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Auckland Errands

by steve, on April 13th, 2012 (A Cappella, New Zealand, Passages)

Paul, having spent the night with us, was very helpful in giving me a ride to the Icom service center here in Auckland. It turned out to be a lot further away than I expected so I was very glad of the ride. On the way back he dropped me off at the lift raft service center. His car wasn’t big enough to take the life raft so I opted to complete the trip back by taxi.

Despite the manufacturer stating we should service the life raft every two years this was the first time we did so. I was shocked to see how much was replaced but pleased to learn what was actually in with the life raft. There is quite a substantial set of flares contained which will complement those we have in the cabin in case of distress where we don’t need to leave the main boat. Flares do have a limited lifetime so it was good we had this service done now. Of course, it is important we have a life raft that works in the unhoped for event we need it.

Once the life raft was installed into it’s slot I walked over to the workshop near Pier 21 to give them our desired lengths for the kauri trim we want to prevent our next microwave from sliding off it’s home.

After that it was time for lunch. We ate a very delicious sushi then headed off to the supermarket for our first round of provisioning. On this trip we only took what we could carry the mile or so back to the boat. (Today we’re going again but returning by taxi)

In the afternoon I made the 45 minute return walk back to the work shop to pick up our trim. It looked really nice. Had a quick chat with Pam from Passages who appeared to welcome a quick break from polishing the boat sides.

In the afternoon I managed to work out a new plan to have our mainsail attended to. We’d already decided to return to the Viaduct Marina for when Sam arrives 11 days from now. We changed our booking to come in a day early and arranged a hire car so we can drive up to Whangarei and have it sorted there and then. The last thing I want is a weather window to appear and have to miss it because we need to get up to Whangarei to have our sail fixed. The sailmaker has agreed to this so we’re all set.

Incidentally, a fantastic weather window opened for Fiji yesterday. Pity we’re not in a position to take it. Particularly considering the southerly winds we have right now have brought a bit of a chill.

Early evening Ed from A Cappella dropped by. We’ve not seen him for a year so it was nice to catch up. They have a similar plan to us for the next couple of year so we’ll be still in touch with them for a while. There is a special tie amongst all those we crossed the Pacific with in 2010 and it’s nice to keep in contact.

Around 7pm past crew(wo)man Lissa visited with sister Megan. It was nice to see them again. They’d been invited out to Waiheke for the weekend but can’t make it. She does a lot of wedding photography so weekends are inevitably busy. We shared pizza and stories. Nice evening.

Category: A Cappella, New Zealand, Passages | Here is my comment

Auckland Celebration

by steve, on April 12th, 2012 (New Zealand, Passages)

We decided not to wait for the wind to pick up only to discover that the wind picked up just as we left. Perfect. We had a fantastic sail down to Auckland. There is something special about bringing your boat into a city and this was no exception.

I had a lot of excitement when Dignity showed up on the www.marinetraffic.com. Kind of cool to think how that was working. Our AIS transponder was putting out digital information over the VHF which was being picked up by a station in Auckland. That information was being published on the internet. www.marinetraffic.com was displaying that information showing where we were (and where we’ve been) and we were picking that up using our vodafone dongle to connect to the internet from the boat while in motion. Not the most effective way to find out where we were but all pretty cool.

The links above (both the same) will zoom in our location. If Dignity is there in the center it means our transponder is on and we’re close to one of the receiving stations.

We had booked a berth at the Viaduct Marina ahead of time. As a swing footbridge has been built across the entrance to the marina we had to call ahead to have it raised. It turned out it already was raised so we came in as another boat was departing. Once we saw where we had been allocated we spent a little while getting the fenders and lines set up and then backed in. The security guard helped us tie up. He even did proper cleat hitches which you don’t see often.

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Once settled we headed off for a walk. We went around the dock and over to the marine shops west of us. We picked up a part for the dinghy and found a place who can make up some trip that we can use to prevent our next microwave (that Sam is bringing) falling off in the same way the last one did. The trim will be made of kauri wood which will be a special reminder of New Zealand once we leave.

We bumped into Pam and John from Passages who were on the hard near the place where we found the trim and chatted for a while. We’ll meet up with them properly the night before Sam arrives.

Back on the boat we prepared for Paul’s and his son, Tom’s, arrival. It was good to meet up with them both. Paul had just struck a couple of work deals which was a good excuse to celebrate. We did.

Category: New Zealand, Passages | Here is my comment

Real time

by steve, on April 11th, 2012 (New Zealand)

For those of you who are catching the blog near real time we are now showing live on marinetraffic.com. There was definitely a shadow behind Rangitoto as even the Waiheke ferry disappeared behind it.

I’ll leave the transponder on for a while when we’re in the marina so you can hopefully see where we are on the above site (should you wish to).

If you can’t find us on the above link, try this one which will zoom in on us any where we’ve been running our transponder near a major port.

Category: New Zealand | One reader has left a comment, here is mine

Tasty Day

by steve, on April 11th, 2012 (New Zealand)

Tuesday was spent seeing the island and wine tasting with the very excellent Ananda Tours. We were picked up at the beach by the minibus right where we left out dinghy. Being high tide we hadn’t had far to haul the dinghy either.

We spent about three hours visiting three different vineyards (Mudbrick, Kennedy Point and Obsidian) where we tasted some delicious wines and buying a couple of bottles we particularly likes which we’ll save for special occasions (like any old evening really). We were then dropped off at the Stonyridge Vineyard for a late lunch and some more complementary wine tasting. We both had a very delicious steak meal.

We also got on pretty well with the other wine tasters on the minibus with us. There was a family from Long Island and a couple of post grad students from Singapore.

Helen’s foot survived the day with the swelling kept under control with ibuprofen. We were dropped off, by our request, on Oneroa high street where Helen wanted to look at a shop. The things she wanted had been sold so no purchases there. We did pick up some delicious fudge from the store next door.

We spent the evening watching a movie, eating light and drinking tea. All in all a very good day out.

Today we’re off to Auckland where we’ll stay at the viaduct marina for three nights. On Friday we’re meeting friends and on Saturday taking some others out on the boat. Very much looking forward to all that.

Bit of a choice to make this morning. High tide is at 10:20am which would suggest an early start to get the benefit of the incoming current. However, wind is light right now but strength and direction will be improving throughout the morning so it’s more likely we’ll be be able to sail later on.

Category: New Zealand | Here is my comment

Comfy Chair

by steve, on April 10th, 2012 (New Zealand)

For most of the day we continued to let Helen rest her foot. The swelling apparent in the morning did go down which was encouraging.

Late afternoon we went ashore and dragged the dinghy all the way up the beach due to the incoming tide. We went for the 5pm movie at the local cinema. The cinema at Onerea has to be the best we’ve ever visited. Rather than regular cinema seats it has about twenty comfy sofas from two to four seaters. They were slightly tiered so the ones further back could see over the ones in front. It was a perfect way to watch a movie. We watched “The Ides of March”, a political thriller. Not the sort of movie we’d normally go out for but we enjoyed it.

Although we had the option to do so, we decided not to take out a curry and eat it while watching the movie. Instead we went to the restaurant next door straight after the movie by which time we were quite hungry. All in all a good evening.

For today we’ve booked a wine tour. They were all booked out over Easter but with Helen’s foot we’d have waited anyway. This should be a good way to get to see the island as well as taste some of the wines made here.

Category: New Zealand | Here is my comment
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