…from an email dated Mar. 19, 2005

“It took a few days to get our internet connection going. There always seems to be some catch every time we come into port and try to get online. However on this stopover we have a wifi connection being broadcast throughout the marina where Raven is presently berthed, enabling us to sit in the cockpit and surf the web with ease. Very nice for a change!

After we dropped Amy back ashore after our outing to the Poor Knights, we started cruising north towards the Bay of Islands at the very northeastern tip of New Zealand. The weather is warmer and more settled here and the wind and waves have been more moderate. Good conditions for Mike and me to practice boat handling without too much stress. Navigation is interesting, due to all the islands and shoals, but we have a really cool computer program called MaxSea that runs on the computer and shows our live position and current course via GPS overlaid on accurate charts of the area. Really simplifies steering!

Every anchorage we stop over at is located in some beautiful little bay with a pleasant swim or snorkel or dinghy ride to shore and some kind of vigorous hike around the island. Since all the hiking tracks start at sea level, they all strike off directly uphill – no switchbacks in New Zealand – the path goes straight up! When you arrive at the top, the path then heads straight down again in order to allow you the privilege of climbing straight up again on the next ridge!

A storm with lots of rain was forecast but never materialized, so we have been having truly wonderful weather day after day with the exception of a five-minute downpour on our shopping day in Paihia.

Anticipating the above bad weather, we headed to civilization this past Thursday and anchored near a town named Russell. It was once quite notorious as a wild and wooly hangout for whalers and other assorted seafarers but now is peaceful and charming. Russell was the site of the so-called War of the Girls inby 1830. It started when two Maori girls got to fighting over the favors of a visiting whaling captain. Their argument deteriorated to insults and slapping, and their families joined in to avenge the insults to each side. The result was an actual war in which hundreds were killed before the local missionaries negotiated a peace settlement.

The local church is the oldest in New Zealand, scarred by musket fire and cannonball. Some of the funds for its construction were donated by Charles Darwin on his way by aboard the HMS Beagle. We joined in on $10 steak night at the local Boat Club and shopped every store in town.”

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…continued from an email dated Mar. 13, 2005

“Next morning we sailed from Great Barrier to Tutukaka, a small port town on the mainland north of Auckland. We spent a couple of nights in the marina and this afternoon we will head further north up the coast towards the Bay of Islands.

Yesterday we met up with Amy Bankoff. For those of you who don’t know her, Amy is formerly from the Phoenix area, an equestrian who as a junior rider used to ride and show my Cross Creek Farms horses for me. She emigrated to New Zealand a couple of years ago and now lives in the Tutukaka area. Believe it or not, she and I reconnected this past December around a baggage carousel at LAX, both of en route to Arizona from New Zealand for the Christmas holidays.

Amy joined us for a sail from the coast to the Poor Knights Islands. Amy is four months pregnant and we pounded through some pretty rough waves, causing a bout of seasickness. We almost turned back but fortunately Amy chose to tough it out. As soon as we anchored in the lee of the island out of the wind and waves, she revived and we all went snorkeling.

The Poor Knights are considered one of the five best diving spots in the world, according to my teenage idol Jacques Cousteau. The island group is protected as a nature reserve and the surrounding waters are a marine reserve. The water is spectacularly clear. You can stand on the deck of the boat and look down to see literally thousands of fish fifty feet below the surface.

We took our dinghy to explore the Rikoriko Cave, the largest sea cave in the world. It measures 139 meters long, 80 meters wide, and 35 meters high, as well as another 26 meters deep below the surface. The cavern has great acoustics and is regularly used for a cappella concerts. The musicians play from a boat inside the cave, and the audience floats around the entrance in their own watercraft. RikoRiko in the Maori language means ‘Dancing Light’ for the way sunlight reflecting off the surface of the sea shimmers on the ceiling of the cave

Sailing back to Tutukaka from Poor Knights was much more comfortable downwind. Amy recovered nicely and met us for dinner at a funky restaurant called Snappa Rock in the harbor. Amy’s first job after arriving in New Zealand was bartending at this very same restaurant.

This morning we are doing laundry, changing the oil (engine, generator and transmission), checking the internet, shopping and, in other words, just catching up on real life. We’re sailing out of here at noon and it may be several more days before we get back to you with the next update.”

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from an email dated Mar. 13, 2005

“Between hikes our exercise consists of snorkeling – now that we have proper equipment it is all coming back quickly. I learned to scuba dive in high school in the early 60s, but it has been decades since I practiced those skills and WOW! The technology has really changed!

Anouk is a certified dive instructor and keeps a sharp eye on us, so we are in good hands with our refresher diving lessons. We will probably buy scuba tanks before the trip is over. It’s the end of the season here so maybe we’ll get some good buys. Definitely we will want dive gear when we voyage to the South Pacific this summer.

For our last day on Great Barrier, we rented a car and drove around to the east coast of the island which is exposed to the Pacific and definitely not cruiser friendly. I was the designated driver and it was a bit of a challenge. For starters, in New Zealand they drive on the opposite side of the road, as they do in the UK. I was constantly getting into the car on the wrong side and switching on the windshield wipers when I meant to activate the turn signal.

Today’s drive took us along sinuous mountain roads with lots of blind curves. The narrow roads weren’t wide enough to accommodate two cars so there was always a rush of adrenalin when we met oncoming traffic. Single-lane bridges were especially nerve-racking. The locals have a protocol for sharing them, but to us foreigners it felt more like a game of chicken.

We toured a couple of pleasant seaside towns, found a nice café for lunch, and then spent the afternoon at a bucolic beach where sheep lingered in the shade of picnic tables, and we had to wade through an estuary to get to the sand beach proper. With only one other person on the entire shoreline, we were free to enjoy the spectacular scenery and the solitude. And when it was time to leave, there was even a small shack and shower for rinsing off and changing clothes.”

To be continued…

from an email dated Mar. 9, 2005

“Our cruising adventures begin! Our flight arrived early on a Saturday morning. Rod met us at the airport and drove straight to Gulf Harbour where Raven awaited. The day was spent getting settled on board – unpacking suitcases, stowing our belongings, adjusting to the dramatic time zone change. New Zealand is 19 hours ahead of Tucson and we lost an entire day en route. But we’ll get it back on our return home;-).

So far the weather has been perfect and a variety of activities has kept us quite busy. The morning after our arrival, as soon as we took care of a few remaining chores and errands, we set sail for Great Barrier Island located about 40 miles east of the mainland. We anchored in Whangaparapara Harbor and took the dinghy ashore for a quick look around and a short leg-stretching walk. We spotted our first Kaka, an endangered native parrot.

Over the next few days we sailed from Whangaparapara to Smokehouse Bay where the yachties (New Zealand term) can do their laundry onshore in the provided washtubs and wringers. There is also a fire you can fuel yourself with firewood to heat up water for a hot bath. I think I will stick to Raven’s nice hot water shower and forget the communal tub! However the combo washer/dryer machine aboard the boat is currently on the fritz, so Anouk did do some scrubbing in the wash tubs and hung the laundry out to dry on Raven’s lifelines.

We took a short steep hike from Smokehouse Bay to a high spot with an inspiring view, which involved lots of huffing and puffing and good aerobic exercise. Good practice because it turned out next on the agenda was a serious hike to the highest point on the island, the summit of Mt. Hobson. We were promised an incredible view from the peak, but a drizzly wet cloud settled in and instead we got a pretty good soaking and no view at all. But successfully reaching the highest point on Great Barrier Island, some 3,000 feet above sea level, was still an accomplishment to write home about!

The final stretch to the summit was a seemingly endless staircase (800 steps – Carol counted) courtesy of the Department of Conservation. The wet conditions added to the challenge, making the steep ascent extra slippery. You can see Mike was grateful to finally reach the top! We rewarded ourselves by gobbling our sandwiches quickly, before the bread got soggy, and headed back down.

The hike took 8 hours round trip and involved some talented clawing up steep, slippery gullies, pulling ourselves up by tree roots. For sure my fitness level ticked up a notch or two. Throughout the entire trek I mentally thanked my exercise coach at the gym back home for the workouts. I could definitely feel that training kick in to save me from tumbling down the hillside.

Home again, all in one piece. A hot shower followed by a delicious dinner of wine (lots), salad, cheese and crackers – and then early to bed. High fives all around though, for having finished quite a challenge in good shape.”

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from an email dated Dec. 12, 2004

“We thought we’d be able to stay in communication by email with more success than has actually been the case. Our hotel had assured us by phone that it offered internet access, but when we arrived it was non-existent. Eventually we located a wifi service named Kiwifi (which I thought was rather clever) in the harbor area. We signed up, but we have to sit in our rental car in the parking lot to get a good connection, which is not conducive to frequent cyber letters home!

December is the start of summer in New Zealand, but every day so far has been gray and cloudy, in the 60’s with blustery winds between 20 to 30 knots. They tell us it has been like this for three weeks straight! Sweater and jacket weather but not freezing cold. We didn’t go sailing until yesterday, hoping the wind would quiet down a bit. You can tell by the grin on Mike’s face that it was worth the wait! We were out on our sea trial for about 7-1/2 hours, sailing in a brisk breeze around some outer islands off the coast near Auckland. For lunch we anchored in a cove and warmed up with corn chowder cooked by Anouk and served from Raven’s galley.

The final step before finalizing the purchase (and wiring the $$$) is the survey, or pre-purchase exam. As a horse person I think of it as a vet check;-). A crew of technicians had already crawled all over the boat, from bow to stern and top (of the mast) to bottom, checking out all systems while she was berthed in her slip. But the parts underwater needed to be inspected as well. At Gulf Harbour Marina’s expansive yard, Raven was hoisted out of the water on a gigantic rolling lift to provide access for those final inspections, from hull integrity to propeller health.

While all this work was going on, we had time to take in a couple of side excursions, including a visit to Kelly Archer Boatworks, where the first prototype of the Dashews’ newly designed powerboat is under construction, an 83′ long aluminum yacht to be christened Wind Horse. A one-off boat design like this is completely built by hand, an amazing feat in these days of mass production. New Zealand is one of very few countries left in the world where skilled boat builders are capable of pulling this off.

Another memorable occasion was a visit with Jim and Cheryl Schmidt, boating friends of the Dashews who set up the introduction. The Schmidts live on country property bordering a river where their Dashew designed sailboat Wakaroa is tied up to their own private dock. Jim collects antique airplanes and we were treated to not only a tour of the hangar where he houses them, but a joyride for each of us in his vintage, circa 1928, de Havilland Gypsy Moth biplane as well. I really dig the leather helmet!

This morning I went on a two-hour hike through a park close by the Gulf Harbour Marina. It featured a spectacular coastal walk through parkland and wetlands, and then a steep uphill climb into pastures with sheep and Hereford cattle. Wildflowers in profusion colored the fields along with a scattering of large blue birds called pukeko. On the beach pohutukawa trees were in full bloom. This handsome native tree bursts into blossom around Christmas time with a blazing display of red flowers, earning it the title of New Zealand’s Christmas tree.”

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