘The Town Steps’ imposingly overlooking Trafalgar Street and the city heart. New Zealand’s first game of Rugby was played here in 1870 and the hilltop behind this acclaimed rugby field officially marks the North/South centre of the nation. (How’s that for trivia!)

So we moved on to Blenheim and up the coast road to isolated White’s Bay, where the historic old Cable House still stands from its heady days of 1867 when it was the end of the first submarine cable which linked NZ’s North and South Islands. That evening we stayed with new friends on their Marlborough farm near Blenheim, where they are establishing a vineyard, and have a variety of olives trees from which they press olive oil. Fascinating.

On our last day we took a trip up the somewhat remote and rugged Queen Charlotte Peninsular to the pretty little landlocked bay at Portage, before returning to our departure point in Picton at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound, to await our departure back to Wellington on the big Cook Strait vehicle ferry early next morning.

There were so many highlights during our five weeks’ South Island adventure that to mention some at the expense of others would seem almost impolitic, but for us ‘banana benders’ from the flattest, driest and almost hottest place on earth, the majesty of the snow capped Alps contrasting the tranquillity of turquoise lakes, cloud shrouded Milford Sound and the rugged grandeur of the ice glaciers were all spectacular for us, as was Mt. Cook with its cold sleety snowfall, and the serenity of sparkling Queenstown with our high eagle’s eye view from the Gondola. The myriad of well maintained walking tracks rate a special mention, as does sleepy, picturesque Stewart Island tucked away down below, and the beautifully colourful inner city flower gardens of most S/E coastal towns add a further dimension to their outstanding old stone architecture. But people make the country, and the easy going southern Kiwis certainly uphold this tradition. They were simply great to us.

Now its back to Auckland for a few weeks of yacht preparation to get ready for further adventures.

"Happenings" Number 4 - 2002

Christmas 2002 - New Zealand

How unusual it is for us to be away from Australia, and more specifically Brisbane, at this time of the year; it’s indeed a rare occurrence for both of us. But what a thrill to experience Christmas within a new environment and circumstances in a different country.

And talk about Christmas in a new country; from the day of arrival we got the feeling we were in Lapland it was so cold – even the locals were complaining about it, and as often as Audrey – but when we heard some time later that it was the coldest NZ Spring weather for 35 years, we understood. Fortunately that’s behind us now with summer on the way.

So here we are resting at anchor in scenic Bon Accord Harbour, (the ‘harbour’ moniker no doubt a legacy of the 1840/50’s when this was NZ’s first copper mine) at historical Kawau Island, a day’s sail north of Auckland, making an early start on this year’s Christmas ‘Happenings’ contact, for we realize it will be all go once “Envy” arrives at the marina in Auckland. So much to do and see, with Christmas and all that!

We arrived at Opua in New Zealand on 23 October after a ten day Tasman passage, being just one of the 460 plus international recreational yachties cleared through this entry port alone by NZ Customs to date this year, so you can see there’s plenty of us out there doing it! We spent 22 days discovering this beautiful ‘Bay of Islands’ area, in the country’s north-east, where there are numerous tiny islands all close by, offering perfect shelter in a multitude of snug anchorages surrounded by exceptional scenery.

Every other day offered a new anchorage with superb views. We tramped up steep hills and down, on hiking tracks around some of the most scenic country we’ve ever seen; Moturua Island is simply awesome and a photographers paradise, and our new digital camera has been really working overtime, recording several hundred snaps, which are all categorised on our computer and are already a source of ‘slide show’ viewing enjoyment. There’s no doubt that digital cameras are the way to go! We also have a colour printer on board and Audrey is compiling a great photo album of our NZ adventure as we go.

Another delight (for us) of this area was its Oysters. Never have we seen so many of a good size and easily accessible, and to date we have collected about 500, with 211 our best harvest in one 3-hour session. We eat them raw, or cooked Kilpatrick with bacon or as cooked oyster patties, and enjoyed another cooked meal of them for lunch today. Maybe oysters are not your ‘cup of tea’, but nevertheless, can you imagine what 500 oysters would cost in OZ or the USA? Either raw in the bottle or at a restaurant, $ 000’s!

The Bay of Islands is the birthplace of the nation, for it was here in 1840 that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. It is where NZ was first settled and has a number of historically significant places, some of which we visited in the company of three different local people who befriended us during our time in the area; they also took us sightseeing on daylong excursions, as well as into their homes for overnight stays. One of these were the Logans, a local yachting couple out for the weekend, whom we had met at RQYS in 2000, and who happened upon ”Envy” in one of the anchorages, so they took us ‘under their wing’ and spoiled us, fortuitously, for it was Audrey’s Birthday. (39 again!!)

It was time to move on so we sailed out of The Bay of Islands and southward to the old whaling station ruins at Whangamumu, an excellent anchorage 14 miles down the coast where we went ashore and inspected the historic stone remains, dating from late last century to the early 1950’s. There were 5 yachts here the first night, one each from the USA, Holland, Germany, NZ and Australia (us), a typical anchorage mix, plus a local fishing boat. A rock pool at the base of a small waterfall 100 mtr in from the stony beach made for an excellent laundry facility, much needed, since we again tramped many hours, over two days, along steep walking tracks.

Meanwhile back on “Envy”, Bruce’s fishing enquiry to the solo professional fisherman anchored nearby resulted in an invitation to take him rod fishing close by for a short while that afternoon, which resulted in 5 good fish, all given to us, and an invitation to join Roy on his 30ft fishing boat early next morning for some ‘serious fishing’.

Away at 3am around to the next bay, and by 4.30am they had run out 2 ½ miles of long-line set with 720 hooks baited with squid. An hour after sunrise around 6.30am the lines were hydraulically retrieved together with the day’s haul of only about 40/50 ‘sale’ fish, mostly Snapper, though many hooks caught undersize fish, baby sharks, stingrays and starfish etc., which were all returned alive to the sea.

Two mornings later saw Bruce join Roy again at 3am and this time the catch was twice as big. The result of all this is that we ended up with the fillets of 17 very yummy fish in our freezer, and Bruce learning a bit more about fishing! No fish tastes better than freshly caught ones, so scrumptious, and the happy knowledge that several more meals await us!!

Next stop was another 15 miles south to the attractive coastal village of Whangaruru, for a couple of days then on across the Bay for six miles to isolated Mimiwhangata Beach with its grassy parklike hills running down to golden sands, and famous amongst the locals as the picturesque venue of a royal BBQ for HM The Queen during a 1960’s visit. We stayed here only one day and night, since its exposed situation cautioned prudence.

With absolutely no wind about, “Envy” motored on another 15 miles south to the slightly larger coastal village of Tutukaka which, surprisingly for its tiny size (1 corner store), has a new marina, but little else. Several international yachts shared this anchorage overnight.

We sailed out early next morning for the 55 mile run to Great Barrier Island, a lovely day’s sail, other than for our arrival during a heavy rain squall ‘whiteout’ when we couldn’t see anything and had to navigate blindly into the port on GPS co-ordinates for an uncomfortable, though short time.

Great Barrier Island is another picturesque place whose volcanic origins and relative isolation have endowed it fauna and flora not found elsewhere in NZ, a colourful history and remains of past Kauri logging glory, and some awesome hiking tracks that test ones stamina. We walked a few of these tracks, including one with steep grades and steep drop offs up to the old historical kauri dams which, when released, sent all the huge cut kauri logs cascading down the watercourse to the bay below for onward delivery to distant sawmills. Quite ingenious engineering. This mountainous densely timbered island offers many splendid anchorages in numerous small bays, several of which we visited, including Whangaparapara further down the coast, where we spent the night in company with the luxury superyacht ‘Persus’ being one of many here in NZ for the America’s Cup.

But the highlights of our eight days here were; surprise, surprise -- Bathing and Fishing!

At a small cove named Smokehouse Bay, there is a crude establishment privately donated for the benefit of all, which comprises a room for smoking fish (very popular here in NZ), and a tin shed bathhouse, together with the welcoming sign ‘Smoke and Soak here.’ A wood-fired donkey boiler provides abundant hot water to a big old clean bathtub, where Audrey soaked blissfully in seventh heaven.

Bruce, now fully qualified and an authority on the subject following the earlier reported 2 days experience with Roy, the professional fisherman, decided to have a go at drift fishing in 30/40 mtr deep waters across Port Abercrombie and was duly rewarded with a catch of 15 Snapper, of which three were quite good sized fish. Eight of them were cleaned and frozen whole for later baking, and the remainder were ‘taken into stock’ as fillets.

Favourable conditions on Tuesday 3 December saw us depart Great Barrier Island heading back 30 miles towards the mainland, to beautiful and historically significant Kawau Island, home of NZ’s first mining operation (copper), and the famed ‘Mansion House’ home of early New Zealand Governor Sir George Grey. We anchored in Lavinia Cove also known as Schoolhouse Bay, site of an 1860’s school for the miners’ children, provided by Grey.

Over the following 6 days we enjoyed discovering the island, walking several of Kawau’s tracks through tall forest trees, fern shaded paths and around pretty shingly bays to the old copper mine site and the stately Mansion House, whose park-like manicured grounds contain a long established (1860’s) arboreal mix from each of the world’s continents. The two storey Mansion House is now owned by the National Trust, open for public inspection, and is magnificently fully furnished in period style; it is simply stunning inside with its Kauri columns and wall panelling. Few people today, 140 years on, could boast such luxuriously grand accommodation.

So we returned again to the real world of our little floating home, and indulged ourselves once more with oysters for lunch and grilled Snapper for dinner. ‘Envy’ enjoyed two more different anchorages around Kawau before moving on to Auckland a few days later.

This city is alive with America’s Cup activity, & some of the visiting overseas mega yachts are just unbelievable. Absolute dream machines, both motor and sail, from America and Europe, which you only ever see as glossy photographs in upmarket boating magazines. On our way into Auckland Harbour we passed several of them heading out to watch the days Cup racing, and also several of the Cup contestant yachts as well. It’s one thing to see these boats on the telly but awesome to pass them a stone’s throw away on the water.

We arrived at Auckland’s West Park Marina, some 22km out from downtown, on Monday 8 December and rented a small car the following day. So here we are, catching up again on some boat maintenance jobs, as well as looking to buy a vehicle of some sort, as we try to find our way around a new city amidst all the usual pre-Christmas helter-skelter. What we’ve seen of NZ so far confirms all reports of its attractive natural beauty, and we hope to discover more of it soon.

That can be the subject of our next ‘Happenings’ contact. Meanwhile, from each of us to you go our best wishes for a


MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR

"Happenings" Number 3 - 2002

“Envy” crosses the Tasman

‘Audrey’, I said, as we surged along powerfully at seven knots into a dying day, ‘the forecast was for friendly 15 knot NE breezes, and here we are in a building Nor’easterly gale with winds consistently 30 to 35 knots’. What a way to get your sea legs, I thought, and on our first day out, – but then, what should one expect. Welcome to the Tasman !!

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself here, so if you’ll bear with me – I believe, like all good stories, it should start at the beginning.

During a wonderful sojourn through the Louisiades last season aboard our Swanson 38, “Envy”, Brisbane RQYS members Bruce Vidgen and Audrey Napier dreamed of distant horizons and, in our case, a more adventurous cruise farther into the near South Pacific.

Chasing the dream resulted in a plan to cast off during July 2002 for several months cruising New Caledonia and Vanuatu waters, before heading south to summer over in New Zealand, but an innocent sail-away June long weekend into Brisbane’s southern Moreton Bay Islands with the RQ cruising group changed all that!

Stepping ashore on tiny Karragarra Island that June morning, Audrey remarked on its beauty. With a welcoming sandy beach, soft turquoise waters, arable red volcanic soils, huge mature gum trees with so many attractive birds and yet so sparsely settled with no shops or commercialism whatsoever, which all contributed to a special ambience that so captivated us, five weeks later we owned a house there and spent the next three months ‘moving in’.

So that was the end of New Caledonia – for now – and we turned our sights to the Tasman.

Out came the South Pacific Atlas of Pilot Charts which was checked for prevailing seasonal weather conditions and, together with the advice of sailors who have made the passage at that time of year, all looked good for a crossing so we set a departure date for Sunday 13 October, otherwise we’d procrastinate ‘biting the bullet’ as some do.

Friday 11 October found us clearing Customs in their city office, followed by a visit to the Met Bureau fortuitously located next door, and, buoyed with an encouraging prognosis from the senior forecaster whose crystal ball said 15kt NE winds commencing Sunday for the following four days, we departed our Karragarra Island mooring the next morning (Sat 12) and motored down the shallow winding Bay channels to Southport.

D/Day, Sunday morning 13 Oct 2002 shone bright and clear at 0700 as we, tucked snugly away in the Southport Basin, spoke to Des Renner on 13 Megs at Russell Radio in north-eastern New Zealand, who would work us across the Tasman.

SUNDAY 0800 Hrs with little breeze, “Envy” motor-sailed out through the Southport Seaway in anticipation of both our imminent adventure and the forecast NE breeze coming in. This prospect of both wind speed and direction was just what the doctor ordered since we’d chosen a course with a single waypoint 720nm away close to Norfolk Island, following best advice to stay in the friendlier weather patterns North of 30º S until above New Zealand, before turning south on a course for North Cape.

Two miles off Southport a whale was passed close by, and by noon we were 20 nm out and the breeze had reached 15/20 kt NE, simply wonderful sailing. “Envy” was prancing along under full canvass doing 6’s & 7’s with the fresh breeze through moderate seas, but the wind continued to build all through the afternoon.

Our log tells the story: 1500hrs. NE freshened to 25kt, reduced sail, Avg 6.5+kt for last 3 hours. 1800hrs; 2 reefs in Main and reefed Staysail. Spoke to Russell Radio on sked frequency 6516 - 2100hrs; now constantly 30/35kt gusting 40kt. Barometer steady at 1015. Boat handling it well. Strong wind blew over 30+kt all night long with quartering sea; Autohelm 800 tiller pilot on Fleming windvane steering the boat much truer and better than I could.

MONDAY day 2 the morning breeze had moderated to 20/25kt and our first day’s run, noon to noon, was exactly 140nm at avg 5.8kt. Envy is now 160 nm out from Southport and ‘trucking’. When the wind veered true North at 30kt during the afternoon out came the Trysail, believe it or not, for its first ever use at 20 years old!! We’d never used it til then during our 3-year’s ownership of “Envy”, and the previous (original) owner told us he’d never used it in his 17yrs. The stiff, white ‘new’ Dacron sail certainly looked and felt like it left the loft just yesterday. During the night we watched dark clouds build, and just after midnight the performance began. Lightning and thunder so close all around, but there was little rain or wind. Days run 124nm.

TUESDAY day 3 saw us buzzed at low level by an Australian Customs aircraft 284 miles out. Wind still N at 15/20kt, now sailing with trysail & full genoa. Breeze then dropped to 5kts and we had a drifter of a night. Day’s run was 124nm. The waxing moon grows bigger each night.

WEDNESDAY day 4 now 362nm out, fine and sunny, barely 3/5kt so motor-sailed for the next 18 hours until 10kt breeze arrived just after midnight. From 35kt to 3kt! Day’s run 110nm.

THURSDAY day 5 sailing again nicely 12/15kt N/E and Fleming windvane steering mechanically. Passed within 400 mtr of a deep sea fishing boat at 0345hrs. Night winds increase 25kt with forecast to 30kt. Surfing down swells at 7+kt. Noon-to-noon run 135 nm.

FRIDAY day 6 took a ‘greenie’ into the cockpit at 0200hrs during Audrey’s watch. At 0600hrs we’re heading for a long low line squall, which turned out a fizzer but at midday heavy storm clouds appear unbelievably quickly from the South and between 1215 to 1300 hrs a ‘weather front’ blasts through and we ride out a 30 to 40kt storm, with gusts to 50kt, and constant heavy rain but little thunder. Day’s run 134nm. The waxing moon grows bigger and brighter nightly.

SATURDAY day 7 our first sighting of a ship since departing Australia. Breeze E/NE early and sailing at 5.8kt, then died away to 5kt and veered ‘on the nose’ so altered course more Southerly. Reading Dickens “David Copperfield”. Set clock forward 1 hour. Day’s run 104nm.

SUNDAY day 8 0200; sailing nicely at 6kt with trysail and full genoa, under an almost full moon. Set clock forward one hour. 1500 no breeze so motor-sailing again. Day’s run 119nm.

MONDAY day 9 put clock forward I more hour to NZ summer time, (now Aust + 3hrs). SW at 25kt with showers this arvo, then breeze eased through the night S/E 12kts sailing at 5kts with tonight’s FULL MOON in smooth seas. Magic! Getting exciting, should sight New Zealand tomorrow if the GPS and me are doing it right. Day’s run 127nm.

TUESDAY day 10 slow going early but breeze picked up 15/20kt, now racing toward North Cape, at 6kt. We sight land at 1315 hours, that’s NEW ZEALAND, right where it’s supposed to be. What a great feeling! We’re now slowing “Envy” down so as not to arrive at Opua, our entry port, in the dark. We can clearly see the coast in the moonlight at midnight, a few miles to starboard. Only 40nm to go. Day’s run 113nm.

WEDNESDAY day 11 Breeze fading away, sailing at 3.5kt, then just after midnight the #1 headsail halyard broke and down came the genoa partway into the water. Fortunately almost no wind, and only a few hours away from our destination. We secured it on the foredeck motoring the last few dawning hours into the port of Opua, arriving at the Customs Wharf at 0930hours. With formalities over, a loud pop aboard signalled “Envy’s” bubbly welcome to New Zealand!

Many of you will know the feeling of making landfall at the end of a passage, and no doubt we felt the same satisfaction. Clearing Customs and Quarantine was both free of charge and a breeze, since we had no ‘duty free’ goods to declare and had provisioned the yacht accordingly for the passage across, knowing what would be sacrificed upon arrival. We were told New Zealand has the second strictest quarantine entry regulations in the world after Australia.

In all, our route of 1196 nautical miles took 10 days and 1.5 hours, which we covered at an average boat speed of 5.0 knots. Indications were that the passage would take between 10 and 15 days, and since most weather patterns span only a few day’s duration, we had expected to be exposed to a variety of weather and were not let down on that account.

Our 10 day crossing exposed us to the most common of usual weather conditions including gale force winds and rolly windless drifters, 40+ knot winds to simply idyllic smooth seas cruising, storm driven pouring rain to perfect warm sunny days and magic soft moonlight sailing to crackling lightning and thunder in the middle of the night. But it was all simply great.

In ignorance of what sea conditions to expect, we left with enough frozen pre-cooked meals for the trip in the event cooking enroute was too difficult, but in fact, that was not the case. Sleep deprivation, always a concern for short-handed cruisers, was not a problem once we settled into ‘sea mode’ after the first three days, with three hour watches before midnight and two hours each through 0600.

The unwelcome aspects of the passage were not as frightening at the time as they may now seem to the reader, and beyond sensible cautionary bounds, at no time did we feel our safety seriously compromised. In hindsight we would happily repeat the crossing, with little or no change to our passage plan, but granted, every passage is different. Nevertheless, we will always happily recall our experience of “Envy” crossing the Tasman.

"Happenings" Number 2 - 2002

Cruising the Queensland Coast and Home News

There have been few significant changes during the year, other than one which some of you are aware and others perhaps not.

So in order to get everyone up to scratch, and particularly many overseas friends, here’s our first attempt at a short generic update, though some of you will need to tolerate the boredom of revisiting known ground.

We returned from our 2001 six month’s cruise to PNG’s Louisiade Archipelago aboard our yacht “Envy” in time for Christmas, had a break, then back into temporary work for Audrey and boat chores for Bruce, in preparation for the 2002 cruise to New Caledonia and on to New Zealand.

The months rolled by uneventfully with the social potpourri of visiting friends, occasional dinner parties, weekend sailaways down the bay, lazy days and all the usual happenings and distractions. That is – until the Queen’s Birthday holiday weekend in mid June.

We had decided to join the Yacht Club’s monthly sail-a-way weekend, on this occasion to the picturesque Bay Islands of southern Moreton Bay, some 5 miles offshore about 25/30 miles south of Brisbane. There are six populated islands within the group (plus a similar number unpopulated) and the destination for the weekend was Karragarra Island, a small island of around 90 inhabitants, 2.5km long and 500metres wide, with a lovely well protected anchorage and sandy swimming beach.

It offers absolutely no shops or anything commercial, other than regular high-speed waterbus and vehicular ferry services. There are many more vacant allotments than houses; the place is crime free, peaceful and quiet, other than the sound of the abundant and colourful bird life.

We went ashore next morning, our first time ever on Karragarra, and Audrey declared her immediate fondness for the place before her feet had barely stepped on the sandy beach. Four weeks later we owned a house on ‘Karra’, which is now our home, and our yacht “Envy” also lives out the front on a loaned mooring.

The house is high set timber, contains 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a private rear deck with a view that can’t be built out. Nothing elaborate, but comfortable and an ideal base to lock up when we go cruising, and there’s always a big comfortable bed here for you!!

Having delayed our cruising departure whilst moving-in these past few months, our changed plans are now to sail direct to New Zealand, and we hope to leave Brisbane by mid October, weather permitting, for the 1200-mile passage across the Tasman.

Plans are to buy a van and tour around NZ for 5 months, after seeing some of the America’s Cup racing, then sail onto Tonga and Fiji mid year and return to Oz by Christmas 2003. We’ll keep you informed.

Our address here is 54 Treasure Island Ave, Karragarra Island, Queensland, 4184, though our ‘snail-mail’ address whilst away cruising remains PO Box 2019, Ascot, Qld, 4007. Our current phone here is 61-7-3409 1583, but we’ll cancel it upon departure, and this same number may not be reallocated upon reconnection on our return.

We now have a digital camera and may include an occasional photo in .jpg format, from time to time, so let us know if you prefer not to receive these attachments.