Auckland, New Zealand
10/01/2005 - 04/30/2006
Duncan at the Helm
One of the great things about living in Auckland is access to the Hauraki Gulf. The Hauraki Gulf is bordered by North Island on the west, the Coromandel peninsula on the south and east, and the Great Barrier and Little Barrier islands on the northeast and north.
The gulf is still exposed to some ocean swell from the north, but since the majority of the swell comes up from the southern ocean -- the Hauraki Gulf is nicely protected most of the year.
These pictures may lead you to believe it is balmy-warm and sunny here year-round, but we will confess there are at least three months of winter here when we are too wimpy to leave the dock.
The best summer cruising window is from about January to March, with scattered warmth and sun throughout October through December. April and May can still have their gorgeous days, but February is probably the supreme month to take off.
Only the hardiest Kiwi's still sail or go boating in winter (June through September). Wimpy immigrants from California wait for the other eight months of the year -- when it's sweet, dude.
The Auckland city front on the Waitemata harbor is also a busy shipping port. Between ferries, container ships, sailing races, and weekend "boaties" careening into the harbor from three major marinas -- it can be chaos. It is much nicer to go out sailing on a mid-afternoon weekday to take advantage of the quiet harbor.
Here a go-fast cat blows Whipser's hatches off in the Waitemata harbor. Most of the Waitemata harbor-front is prime real estate, with nicer homes/land going for millions of Kiwi dollars. The Mission Bay area is in the background.
Sailing by Brown's Island. One of several small islands at the entrance to the Waitemata Harbor.
Sunset while at anchor on the "bottom end" of Waiheke Island (east end).
A quick Auckland area orientation
Here is a quick primer will help get you oriented as to where we are. The next three maps show a progressive "zoom in" on the Auckland area. The main population of New Zealand -- about 1.5 million of the total of about 4 million people -- live in the Auckland region. The north island has the vast majority of the small population.
First, the entire North and South Islands. The red box outlines the north island which appears in the next map. Note that from tip to tail, you are only looking at about 850 miles. The land area is about 104,000 sq miles -- the size of Colorado.
Second, just the North Island. Then, within the North Island, the Auckland area is selected with the red box. We have not explored very much south of the Auckland area. There are lots of beautiful areas yet to explore. Rugged, wild coastlines, enormous volcanic mountains, thermal features, desolate white and black sand beaches... We look forward to more North Island travel -- probably in 2008.
From the red box on the above right, the Auckland area, the Hauraki Gulf, and surrounds. Bayswater and Devonport are on the points of land just south of the big TAKAPUNA label. Auckland city is the grayed out urban center to the right of AUCKLAND. The narrow water just north of the gray AUCKLAND is the Waitemata harbor. Just underneath the PUNA of TAKAPUNA is Rangitoto island, Motutapu island (and Islington Bay between them). Tiny Rakino, just above Mototapu hosts an annual jazz festival every year. Waiheke island is the big one in the lower center of the gulf. Waiheke is covered with vineyards, trails, holiday homes, zillion dollar cliff-top homes, and locals -- many commute by ferry to Auckland daily. Great Barrier Island is the big one in the upper right. The distance from Auckland to Great Barrier Island is approximately 60 nautical miles.
First stop, Christmas 2005 in Waiheke
Almost everyone takes a full two weeks off over the Christmas holiday -- with many taking as long as a month. This leaves plenty of time to get out on the Hauraki Gulf, up to Great Barrier Island, or around the Coromandel peninsula. For the last two holiday seasons, we have taken the opportunity to get out cruising over the holidays. This is our trip from 2005. We will probably do something very similar in 2006.
First, find a nice protected anchorage on the east end of Waiheke Island. Settle into the 80 F weather and think about Christmas dinner. Yes, it's the 25th of December and the start of summer here.
Then, Robin prepares a stuffed turkey with veggies and a side of crispy stuffing.
Stick the stuffed bird and veggies in a brown-in-bag and a foil tray.
Then squeeze it in Whisper's tiny oven and cook for a while. Delicious!
While it is cooking. Watch your friends Graeme and Taryn on Waterdragon arrive.
Dressed for the occasion.
Taryn and Graeme share a great Christmas dinner on Whisper. Graeme and Taryn did the Baja Ha-Ha on Waterdragon in 2002 as well, but we didn't get to know them until we were both living in the Bayswater marina, Auckland.
Oh, and we decorated too. The store-bought "Pavlova" in the foreground is a decadent dessert that these down-under folks just love. We are now converts too.
Ready to go for a sail?
How about out to Great Barrier Island? Sounds good! It's only about 35 nautical miles from the east end of Waiheke up to "the Barrier". It takes about 5-7 hours depending on the wind direction and speed. We picked a great day to go. Port Fitzroy (the big bay around a small island upper left) is our destination.
Great Barrier Island appears in the distance. We arrive well before dark and enter Port Fitzroy. Port Fitzroy is a supreme protected bay that is made up of about a dozen other protected bays within it. Thousands of boats converge here over the holidays.
This sled flew by us flying this new-fangled kite spinnaker. We think the theory is the billowing "vent" in the center will keep the sail inflated, shaped, and balanced better in lighter winds.
One of the many "classic Kiwi launch" designs in New Zealand. This one is anchored in the channel entrance to Port Fitzroy.
Whisper settles into one of the nicer small bays inside Port Fitzroy. Good holding, protected by a tiny island, beautiful views, friends nearby. Sweet as.
"The Spirit" was here last Christmas too (as were we). It is a training ship that takes at-risk youth out on the ship for an experience of a lifetime.
The Spirit of New Zealand arrives in our tranquil bay.
Hey, I have water in my ear after that "brisk" swim. The water does not get much above 70 F in December. Brrrr.
The Spirit anchors in our bay. The kids prepare for several hours of "swing-and-drop" from the rigging and bowsprit.
Mandala, a beautiful Kiwi boat from our marina drops in. Friends on Heramana and Toy Shop are also nearby.
The 627 meter (2030+ ft) Mount Hobson in the background calls to us --"come hike up me, come hike up me" . A call we shall soon heed.
You don't need a big fancy yacht to enjoy the Barrier. This 24 ft Four Winns had all the toys he needed on his back swim deck -- fishing gear, coolers, and a BBQ.
Let's take a cruise around the anchorage in the dingy. Robin likes to "go dinghy ride".
This anchorage in the shadow of Mount Hobson was already occupied by this new mega-yacht.
Ad Lib was named the Superyacht of the year / best in class in the April 2006 World Superyacht Awards in Venice, Italy.
The 40 meter (~130 ft) alloy yacht was build by New Zealand's Alloy yachts. It is one of the prettiest luxury yachts we've seen in our 4 years of cruising.
Duncan appears to be fairly stressed-out while putting around Port Fitzroy in the dinghy.
Time for a hike to the top of Mount Hobson. Here is the view down onto Fitzroy from the base of the trail. Whisper is one of the 50 or so boats below us.
We hiked to the top of Hobson with Ally and Jeff off No News (fellow Michigander's from Charlevoix) and Karl from the boat Treanna.
In most areas the trail looked like this.
Well, we're almost there. Just this little bit more to go. We allocated several hours for the hike, knowing it might take us a bit longer than the rest of our group.
Okay, maybe it's further than we think. This view back down onto Port Fitzroy with Little Barrier off to the west indicates we are probably only about half way.
A bit further up the same valley with the view off to Little Barrier.
If you look carefully, you can see Robin scaling the steep trail/rock face in the lower middle -right.
And over a sling-bridge. Or is it a swing-bridge?
We caught up to the group at the Kauri dam. Kauri is a type of wood that was prized for spar (sailboat mast & boom) making in the 1800's and it was logged to near extinction. These dams allowed all the logs to accumulate in a big lake behind the dam, and when ready, the dam would be tripped open to allow the entire lake behind it -- filled with logs -- to tumble down the mountainside. Ecology? What ecology?
Now it's just a dam ruins with a babbling brook. Some of the Kauri has started to replenish. The bush has grown back in the once-scoured clean valley. Much better.
We have to stop and smell the moss every once and a while.
The last bit of the hike was an above-the-bush track/stairway that climbed the last several hundred feet. The raised platform protects the habitat of nesting black petrel birds. There are around 750 steps. We have already hiked almost 1800 feet in elevation and a few miles -- THEN we get to the stair-master!
This is the west coast beach north of Mount Hobson. The west coast is known for its decent surf and pretty beaches. It is most comfortable in extremely settled weather. This would have been a good week to go, but we tend to get a bit lazy when we are cozy in our nice protected anchorages within Port Fitzroy.
Another Kiwi national symbol -- the fern.
Silly us. Everyone else poses to get their picture taken, but we were so spent, we forgot to ask anyone to take ours.
From the top. A clear view of Port Fitzroy, the huge anchorage around the .
Back on Whisper after a long day hike. We were pretty exhausted after the 2000+ ft vertical and several miles of up and down.
The next morning (and most of the day) Mount Hobson was in the clouds. I think we picked the optimum day for the best views.
Here is Smokehouse Cove in Port Fitzroy. It is mid-late-afternoon, so the anchorage is not as full as it will get. Hundreds of boats to the north of us.
Turn the camera south -- hundreds more in anchorages to the south. This is a popular place in over the holidays. Except for a few people to put out too little scope (others) conflicting with those that put out a bit too much (us), the atmosphere is quite friendly and civilized.
Looks like a decent weather window to sail back to Waiheke Island. It is supposed to blow hard for the next few days and we want to be closer to home. We wouldn't want to miss a day or two of work...
We arrived back to the east end of Waiheke after a fast and fun ride back south. Several boats (even Ad Lib in the distance) found this to be a nice protected place to sit out a couple days of 30-40 knot winds.
Although we could see it blasting out there on the gulf, we just blew gently to-and-fro around our anchor.
After the wind stopped blasting, we made our way over to Islington (Izzy) Bay between Rangitoto and Motutapu -- almost home, but another night or two at anchor are in order.
Our friend Russell arrives on his boat Tutanekai. We enjoyed getting to know his sister who was visiting.
And home. Except for this GIANT load of laundry, it was good to be back. What a great way to spend the Christmas holidays.
For a brief moment, the sun actually came out! We proceeded over to Islington Bay for a nice lunch, then sailed back up the harbor to Bayswater.
Friends visit!!!
Marge and Dave met us for a night out on their way back to the US from Shanghai. Friends of Duncan's parents from 40 years ago stopped by for brunch in Devonport.
More recently, friends Greg, Mark, and Mandy visited. Greg arranged a full-on whirlwind trip of New Zealand for the three of them. Robin worked with Greg, Mark, and Mandy back in the Silicon Valley. They really wanted to go sailing.
We worried the weather wouldn't be great for sailing. It was supposed to blow 30-40 knots on the only day they could go -- not great for a relaxing day sail. Even with the threat of wet, windy and cold, we decided to brave it anyway. We took the day off work, and off we went -- the only sailboat on the harbor. Maximum winds were 32 knots, with an average of low 20's. Not too bad.
Mark and Greg.
Greg and Mandy.
We enjoyed the jazz concert the next weekend on Rakino Island and stayed overnight at the tiny Noises Islands.
By the end of April, we were getting anxious to wrap things up in preparation for our big 2006 winter (summer in the northern hemisphere) trip. We are flying around the world -- our first circumnavigation -- seeing friends in Australia, family and friends in the USA, then off to Italy for a three week vacation together. A last stop in Singapore will give us our first taste of Asia, then back to Auckland to resume work in mid-August. Our next logs will take you on our June and July 2006 aero-circumnavigation. Stay tuned.