It is a bright, mild and sunny winter’s day down here and we’ve left the marina and are motor sailing up the river toward Whangarei. We’ve stopped at the halfway point for a couple of days as more rain is expected. We’ll then continue up to Whangarei where we’ll anchor in the river and dinghy ashore for shopping, river walks and swimming in the public pool.
Yacht Larus
Sailing our 42' ketch slowly around the world
Where are we
Sunday, 21 May 2023
Ho Hum, still in New Zealand
Saturday, 13 May 2023
Likely departure for Fiji - Monday the 22nd of May
Blog started Monday, the 4th of May.
We really do have quite a good forecast for the upcoming weekend, though you wouldn’t know it by our current weather. Since we arrived in Marsden Cove, Whangarei Harbour, for a brief stay we haven’t been left due to strong northeasterly winds, which will not quit.
Last night our electronic barometer beeped to let us know that the air pressure had dropped fast enough that a gale was imminent. This is quite a nice thing to hear when you’re paying marina fees. The Bay of Islands has lots of protected anchorages but there is barely a handful down here.
Thursday, 20 April 2023
Looking forward to being Fiji bound.
On the whole, it’s been a cold wet NZ spring, followed by a cool wet summer and we are just easing into a cold wet winter. We’ve had a lot of wind to contend with as well, not even including Cyclone Gabrielle. Today, we are anchored near Russell in the Bay of Islands sheltering from a strong Easterly that has been blowing for the past 3 days.
A pic of Tim and I outside the Christ Church, Russell over the Easter weekend. You will think I’m lying about all the rain we’ve been having, but there really has been more wet and windy weather than there has been sunshine and blue skies.
This has nothing do with NZ but everything to do with Easter, and I wanted to show off my sister Laura’s gorgeous homemade Babka - traditional Ukrainian Easter Bread.
I’ve been trying to come to grips with the effects El Niño and La Niña here in NZ and it’s in no way straight forward. I found this an interesting article - El Niño and La Niña. And this is a RNZ.co.nz news report on what what influences La Niña has had over the last 3 years - Rare Triple-dip La Niña is over.
We have managed to do a little sailing, some boat work and quite a lot of socialising. Many friends who left their boats back in 2020 to sit out the pandemic at home are back onboard and preparing to head north for Fiji too.
We did some repairs on our two year old Coppercoat when we came out of the water for a week in Marsden Cove.
I still find it amusing to see Larus rise up out of the water, trundle up the ramp, across the road, around the bend and into the hard standing area.
Monday, 13 February 2023
Gabrielle moves South East
Just another 12 hours or so of wind and rain for us up here in the Upper North of Northland. We have been safe and well for the duration of the storm.
If you see a flooded BP station in any news videos, that gas/petrol station is just a short walk down river from Town Basin Marina where we are spending the strong weather. It is known to be vulnerable even in less extreme weather. Ditto the riverside walkway.
This was High water yesterday. Water rises as the tide comes in, and recedes as it good out. Inland areas that have flooded won’t be so fortunate.
The worst of the rain is over for us and the wind will die down in another 12 hours or so. Southern and southeastern areas of the North Island with have continuing wind and rain until Garbrielle moves farther offshore.
Often these storms, which form in the Coral Sea off Brisbane, Australia, particularly in an La Niña year pass New Zealand with little affect. We still have a big High pressure off to the southeast which is to blame for blocking the storm from heading east and passing over the top of New Zealand. Instead, it was direct south and it will affect southern and eastern areas for some time yet.
There is still a lot of flooding and power outages in Northland but we do have sunny days ahead that will help the situation enormously.
Friday, 10 February 2023
Good grief! It has been a while.
Hello! All is well here in Whangārei where we are in tucked into the best berth Town Basin Marina.
And we are waiting for a big blow thanks to Cyclone Gabrielle, now lurking in the Coral Sea off the West Coast of Australia. It looks like it will be passing fairly close to the east coast of the Upper North of the North Island. It had been forecast as a direct hit to the Upper Northland, but every day the track seems to be moving further to the East, offshore of our location. A big High Pressure to the southeast of New Zealand had been keeping Gabrielle tracking toward south but as it moves further southeast so does Gabrielle.
It is a big system though and will bring lots rain and strong winds to much of the North Island. According to the last forecast we are expecting periods of wind speeds between 20 to 30 knots with the potential for gusts up to 50 knots. Days ago the forecast was suggested gusts up to 70 knots so things are definitely going in the right direction.
We don’t really expect anything like that where we are. We are the red arrow near the top left of the screenshot.
Most of the concern about this storm is for Auckland and the Coromandel Peninsula. These areas have taken a beating in the last few weeks and we are expecting a lot of rain.
Having said all this, there are still several days before the system will reach us and the weather models will become more accurate as it approaches.
While we wait, we aren’t taking anything for granted and are erring in the side of caution. I’ve been found some useful sites regarding cyclone preparedness. This was my favourite - 18 Steps to Prepare for this Cyclone Season. We won’t have anything like cyclone force winds but it’s good practice and makes you better prepared to respond to a really big blow.
Today and for the first half of tomorrow (Saturday) we are having hot dry weather. Which is just as well as we can expect varying amounts of wind and rain until Tuesday or Wednesday.
The three day forecasts are quite accurate but anything after that is subject to change. Right now the system is heading southeast, which is the right direction.
I’m posting this now just so as not to worry anyone if it starts to appear in news cycles.
We are safe, well and settling in for a wet and blustery few days when I’ll have lots of time to gather up the bits and pieces since January and write them up. There were some lovely moments despite the unseasonably and unrelenting wintery summer.
Lots of love
Nancy and Tim
Tuesday, 13 December 2022
Too wet, too dry, too hot, too cold….what is climate change?
Settling into NZ cruising isn’t going quite as one would hope.
When we left Fiji Tim had the beginnings of a nasty cold. He coughed his way to NZ, but a Covid test mid-passage assured us that it was just a cold, which improved as we went along.
I’ve been pondering where the heck he could have picked it up.
Living on a boat, usually at anchor, means we spend little time mingling with the general public and when we do most of it is in the open air. The chance of catching anything is quite slim and there is little Covid around to catch anyway. I remembered eventually our last provisioning trip from Denarau Marina to the shopping in Nadi was on the Saturday before we departed.
The bus trip was, as usual, a handful of people on a bus with large windows, wide open, Nadi, however, was heaving. There was a fun fair being erected in the open space by the market, there were lots of people on the street but the open air market wasn’t any busier than normal. Some far so good.
With market and supermarket shopping complete, Tim suggested a taxi back, but the bus is so easy. It’s only $1.50 each, there was one waiting for us, and we climbed on board. Added bonus, the bus was nearly empty, however, by the time of departure, it had filled considerably. Subsequent stops on the way out of town filled it to standing room only and we were squeezed together like sardines. At this point, a woman in the back of the bus started sneezing explosively and repeatedly. She then snuffled wetly for the rest of the journey.
The bus was full enough that there was no way to get to our face masks in my backpack, so we pointed our noses to the open window and hoped our Covid top ups would do their job.
Fast forward to NZ. Arriving after a passage, once you get through the excitement of clearing Immigration and, most particularly, BioSecurity, you can finally relax. Anchored in our favourite spot near Opua, I lay down for an after lunch nap and woke up 5 hours later with a scratchy throat, headache and tickly cough.
My Covid test was negative too, though as Tim hadn’t had Covid it would have had be by via immaculate infection.
Two weeks later, Tim still has the occasional cough and mine still wakes me in the night, but we’re much improved and I’m finally feel good enough to whinge about it.
We arrived on the first of December. An auspicious day as New Zealanders consider it to be the first day of summer.
Winter 2022 has been a rough one for NZers. Unseasonal spring time Lows have been barrelling across the country causing wind and rain and, I assume, keeping the tropical highs from bringing the ‘normal’ New Zealand summer at bay.
In the two weeks we’ve been here, we’ve probably only had 3 days of ‘summer’. Even the Pōhutukawa: The New Zealand Christmas tree is not yet in full bloom.
For my part, I’m actually really enjoying not sweating all the time. It’s so nice to wear a cuddly fleece and sleep under a duvet.
Today, we had planned to head out to anchor in Parua Bay. We’ve done what we needed to do in the marina - repaired the leak in the water tank and visited with Zoe and Bill on Into The Blue - and had no further reason to stay. It was lovely yesterday when we decided this; today we are back into a proper NZ winter day with uncomfortably cold winds and rain. Another day in the marina is a very good idea.
I’ve done some research on the mystery or the mess on our deck mid-passage.
These are the photos I took. It might not look like much but click on the photo to get a close up.
‘When a whale let its breath it can travel at incredible speeds but it also reaches up 30 feet in the air, creating a cloud of mist or spray that almost every person on the ocean is looking for.
Now when these whales let out these mighty blows they aren’t releasing water from their blowhole they are letting out air, because their breath is so powerful it causes the water around its hole to create a cloud of mist. Well that mist isn’t just water it actually contains mucus and oils, it’s almost like the whale has a cold and is blowing its nose, gross…. Those whale blows can also be very stinky!
If you are still shopping for holiday gifts, a charitable donation on behalf of a family member or friend is always a much appreciated gift.
One area in need of immediate assistance is the Horn of Africa, https://www.unocha.org/horn, but there are many out there to choose from both near and far.
Keep safe and well,
Nancy and Tim
Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Arrived and cleared in
Yippee! Here we are in NZ, safe and sound.
We arrived last night at about 2200. The customs process started this morning. It was painless but quite thorough. We had the same agent we had when we arrived in 2019. Once the procedure ps were completed we filled up with diesel. We used 300 litres to get here. That is eye watering. Normally we’d use that in about 6 months. It needed doing though as we would still be out there beating into a strong southwesterly and very very unhappy. Instead we are anchored in Opua, about to have a very nice looking steak and mushroom pie hot from the local shop, followed by as long a nap as we like.
It’s very nice to be back. :)