SVMagenta Ship's Log

New Zealand's North Island

We've been in New Zealand now for almost four months, from the middle of November to the first of March. The first few months were taken up by getting located, buying a vehicle, catching up with boat maintenance, and saying hello to loads of other cruisers whom we had met coming across the South Pacific. Also, the weather in November and December was quite rainy and cold, which delayed things, especially the boat maintenance.

For the past six weeks we have been on the road exploring the North Island and creating some new adventures on land rather than on the ocean. In addition to sight -seeing, we have hiked over a mountain, canoed down the Whanganui River, caught brown trout on flies in the Tongariro River, and taken bikes through the forest on old stagecoach roads. Some of these adventures have been on our own, some with other cruisers, and some with friends who flew in from the US to visit. The most significant of these adventures was the 20 kilometre Tongariro Alpine Crossing, an infamous hike over Mount Tongariro. It is located next to Mount Ngauruhoe (known as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie). We went with our good friends Liliane and Mike Mabee from the sailboat Meikyo. It was definitely a long day, but we all shared a sense of accomplishment when we finished. The scenery was really spectacular, so we have provided two new photo albums – one for the North Island, and a separate one just for the Tongariro Alpine Hike.

New Zealand is a beautiful country with geography very similar to the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. The people here are generally very friendly, easy to talk to, and have a unique sense of humor. With the exception of Auckland and a few other cities most of New Zealand is rural in nature, with tons of sheep and cattle everywhere.

We are now heading for the South Island for about three weeks. It is slightly larger than the North Island, and more mountainous and dramatic in it's geography. We'll update the website when we return, and then we will need to start getting ready for our next destination.

Getting Settled in New Zealand

New Zealand is definitely a first world country, and a big change from Tonga and the other island countries we have visited in the South Pacific. Everything is available here, and so is the temptation to buy too much of it. There are many similarities between New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest or Vancouver, but so far without the rain. The ocean, hills, trees, daily temperatures and people speaking English seem very familiar. But many things about New Zealand are different and unique. For example, the drug store is the 'chemist', and you don't try something here, you 'give it a go'. The most obvious difference is people walking on the left side of the sidewalk, and driving on the left side of the road. We bought a used Toyota van, and driving along the road isn't too bad, but it takes some thinking when coming to intersections and parking areas etc. Generally we put on our turn signal, but the windshield wipers come on. Sometimes we get into the car, and the steering wheel isn't there. So we pass each other while circling to the other side and hoping no one is watching us. The Kiwi's must get a good laugh at all this. Also, since we are now guests in their country, we are the ones with the strong foreign accent.

We expect to 'give it a go' here in New Zealand for about six months, and will do more posts and picture albums from time to time.

Arrived in New Zealand

Today we arrived in Port Opua, New Zealand, which is on the east side of the North Island. Clearing customs was straight forward, and we are in a great marina in a beautiful new country. Lots of other cruising boats are here that we have come to know over the past two years. But it is much cooler than we have become used to in the tropics. Our timing was good, though, as Tonga is experiencing it's first tropical depression of the cyclone season. Not a cyclone, but certainly very strong winds.

When we get settled and have a good internet connection, we will update this website with some new stories and picture albums.

Challenging Weather

The past 24 hours has really been a mixed bag. We were doing OK last evening when the wind switched to the south (right where we wanted to go), and grew to 25 knots and big seas. After fighting with it for a while (couldn't sail and too rough to motor) we hove to (stayed where we were) for a few hours waiting for something different. This morning there was no wind again, so we motored. A few hours ago the wind went to the south-west at 25 knots, and we are really hauling in the right direction for a change.

All of this has put us back a bit, and we now plan to arrive in Port Opua, New Zealand tomorrow morning. We have 53 miles left to go.

Good news! Kim just caught a big tuna! I guess we'll have a celebration dinner after we land in New Zealand.

Some Strong Winds Out Here

As we approach New Zealand, King Neptune has one more challenge for us. Since earlier this morning the wind has strengthened to 20-25 knots and swung around to the southwest. Hopefully this won't get any stronger. We've reefed the sails down to very little, and we seem to be handling it quite well. The benefit to the strong winds is pretty good mileage. We have 155 miles to Port Opua, New Zealand, and if this settles down a bit, we could get there sometime tomorrow (Thursday - NZ time, Wednesday - North America).

Heading for the Barn

Fairly high winds (20 knots) and large seas last night, but both calmed down this morning allowing us to motor-sail. We are currently motor-sailing straight on a course for Port Opua, New Zealand, with 260 miles to go.

Sailing Lessons

This passage to New Zealand is some difficult sailing. A lot different than bobbing along on the east-west trade winds. It is often frustrating, but probably really good for us and our attitude, as well as our sailing ability. It has to be a combination of patience and skill - not forcing it, waiting for the opportunities, and then taking advantage of them.
Yesterday afternoon and evening a big cold front came through with lots of wind from a good direction, so we were able to get a bit of a boost from that. But it was really cold and dark! After dusk, we couldn't see a thing anywhere for about six hours. A new high pressure has now filled in behind it, bringing clear skies, but the wind is once again right on the nose coming straight from where we want to go. But we are hard on the wind (as we have been this whole trip) and making something out of it. The waves are big enough to take motoring out of the equation for now. We now have 365 miles to New Zealand.

Finally Some Wind We Can Use

Last night was completely calm and very pretty with a clear sky and a full moon. Since there was no wind at all we took all the sails down and both slept all night. We motored for two hours this morning, and the SW wind finally came up. We are currently doing OK, and will try to use what we get to our advantage. 440 miles to New Zealand.

Sailing, Motoring, Drifting

During the past 24 hours we've had good winds (from the wrong direction), motored, and sometimes just drifted looking for wind. The forecast for the next few days is light winds from the south (right where we are going). We obviously can't fight with nature, as nature would win every time. So we just have to work with what wind opportunities we get. No wonder the New Zealanders are such good sailors. 470 miles to New Zealand.

A Different Day Today

What a difference a day makes. We were doing fine until our wind died at 1:00am last night. So we ran the engine for seven hours. This morning the wind had swung around to directly south, so we actually hove-to until 11:00am. Then the wind got to the south-west, where it is now. We are currently sailing close-hauled, the wind is about 25 knots, the waves are about 10 feet, and it's a little rough. But at least we're moving in sort of the right direction.