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Awaroa Bay - Abel Tasman (26th March)

We had a peaceful night in Torrent Bay and awoke early to prepare a cooked breakfast for a change from muesli and fruit.  We had mushrooms, bacon and poached eggs on toast, my favourite!  We had enough time to fit a new bolt and nut to the boarding ladder, that had somehow come undone and must have dropped in the ocean without me noticing yesterday when I went swimming??  We then weighed anchor and took a leisurely cruise up the coast, hugging the coastline as we went to maximise ...

Nelson through to Abel Tasman (March 25th)

We timed our trip into Nelson perfectly with miserable weather leading us in.  However, with shopping, restocking the pantry, fridge and freezer, refuelling and getting some bits and pieces done on the boat we had plenty to fill our days.  It was nice to take Jo out to tea on Friday at a nearby Marina Restaurant prior to her heading back to Hamilton to see Tazzy (our cat) and catch up on things there.  After a lazy start Saturday morning we went to view a Nelson based boat that wa...

Marlborough Sounds (20th March) Day 11

We left Hikoekoea Bay for D’urville Island after a quiet night on the mooring.  The wind was getting up a little but nothing too bad.  Robin was on the helm and he took us to Chetwode Islands for a fishing stop - we were low on food stocks, so low we had to have breakfast as last nights dinner (bacon & eggs on toast) so we were overdue for another fish dinner.  We caught a Gurnard and a couple of sharks, a spotty and a sand shark, both small.  We decided to move on to find ...

Kenepuru Sound - Portage Bay

We awoke to an overcast sky and gentle winds so as usual our day started with a swim, I wanted to focus on my breathing to increase my endurance.  Jo joined me after a bit of persuasion and we returned pleased with ourselves for braving the elements and doing well. After breakfast we left for Titirangi Bay via Forsyth Bay, we stopped for a brief fish at Horseshoe Bay on our way, we only caught one gurnard and two spotted shark.  The debris in the water (branches, logs, processed timber...

Kenepuru Sound - Te Mahia Bay (19th March) Day 9

Entrance to Kenepuru Sound...

Departing Havelock - Day 8 (18th March)

Kenepuru Sound...

Coffee in Havelock

Jo and I got the brompton’s out (fold up cycles - see photo) and we rode up to the Main Street for a look around.  Our bikes attracted a lot of attention too - not common down here.  We made the day for one ‘old boy’ who was fascinated by them, even more so when I folded mine up to back pack size and back into a bike in about one minute.  We were able to pick up a few items needed, manuka honey, crunchy peanut butter for Robin and wine for us all.    All other peri...

Marlborough sounds Day 7 (17th March) - Havelock

We passed boats very close as the channel was very narrow here and shallow....

Destination Tennyson Inlet - (15 March)

Skeleton of an old wooden fishing boat and tractor....

Marlborough Sounds Day 4 (14 March)

Wind blew up again last night in Wilson Bay so sleep was interrupted several times throughout the night.  We had a slow start deciding to spend some time fishing for gurnard again. While Robin tried his luck at fishing amongst the mussel farm in Maori Bay with limited success (shark only) the water was still warm so Jo and I decided on.a swim.  After our swim and a hot shower on the boarding platform we headed back north to Port Ligar Waterfall Bay on dusk.  We anchored next to a ...

Next Stop Pelorous Sounds

We awoke  Tuesday morning at dawn to the sounds of wind and waves rolling into Catherine Cove so decided to cruise to Pelorous sounds, Jo stayed in bed watching breakfast on 3 as we cruised across the sounds.  Once in Pelorous we were in the shelter of land again and flat water.  We keep heading deeper into the sounds until we had little or no wind.  This was Wilson Bay where there is a little resort with restaurant and bar facilities.  We were looking forward to a nice ...

Catherine Cove

Started our day with a swim around the buoy in the bay - Joanne left me in her wake but we are making it a daily routine for the next fortnight where I am sure I will get better!  After breakfast we went exploring ashore and met the proprietor of the resort and his Skipper.  He shared local knowledge of the walks we could take so we naturally chose to do them all.  The views were rewarding to say the very least and we found ourselves creating our own way back via a steep embankmen...

Nelson & Marlborough Sounds

Robin and I woke after a welcome uninterrupted night’s sleep to the sound of Fizz boats being launched one after another while the locals took advantage of a beautiful day and the last day of the weekend.  We prepped the boat for the next leg filling the water tanks and putting the boat back in order on the inside after one hell of a crossing.  Jo arrived after a beautiful flight from Hamilton bringing the sunshine with her.  Jo will spend a fortnight in Marlborough with us whic...

What a difference a day makes

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Looks are Deceiving!

After 3 days and nights a of continuous winds of 25 to 40 knots intersperced with horizontal rain, the weather forecast predicted improving conditions throughout Saturday so we decided to get out of Port Taranaki.  We weighed anchor before dawn in howling winds although that was not easy, I had both engines in drive to unload the anchor and we were standing still, normally I would be doing 5 knots!  With Robin watching the chain, we hauled up our 50 metres of chain (needed to hold the ...

Cook Straight Crossing

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View of Mt Taranaki from boat

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Paratutu Rock from the Port of Taranaki

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Len Lye Centre

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Friday 9th - PORT TARANAKI

We have spent the last two days waiting patiently for a break in the weather before cruising to Nelson.  Not wanting to waste our time here we took a climb to the top of Paratutu Rock in 30 - 40 knot winds to get a look at the great views on offer and it was definitely worth the effort.  It was a little tricky scaling the rocky path in jandels but attracted a few interesting looks from the hard core trampers!  We came back to the boat and within an hour we began drifting, dragging...

DAY 4-5 Cont.......

Weather has forced us to remain in Port Taranaki for another 3 days as we missed our weather window yesterday to head to Tasman.  The main reason was due to an engine fault which necessitated the fitting of a new Lift pump to our stbd engine (even though it is barely run in)!  We sorted this problem this morning after ferrying the diesel technician to the boat at 7:15am today.  Tom was a huge Taranaki boy and we joked about how we would be able to fit him along side our engine as ...

DAY 4-5 Cont.....

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Day 4 & 5 - Update

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MANGONUI - PLYMOUTH

Left at 7:00am as planned and ventured out into Doubtless Bay which was rough with strong winds 25+ knots on the Stbd beam - we were expecting smooth conditions around Cape Reinga so we were happy to tough it out.  As per ‘Predict Wind’ we rounded the Cape with a flat sea and the winds were dropping off.  It was exciting to be passing the lighthouse by sea (only the second time for me).  We both had an ear plug in our left ear (right side for left handlers) to prevent sea sick...

DEEP WATER COVE - MANGONUI

Weather better than first day but well short of Ideal!  We refuelled at the jetty - with the help of an 0800 number!  No Kaizen here!  Instructions:  1). Select pump number (No number on pumps). Trial and error works!   2). Key in Fuel Limit ( doesn’t accept limit).   0800 says, “ just select an amount less than $400 and do it many times, but wait 10 minutes between each cycle because it takes that long to reset”.   This was like this 2 years ago but no r...