The Cynical Sailor & His Salty Sidekick: New Zealand

Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts

28 September 2018

Flashback Friday | Moa Preservation Society

Flashback Friday takes place on the last Friday of the month. The idea is to give a little more love to a blog post you've published before that maybe didn't get enough attention, or is something you think is still relevant or even a something that you really love and want to share again.

Many thanks to Michael d’Agostino for starting Flashback Friday and inspiring me to go back and revisit some of our earlier blog posts.

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I remember laughing out loud when I wrote this post. Sometimes, I crack myself up. I guess the person that gets your sense of humor the best is usually yourself. I laughed again when I reread it. I also noticed that I referenced being active on Pinterest. It was something I did a lot of for a while, but then it fell by the wayside. I actually started a new account which I might do more with.

Anyway, this is a flashback to when we lived in New Zealand and I learned about moas, flightless birds which are now extinct. Or are they?

This post was originally published in July 2014. You can find the original post here.

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If you're read our blog for a while, you may have noticed the mention here and there of the >>Moa Preservation Society<<. Scott and I are the founding members and the purpose of the society is to save moas from extinction. Some people foolishly believe that the moas are already extinct, but we've seen a few in our travels around New Zealand so we know that's not true. Here is some proof.
We saw this guy on the South Island. He stopped and kindly posed for a picture for us. I think he was on his way to get a pie. Bacon and egg is my favorite. Not sure what his favorite is - I forgot to ask because I was so excited to see a moa.

And we saw this fellow on the North Island. Notice how he tries to blend into the bush. Moas are notoriously shy creatures, which is why you don't see them very often.

I'm not sure why this myth that the moa is extinct is so prevalent in New Zealand, as well as the rest of the world. Just the other day, I read this article in the New Zealand Herald about Labour MP Trevor Mallard raising the idea that the moa could be brought back from the dead. But not just any moa, as according to Mr. Mallard it would be foolish to have the 3.5m variety roaming around. As he points out:

"They would be dangerous. But the ones 1.3m tall (and 1.8m tall) don't weigh much more than turkeys. I'd like ones I could pat on the head, rather than the ones that are going to bowl us over."

I don't know what surprised me more - that Mr. Mallard thought this was a good issue to talk about in the run up to the election or the fact that he thinks they are actually extinct? Even the Prime Minister knows that they aren't extinct. As John Key pointed out, "there are a few Moas in the Labour caucas."

I guess the good thing about this news story is that it has highlighted the danger that moas are in. Look at this sign for example - an entire business dedicated to hunting the moas down.

And do you know what they do with the moas they kill? They turn them into {gasp} beer. It's true - check out this site here. They even tried to serve me some on Air New Zealand the other day. Of course, I said no.

But with your help, we can put a stop to it. Join the Moa Preservation Society and work with us to help keep moas around for generations to come. It only costs $25 for your annual membership - what a bargain! And it can be any variety of dollars you like - US, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian etc. You get the idea. Make sure you send it to us in cash and mark the envelope, "Urgent - Large Cash Donation Enclosed." That will ensure the post office gets it to us promptly, as well as safe and sound.

If you want to see some more inspirational pictures of moas, you can check out my Pinterest Board which is dedicated to the subject. I've recently discovered Pinterest - why didn't anyone tell me about it before? It is amazing how many hours can evaporate just like that when you're looking at pretty pictures of things like moas and adding them to your boards.

Once we receive your $25 donation, we'll send you one of these lovely membership certificates which you can proudly display in your home or on your boat.

Fancy becoming a member of the Moa Preservation Society? Are you active on Pinterest? If so, share a link below and I'll check it out.

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29 June 2018

Flashback Friday | Going For A Walk: Wynyard Quarter, Auckland, New Zealand

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This is a flashback to when we lived in Auckland, New Zealand. We didn't have a car, so we walked everywhere. We lived in city centre (downtown) Auckland, so everything was convenient and we were a hop, skip, and a jump away from the waterfront.

When I looked back at this post, I noticed that I only used metric. Hard to believe that once upon a time, I functioned in kilometers, kilograms, and hectares.

This was originally published in December 2013 - you can see the original post here.

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Wynyard Quarter is one of the new hot spots in the Auckland waterfront area and is undergoing a 25-year urban transformation plan, the first part of which was completed in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup (which of course the All Blacks won).

It sits on reclaimed land in the Waitemata Harbour and encompasses around 37 hectares of land and three kms of coastal frontage. There are all sorts of amenities for visitors to enjoy including a playground, public artwork, old siloes which have been jazzed up, a fish market and all sorts of cafes, restaurants and bars.

You can see all types of vessels in Wynyard Quarter including fishing boats, the Great Barrier Island ferry, classic Kiwi yachts and mega yachts. Positioned between the Viaduct and Westhaven, it is nice area to have a stroll, visit and explore.

The drawbridge from Te Wero Island in the Viaduct which you cross over to get to Wynyard Quarter.

View from under the pohutukawa trees back to the Viaduct and the drawbridge..

There is a lot of interesting street art scattered throughout Wynyard Quarter.

There's a fish market in Wynyard Quarter which is fun to explore. They sell good fish and chips there, but be warned if you want ketchup for your chips, it will cost you extra.

Yummy fish for sale. Although, I much prefer the ones that Skipper Scott catches for us.

One of the many fishing boats in the Wynyard Quarter.

They've repurposed old shipping containers throughout Wynyard Quarter.
You can get money out of the ATM at this one. There is a television screen on the other side showing videos.

At this one, you can buy some ice cream with the money you just took out of the ATM.

And you can even catch the bus from this shipping container.

At the end of Wynyard Quarter is Silo Park. It is full of siloes. The name kind of gives it away.

They've jazzed some of the old siloes up with colorful paintings.

Silo Park marina is where the mega-yachts berth. This ridiculous boat, the A, is owned by a Russian tycoon and worth $350 million. He has brought it into Auckland to be repainted. It is going to cost around NZ$30 million alone to repaint and take approx. 18 months.

These boats are much nicer.

And the most important thing to know about the Wynyard Quarter is that they just opened a branch of Sal's Pizza there. This is the best proper American style pizza in Auckland. I think they import the cheese from Wisconsin. Getting a pizza from Sal's is a priority must-do for Scott this week now that he is back in New Zealand.

Have you ever been to New Zealand? Do you like to go for urban walks?

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01 April 2018

A Is For "Anclaje" {Anchorage} | A To Z Challenge

In my ongoing efforts to learn Spanish, I'm highlighting a Spanish word each day during April as part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. I'll also share the random thoughts that pop into my head when I try to pronounce it.

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Today's Spanish word is >>anclaje<< (anchorage). And now for some random thoughts:

1 - These are some pictures of anchorages we dropped the hook at during our time cruising in New Zealand, the Bahamas, and Florida.

2 - I've blatantly recycled these photos from older blog posts. Some of you may remember them if you've been following our blog for a while.

3 - Although, if you do remember them, I'm impressed. I can't even remember what my middle name is. Oh, wait, I don't have a middle name. That explains it.

What's your memory like? Do you remember what your middle name is? What's your favorite word that starts with "A"?

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Check out the other folks participating in this year's Blogging from A to Z Challenge here.

30 March 2018

Flashback Friday | Marina Life

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This is a flashback to one of the e times we stayed at a marina in New Zealand. We normally prefer to anchor, but marinas were relatively inexpensive in New Zealand so we would stay at them occasionally to take care of life and boat chores. When we were at marinas we would run around like crazy trying to get everything done in order to get the biggest bang for our buck. After all, if we just wanted to sit around and relax, we could do that an anchorage.

{This post was originally published in February 2014. You can find the original post here.}

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We’ve actually been spending far more time in marinas then we intended to due in part to the weather and in part to some commitments in Auckland. Fortunately, marinas are relatively inexpensive in New Zealand; otherwise this wouldn’t be sustainable on our cruising budget. For our 26’ boat we pay around NZ$22-25 a night for a fingered berth. From what Scott tells me, marinas in Europe are far more expensive and he’s paid around €100 a night for berths there.

But because we’re cheap and would much prefer to be out there on the water, we try to minimize how much time we do spend in marinas and maximize the number of boat and life chores we can get done when we’re there. You would think it would be relaxing to be in a marina, but a day at a marina for us is often chock-a-block. Here is what a typical stay might look like for us.

Arrival Day

10:00 am – 11:30 am

Arrive at marina and find the office to check-in. Typically, the berth they have assigned you is the furthest one away from the office so you have a bit of a walk to get there. Spend some time filling out paperwork and proving you have third party insurance. Find out where the shower block, laundry facilities and nearest grocery store are. These are three of the most important life chores you need to accomplish – make yourself smell good, make your clothes smell good and re-provision. And because everything at a marina revolves around gold coins (NZ$1 and $2 coins), trade a twenty dollar bill for a bag of coins. Otherwise, you and your clothes aren’t going to get clean.

11:30 am – 12:00 pm

Return to your boat and collapse because you’re exhausted from not having slept in days in near-gale force conditions. Try to convince each other that taking a shower really would make you feel better.

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm

Hit the shower block. Wait outside the shower because it is occupied. Debate whether to walk what seems like five miles to the other shower block but decide to stay and pray that they person in the shower will come out soon. Finally they do. Except it isn’t one person, it is two. Perhaps they only had one NZ$2 coin and had to share the shower? Either that or they’re newlyweds. Personally, I want all of the five minutes of hot water that my NZ$2 coin is going to give me without sharing it with Scott. But then again, we’ve been married for over 20 years.

Take a shower wearing your flip-flops because athlete’s foot sounds like a real drag. Try to shave your legs in the bad lighting and then give up. Convince yourself that the hair kind of disguises the bruises on your legs you have gotten from banging around the boat when it gets all tippy. Oops, the alarm has gone off and you only have one minute of hot water left! Do one last rinse and then towel off.

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Go through your current food stores to try to figure out what you need at the grocery store. It seems simple but it isn’t because your food is spread out in several hidey holes throughout the boat, some in very hard to reach places. Give up and just decide to buy a lot of cans of tomatoes and bags of pasta. You can’t really go wrong with spaghetti.

2:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Walk to the grocery store. Do your shopping. Have them bag your groceries in plastic bags even though you know you already have reusable grocery bags in your backpack. But you need more plastic bags. When you live on a boat you love plastic bags. And you can never have too many plastic bags. (Or paper towels.) Once you’re done shopping, restow all of the groceries into your backpacks and reusable grocery bags. Lug them all back to the boat because you don’t have a car. Your feet are your car. Tell Scott how strong he is from time to time as he is carrying the really heavy items on his back.

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Unload the groceries and stow in the various hidey-holes. Try to do some sort of inventory of what you have so that putting the shopping list together next time will be easier. Watch Scott shake his head because the inventory system hasn’t worked the last three times you’ve tried it.

5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Make spaghetti for dinner. Eat dinner. Do the dishes using a decadent amount of fresh water. One of the best parts of being in a marina – all the fresh water you could possibly want. No need to wash the dishes in salt water today. It doesn’t get better than this! Oh yes, when you’re a cruiser, it is the little things that really make all the difference.

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Do the laundry and set up a “charging station” in the laundry room. When you don’t have an electrical set-up on your boat, every visit to a marina is an opportunity to charge the mobile phones, the portable DVD player and the computers. So when we hit the laundry room, we plug in an extension cord/pigtail and plug all of our gadgets in to charge. When you have a day in a marina, you have to multi-task – laundry and charging go hand in hand.

9:00 pm – 10:30 pm

Get back to the boat and decided to flaunt the marina rules which say you can’t hang laundry up to dry on your boat because their dryer doesn’t work. They call it a dryer, but it is really just a machine that eats up your NZ$2 coin, spins your clothes around for an hour and returns them to you wet.
Watch part of an episode of Battlestar Galactica on the newly charged portable DVD player before realizing there is no way you can stay awake through the entire episode.

Departure Day

6:30 am – 7:00 am

Wake up but pretend to be asleep so that the other person will make the coffee. Continue the contest of wills until someone breaks and gets up and puts the kettle on. It is usually Scott.

7:00 am – 9:00 am

Make breakfast and get the boat in order. Complain to each other about the marina rules that make you vacate your slip by 9:00 am. No hotel would make you get out that early. But then again, this isn’t a hotel. If it was, we would have room service and someone would have brought the coffee and breakfast to us.

Top up with fresh water into every possible container you can think of – the normal jerry cans and water bladder, some old plastic soda pop bottles, the solar shower and a container for sun tea. You never know when you’re going to see fresh water again, so if you’re a cruiser, get it when you can.
Untie the dock lines and sail off to the next port of call.

Have you ever pretended to be asleep so that your partner will get up and make the coffee?

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23 February 2018

Flashback Friday | Cooking Without A Fridge: A Week On Our Boat In New Zealand

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This is a flashback to when we lived and cruised aboard our 26' sailboat, Rainbow's End, in New Zealand. She was a great little boat, but one of the things I really like about our new boat, Tickety Boo, is that fact that she has a fridge. We managed fine cooking without a fridge in New Zealand, but it's so much nicer to have a fridge, especially when it comes to keeping your beer cool.

{This post was originally published in March 2014. You can find the original post here.}

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When we first decided to start cruising full-time on our 26’ sailboat, I thought one of the biggest challenges would be living without a fridge. Yes, that’s right - we don’t have a fridge on board. We don’t have an oven, a dishwasher or a laundry machine either. This is a very low-tech boat and certainly a long, long way from living on land. But, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that living without a fridge isn’t really a problem at all. And just to prove it, I thought I would share a week’s worth of our meals to show you the types of things we cook and eat.

One of my “inspirations” for preparing to cruise full-time has been Lin Pardey’s The Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew. In her book, she describes the meals she made each day on a passage that they took from Asia to North America, along with some handy tips and tricks. So, like all good idol worshipers, I decided to imitate her and I’ve been recording what we eat in our log. When I looked back to pick a week of cooking to share, I made a few observations:

We eat a lot of pasta. Which you might not think is a bad thing, but I only make it one or two ways.

Tortillas are a godsend when you don’t have an oven and easy access to store bought bread.

Cooking experiments don’t always turn out.

Some things that I’ve made, even a dog wouldn’t eat.

Those are the days you think to yourself, “I wish we could order a pizza to go just now.” But you can’t. Because you have no cell phone reception and you are far, far away from a pizzeria.
We could definitely do better on that whole 5 a day thing. But that was probably the case before we moved onto the boat.

Tuesday, 3 March 2014 (Bay of Islands)

Breakfast – nada
Lunch – rice & bean burritos and cheese quesadillas
Dinner – pasta

Usually, I’m a big believer in eating breakfast and demand to be fed pretty much first thing after I wake. But, since we’ve been out cruising, I find that we often eat much later at night then we did on land as we’re either anchoring someplace new or have been out exploring an island during the day. Or, I just can’t be bothered to cook until the sun goes down. So, I find that there have been quite a few days where we’ve skipped breakfast and quickly got the boat ready and headed out to our next destination. This was one of those days.

For lunch, Scott likes to play a little game I call “Salmonella Roulette”. I heat up last night’s dinner – which has been sitting out without refrigeration – and he happily eats it. So far, he hasn’t gotten sick. So while he had leftover vegetarian rice and beans burritos, I settled for a cheese quesadilla.

For dinner, I made my specialty – Ellen’s pasta with red sauce. Simple to make. You chop up an onion, a green bell pepper/capsicum, a couple of cloves of garlic and some sun dried tomatoes. Sauté them in pan with some olive oil. Add in a can of tomatoes, some olives, chili flakes and black pepper. (If you’re using a plain can of tomatoes, add in some salt and sugar too.) Turn up the heat and get everything talking to each other. Then turn off the heat for 10 minutes and let the pan sit. Turn the heat back on briefly, then turn off again. This is how we try to minimize how much LPG we use. Oh, the fun and games on a boat. Cook some spaghetti, add the sauce and voila – you have dinner. Even better if you add in some salami and cheese.

Wednesday, 5 March 2014 (Bay of Islands)

Breakfast – egg & cheese breakfast burrito
Lunch – nada
Dinner – chili bean spaghetti with griddle bread and pepper jelly

Even though Scott is our full-time skipper, he generally makes our breakfast. Technically, I should be doing that given my complete lack of useful contribution to sailing. But Scott is a real sweetheart so he does it. Either that or he is worried I’ll mutiny. His specialty is egg & cheese breakfast burritos. Another simple dish – make some scramble eggs with cheese. Heat up some tortillas in a frying pan with some olive oil. Combine. Yummo.

Tortillas are fabulous little creatures. They live happily in their plastic pouches for months until you’re ready for them. We use a lot of them as bread is hard to find or is way too expensive to buy and we don’t have an oven to make our own. Tortillas are a regular feature in our repertoire. Unfortunately, they are made with white flour so the nutrional value is probably negligible.

For some reason we skipped lunch. I was probably unhappy about this. But dinner made up for it as I made my only other pasta recipe – vegetarian chili beans served on spaghetti. At this point, we only had two tortillas left and lacked any other substance which resembles bread, so I made some skillet bread with rosemary and garlic to go with dinner. I found a jar of red pepper jelly in one of the cubby holes which we spread on it.

Thursday, 6 March 2014 (Passage from Bay of Islands to Whangaroa Harbour)

Breakfast – leftover skillet bread
Lunch – leftover chili bean spaghetti & crackers with peanut butter and smoked mussels
Dinner – pretzels, salami, cheese & crackers

We had an early start to make our way up north to Whangaroa so we got the boat underway and then ate leftover skillet bread in the cockpit. It was okay. Pancakes would have been better, but they didn’t seem to be on offer.

We stopped off at the Cavalli Islands at lunchtime to wait out the tides so that we could get into the Whangaroa Harbour (when you have a strong tidal stream vs. 10 hp engine, you wait). Scott played “Salmonella Roulette” again and finished off the leftover chili bean spaghetti. He offered to share. I looked at him like he was a madman and refreshed myself about what to say on the VHF if he got really sick and I needed to call for help. As usual, his tummy is made of iron and he was just fine. To top off his spaghetti, he had some crackers with smoked mussels. I was content to just have crackers and peanut butter – a meal which I personally think is a cruiser’s best friend.

When dinner time rolled around, I decided to call a general strike in the kitchen and said, “I’m not going to make dinner tonight!” Scott looked at me, rolled his eye and said, “Fine, I’m not going to skipper the boat anymore.” We stared at each other for a good ten minutes and finally realized no one was going to give in. So we settled for a smorgasbord of pretzels, salami, cheese and crackers. I’m not sure there was any winner in this particular battle of wills.

Salami and cheese are a couple of our staples on the boat. I’ve found a great salami which doesn’t require refrigeration. Once you open it, you just have to eat it within 30 days, but that really isn’t a problem for us. It is a great little protein solution – we put a little in my famous red pasta sauce and have it for snacks. Cheese also doesn’t seem to require refrigeration but that might just be the New Zealand climate. It doesn’t get very hot here and we happily leave a block of Colby cheese in a container and put it in all sorts of things.

Friday, 7 March 2014 (Whangaroa Harbour)

Linner - grilled cheese

For some reason, the only think I marked down in our log was grilled cheese. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what we ate for breakfast. But I think we had them for a late lunch/dinner combo – what we like to call “linner”. When we were in Whangaroa town, we went to the general store. The thing about general stores in New Zealand is that prices are rarely marked on anything. Usually, I ask how much something costs. This time, I just took a load of bread up to the counter, the woman sized me and my American accent up and said, “$6.50, please.” This is the most we have ever paid for a loaf of bread here. I want an oven on my next boat so that I can make my own and not be held hostage to the general stores.

So with our very expensive bread, we had some lovely grilled cheese sandwiches with onions and garlic granules sprinkled in for good measure. This wasn’t one of our better days when it comes to getting your daily dose of fruit and veg.

Saturday, 8 March to Sunday 9 March 2014 (Passage from Whangaroa Harbour to Kawau Island)

Saturday

Breakfast – eggs & toast
Lunch – grilled cheese w/salami
Dinner – peanut noodles

Sunday

Breakfast – toast & breakfast burritos
Snack – pretzels and coke
Dinner - pasta

While I have done a teeny bit of night sailing before, this was my first official night passage – it took us 30 hours and 45 minutes to sail 119 nautical miles from Whangaroa to Kawau. We didn’t actually know that we were going to do it until later on Saturday when we realized that it was miles and miles from an anchorage and it was getting dark. And then Scott suggested we just carry on to Kawau.

I was glad that we had breakfast that morning, as it turned out to be a very long two days. Because we had bread, toast featured in our breakfast, along with some scrambled eggs. Lunch on the first day featured more grilled cheese with the added bonus of some salami thrown in. For dinner, I decided to make peanut noodles for a couple of reasons – it only requires one pan to boil the pasta in and it tastes just as nice cold as it does warm so we could eat it throughout the night.

On the second day, Skipper Scott made us breakfast using up the last of the bread for some toast along with some of his famous breakfast burritos with the last of our tortillas. Everything just tastes better when you haven’t slept. Once we got to Kawau, we celebrated with some coke and pretzels and then I topped off the evening with spaghetti and red sauce. One thing you have to love about Scott is that he will happily eat the same thing day in and day out. Which is fortunate as I make the same thing day in and day out.

Monday, 10 March 2014 (Kawau Island to Islinton Bay)

Breakfast – cheese & salami omelet & scrambled eggs
Lunch – peanut butter, smoked mussels & crackers
Dinner – pasta

Because we were out of tortillas and bread, we had a “low carb” breakfast of eggs. I had mine plain and scrambled while Scott went all out and put cheese and salami in an omelet. Lunch we the usual cruiser’s special of crackers with peanut butter for me and smoked mussels for Scott. And of course, what would dinner be without my usual spaghetti and red sauce pasta dish. I’m nothing, if not creative.

So there you have it, a glimpse into a week eating and cooking onboard Rainbow’s End. I’m guessing that job offers won’t be streaming in for me to be a chef aboard a super yacht? But in the end, as long as the skipper’s belly is full, that’s all that counts.

Could you live without a fridge? Or, if you don't have a fridge, what are your go-to recipes?

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26 January 2018

Flashback Friday | Can Wallabies Be Litter Box Trained?

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This is a flashback to when we were anchored at Kawau Island in New Zealand. The weather was getting to be a real drag and we were stuck in that anchorage for ages. Fortunately, we spotted some wallabies one day when we went for a walk which cheered us up. Which, of course, led to the question - "Can wallabies be litter box trained?" If they can, they sure would make a great addition to the crew.

{This post was originally published in March 2014. You can find the original post here.}

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Wallaby spotted on Kawau Island. So cute! They were introduced in 1870 by the Governor of New Zealand, Sir George Grey, along with other exotic animals. Sadly, they are now considered to be a pest which negatively impacts on native flora and fauna and the Department of Conservation and other landowners are trying to manage their population. You can help by adopting a wallaby and having it live on your boat!

I’ve been trying to convince Scott for a while now that we absolutely need a cute little dog on our boat, but sadly I haven’t been very successful yet. Every time I bring the subject up, he gets all Mr. Spock logical on me with seemingly rational arguments such as the fact that there are lots of countries you can’t easily bring a dog into.

But his biggest argument is that you have to cart your dog on to shore to do their business. His favorite refrain is, “Are you going to get in the dinghy when it is pouring down rain and blowing a gale and take the dog to shore? Hah, I didn’t think so! There won’t be any dogs on our boat because I’m sure as heck not going to get stuck rowing the mutt to shore every day.”

Fortunately, I’ve found an even better idea for a liveaboard pet – a wallaby! I figure if I can litter box train one, then Scott can’t possibly say no to having one on board. And because they can stand on their hind legs, when we get to a new port we can put clothes on our little wallaby and pass him off as a human crew member. Animal immigration problem solved! And the icing on the cake is the fact that wallabies can jump and they have a built in tool pouch. Something wrong up the mast? Get your wallaby to jump up there and fix it with the tools they carry around in their handy pouch. Much, much easier than getting a clumsy human to climb up there.

Last time we were at Mansion House Bay in Kawau Island, we caught a glimpse of the wallabies that live there. We’ve been there many times previously, but have never seen them before. It was amazing! They look so cute and their fur seems so soft and I just wanted to grab one and cuddle it. Unfortunately, they’re fast little buggers and they jumped away before I had a chance to say hi and ask them if they know how to use a litter box. Scott seemed really interested in the wallabies, so once I solve the litter box issues, I’m pretty sure he can’t possibly say no to having one on board.

I’m really grateful we had some wallaby sightings, because, frankly I was getting really tired of Mansion House Bay. We have spent far too much time there hiding out from various blows and desperately trying to escape. I can hear you saying, “Are you nuts? Mansion House is a beautiful, iconic New Zealand spot. I would love to go there!” And, yes, if you haven’t been there before, by all means you should head up there and spend a couple of days exploring the nature reserve and the Mansion House grounds. But, if you’ve ended up spending around eight days in a row there trying to escape (with only a quick run to Gulf Harbour to reprovision), then you’ve probably seen it all and done it all. But of course, every cloud has a silver lining and for us, it was when we caught a glimpse of the wallabies on the island.

I’m also really grateful for things like wallaby sightings, because without these amazing moments, I think the setbacks we’ve had with the weather so far might do my head in. We counted up how many days so far this summer that we’ve spent hiding out from a blow (either in a marina or at an anchorage) and the number is quite depressing.

Intellectually, I know that the weather really does dictate what you can do and where you can go. And, I know people end up waiting weeks for the right weather window to make a passage. But we’re just doing coastal cruising, so I never expected that the weather would have such an impact on us. If the wind isn’t blowing a near-gale or gale, then it is blowing from the completely wrong direction to go where we want to get to. And, then there is the swell – it either is way too high for our tiny boat and/or crashing into us beam on. And on those days when you can’t stand the weather or the boat anymore a cute little wallaby to cuddle sure would make all the difference.

So if you have any experience training wallabies to use a litter box and jump up to the top of the mast, please let me know. Also, feel free to email Scott and tell him that having a dog or a wallaby or even a cat on board would be a great idea! I’m sure he’ll listen to you!

Anyway, here is what our week up in Kawau looked like. Other than the wallabies, not too exciting.

Scott thinks that the wallaby fences are proof that they can't jump high enough to get to the top of our mast. Personally, I think they are just smart creatures who can read the signs and choose not to jump over the fences.

Monday, 17 February 2014

After making a run from Great Barrier to Kawau the previous night and getting in around 11:30 pm, we had anchored down near the Kawau Yacht Club. It is a big anchorage, which we know well, and we figured it would be easiest to park the boat there in the dark. But it turned out to be a bit roly-poly, so we decided to move the boat over to the more protected Mansion House Bay in the morning. The only other big event of the day was having a solar shower. Scott helps me wash my hair because the solar shower can be a bit fiddly to use. Honestly, I never thought it would come to this…I can’t wash my hair without my husband’s help. That’s living on a boat for you.

Tuesday, 18 February 2014

We ran out of eggs and cheese. These are two essential staples in our diet and we ended up getting stuck with eating things out of cans we’ve been avoiding so far. And they tasted terrible. {Note to self: never, never, never try to make a pasta dish out of cream of mushroom soup and canned chicken again.} Fortunately, wallabies were sighted!

Wednesday, 19 February 2014

We ran out of water in our bladder. Not our actual human bladders, but the water bladder under the settee that we use instead of a water tank. Hmmm….no funnel to get the water from the jerry can into the water bladder. But, no worries, Scott cleverly cut up a tonic water bottle and turned it into a funnel. Problem solved. More wallaby sightings.

Thursday 19 February – Monday, 24 February 2014

Nothing too exciting happened. And when nothing too exciting happens, you spend a lot of time looking at the other boats which are also stuck in the anchorage. Scott was particularly interested in an older couple living on a boat even smaller than ours. They seem to be a really fit duo – she even drops and raises the anchor herself by hand while he watches from the cockpit. Scott spent the rest of the day trying to convince me that if an old lady can manage the anchor, I can too. I ignored him and daydreamed about wallabies instead. Sadly, no more wallaby sightings.

Eventually, we got a brief break in the weather so we made a quick run to Gulf Harbour to reprovision – more diesel, water and food. And then it was back up to Kawau to wait for another break to be able to head up north which finally came on Monday. We said goodbye to Mansion House Bay and the wallabies and made our escape.

Overall

Total nautical miles = 32 (to Gulf Harbour and back)
Number of wallabies sighted = 3
Number of days in Mansion House Bay = too many

What do you think - can wallabies be litter box trained? Would you want one as a pet? Have you ever had an "unusual" pet?

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24 November 2017

Flashback Friday | The Dudes Of Coromandel & Other Nonesense

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This is a flashback to our cruising days in New Zealand when we spent time anchored near Coromandel Town which is about 75 km / 47 miles south of Auckland. When I reread this post, I was struck by the fact that I reported distances only in kilometers. I've been back in the States for so long that any knowledge of the metric system has vanished from my head. I really do wish we could convert to metric. It would be so much easier to use the same system of measurement that most of the rest of the world uses.

{This post was originally published in May 2014. You can find the original post here.}

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We found ourselves "stuck" in Coromandel for several days due to the weather. Yes, the weather strikes again. So what do you do when you're stuck someplace? You go hang out at the local pub, people watch and take pictures of the interesting people walking by. Here are some of the dudes we saw passing by the window.

Scott also takes sneaky pictures of me when I'm not looking - like this one. I'm responsible for the key to the outboard motor on our dinghy. If I lose it, I have to row us back to the boat. I don't really like rowing, so I make sure it is never out of my sight by wearing it on my wrist like a bracelet.

They have a sign outside the pub advertising $5 handles of beer. If you've spent much time drinking beer in New Zealand, you'll know that's a good price.

When I went up to the bar to order a couple of handles, the woman looked at me quizzically and asked, "Are you sure you don't want to try some first?"

She poured me a taste and after determining that it tasted exactly like the cheap beer you buy in cans when you're in university and can't really afford anything better, I promptly ordered two handles. We are on a budget after all and it is always fun to pretend we're young and back in uni. She looked at me with surprise and remarked that it was very popular with the locals. I'm pretty sure that wasn't meant to be a selling point for the beer.

We drank our beers and Scott took more photos. They weren't just of people - buildings can be interesting too.

After drinking our beers and spying on the folks walking outside the pub, we went for a walk up to the Kauri Block. It is a short walk (1.6 km), but there are some great views from the top of the old pa site. Pa being Maori for a village or fortification, not your dad.

And of course, we got the usual shots of our anchorages. We anchored pretty much every night we were there in Te Kouma Harbour. Not only is the harbor pretty to look at, it is extremely well protected with a number of different anchorages so you can pick and choose based upon which way the wind is blowing.

Now the rest of this post is the usual log of what we did each day. I can barely read my handwriting in our log book, so I need to type it up while I vaguely remember what we did. Feel free to skip this section and go back and look at the pictures of the dudes of Coro.

Thursday, 20 March 2014

We had an engine free day today! The kind of engine free day which is voluntary, not because your engine has broken down. We sailed off the anchor from Ponui Island around 10:30 am and headed across the Firth of Thames to Coromandel. Then we anchored under sail at 2:45 pm in Name Bay in Te Kouma Harbour. And then the killer kingfish came. And they attacked our boat. Again. This is the fourth time this summer that this unruly gang has circled around our boat and bashed into the hull and our dinghy. They're starting to get on my nerves.

Friday, 21 March 2014

We left around 10:30 am under sail (again no engine!) and headed into Coromandel Harbour. We first anchored in Woolshed Bay under sail and then motored over to McGregor Bay to try to drop the hook and head into Coromandel Town. There was just way too much wind and chop so we gave up and headed over to Deep Cove Bay and dropped anchor around 2:30 pm for the night. A lovely little snapper gave up its life for our supper while we were anchored.

Saturday, 22 March 2014

We successfully anchored in Coromandel Harbour and headed into town in search of Coro Pies. Sadly, they were closed. We drowned our sorrows at the local pub, had the $5 beer and took pictures of the Coro dudes. We went for our walk, got some groceries and then headed to Te Kouma Harbour for the night. We were attached by some killer kingfish again.That makes five times this summer. If only we were making movies, what a great franchise it would be. Imagine going to the cinema to see Attack of the Killer Kingfish Part V: Revenge of the Zombies & Vampires. Kingfish on they're own are a big selling point, but I'm sure if our movie had zombies and vampires in it, it would smash all of the box office records.

Sunday & Monday, 23-24 March 2014

Big fishing days! Scott caught so many kahawai that he lost count. I guess they're best eaten when they're smoked and as we don't have smoking facilities on our boat, Scott threw them all back with the exception of one unlucky fellow. He got turned into bait and his carcass got dragged behind the boat in the hopes that it would attract snapper and kingfish to our boat and onto the hook.

Unfortunately, kingfish are smart. They'll eat any scraps you throw into the water, but not anything you put on a hook. I think snapper may be stupider as Scott caught a lot of them. Some great snapper dinners both nights. Skipper Scott even managed to "cook" dinner one night from the settee. That basically means he lies down and gives "advice" on how the meal should be prepared then tries to take credit for dinner.

Tuesday & Wednesday, 25-26 March 2014

These couple of days made me think of the old Ultravox song, Reap the Wild Wind. If you know the song, it means you too are middle-aged and had really bad taste in music in the 80s. Your hair was probably really big and you wore shoulder pads. You are now my new best friend. We have to stick together when people start mocking our musical taste. People like Skipper Scott.

Anyway, when the winds kick up and you're stuck on your boat, you start to think about song lyrics which talk about the wind. And then you sing the song in your head and then before you know it you're singing it out loud and the skipper is looking at you strangely. That's about it for these two days. We pulled anchor on Wednesday morning to go out into the harbor to try to get VHF reception and an updated forecast. It wasn't good news so we headed back in and dropped the anchor. The wild wind really didn't want to reaped that day.

Thursday, 27 March 2014

This was the day of one of our dinghy misadventures. You can read about it here. I really don't want to relive it. All I can say is, "It's the tides, I tell you. They're either for you or they're against you." The good news is that we finally escaped Coromandel. We originally left at 5:45 am and tried to get to Great Barrier Island, but that all went pear shaped, so we ended up spending some time in Coromandel Town and then made the crossing to Waiheke in the afternoon.

Needless to say, the wind got wild as we were making our way to Waiheke. At the worst possible time. Scott had been dragging a lure behind the boat and just when we were sailing quite close to a reef, the wind starting gusting somewhere in the region of 23.5 billion knots and a fish decided that it would be the perfect time to get on the line. What a nightmare. I struggled with the tiller while Scott managed to cut the line off. No idea what kind of fish it was, but my money is on a kingfish. They're evil little creatures and it is just their kind of idea of fun to mess with us in the strong winds near a reef. After that little drama, we made it through the northern passage and anchored at Man O'War Bay around 7:00 pm.

Overall

Total nautical miles = 97

Number of night hours = 1.75

Number of fish suppers = 3

Number of dinghy misadventures = 1

Number of $5 handles drunk = 2 (okay, maybe 4)

Number of nights anchored in Te Kouma Harbour = 5

Number of Coro Pies eaten = Nil (they were closed both times we tried)

Number of killer kingfish episodes = 2

What's the most you would pay for a beer? Have you ever been to New Zealand? If so, what's your favorite memory? Have you ever worn a key around your wrist?

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