Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

We left early this morning so I skipped my almost normal time to blog. So here’s the last two days activities.

Not a great deal happened in the morning. I managed to make my final call to the Lagoon tech and reviewed the good results of the previous day’s final testing. I then got a chance to play with a new gizmo I’d been sent that plugged into the hybrids motherboard and gave a digital readout of some of the charging parameters.

In the afternoon Helen and I popped into Paihia to withdraw some cash for our newly upholstered cockpit cushions (with new foam for the seats) and to visit the Thursday farmers’ market where we picked up some really fresh mandarins, strawberries, lemon cake and fudge.

Without any time to spare we got back to Opua, dropped off the cushions and went to the Opua Cruisers’ Club to be briefed on some of the better anchorages around here. This gave us much food for thought.

Today we drove over to the west coast to visit Waipoua Forest known for immense kauri trees. Although the drive there was about two hours we were treated to more of New Zealand’s beautiful scenery. This area is classified sub-tropical which provides micro-climates suitable for all sorts of flora from pines and huge ferns to pines and of course the kauri trees.

Our first stop was to visit Tane Mahuta, the largest kauri tree in New Zealand, a short walk from the main road. These trees have immensely wide towering trunks with equally impressively branches spreading out way above our heads.

On our second stop we walked all three trails allowing us to visit the 7th largest kauri (which we could touch), a group of kauris called the Four Sisters and Te Matua Ngahere, the 2nd largest kauri. All these walks, including the first one, were over a combination of well made tracks and raised broadwalks to protect the kauri roots. I tried out my new boots purchased in Whangarei and found them to be extremely comfortable.

Our last stop/hike was further south by the forest visitors center where we climbed the 1 hour each way lookout trail where, at the top, there was a building offering a great lookout – an aptly named trail. This was more of what is designated a tramp as the path was less well made with lots of roots, etc.

That was enough hiking so we made our way back. As we approached the inlet (a very large inlet) near Omapere we saw a sign to a lookout off to the left. We took the diversion and spent about half an hour to walk to the lookout over the bay. On the far side of the bay were some huge sand dunes very reminiscent of those we’ve seen in South Africa in the past. They were on the far side of the inlet and quite unreachable from where we were. This turned out to be a very pleasant diversion.

Feeling in need of a little stimulation we stopped off at a nearby cafe for coffee before heading back towards Opua but with a planned stop at the town of Kawakawa. There we visited it’s ‘World Famous’ toilets which were both artistic and usable – both aspects we all appreciated. Afterward we stopped for a curry where we ate very well for a very modest sum.

So that’s about it. So what, you may think, is a little scarey about all that. For that you need to read the article about the Vava’u Regatta in the December 2010 issue of Lattitude 38. Both Helen and I are mentioned and we all appear in photos in one form or another. It seems we can’t stay out of the press these days. This is another opportunity to plug the Vava’u Regatta to any cruisers heading out this way. It was a huge amount of fun so leave plenty of time for Tonga in your itinerary.

Around 8am I took the dinghy ashore to visit Catermarine to pick up our long awaited for charger. I learned that a second package had also arrived which turned out to be two replacement rudder pins provided free of charge from Lagoon. Unfortunately, as my new design has enlarged the bore on the flanges, these are of little use to us. But we appreciate the sentiment. While in the store I also picked up a gas fitting which we’d ordered at the end of last week to replace the one that had failed aboard.

Back on the boat I set about inspecting the new charger and prepping for the work. As soon as the charger had been inspected I notified the tech in the US who I’d been told would be ready to receive our call. While waiting for a response I continued with as much preparation as I could. I traced and labeled all the wires coming out of the new unit and the old so I’d have no difficulties rewiring. I took pictures of the old charger so I had something for possible future reference. I then waited for contact with the tech.

While waiting I set about fixing the gas connector that had failed. I’m not sure what was going on in my head but I cut the wrong end off of the hose with the damaged connector. That required another trip ashore to order a new connector and hose. The guy in the store actually made up the hose for me and probably did a better job of it. Back on the boat I puzzled over why I couldn’t put everything back together. I then realized I’d asked for a connector to go into the wrong end of the regulator. So an embarrassing third trip in was required to get the right connector. They switched over connectors without charging.

I was then able to reassemble everything. After testing all the connections with soapy water and finding/fixing a leak in a joint I hadn’t touched all was done. The new hose is a lot more flexible than the old so things are a little easier to manage in the gas cannister department so all in all it worked out well.

In the afternoon Helen and I drove to Paihia to shop. While out we were contacted by the upholterer who wanted to visit the boat. He didn’t want to go out in the dinghy as he had the new covers and foam which he wanted to bring aboard to fine tune. We had an hour to get back to the boat, put the food away, raise the anchor and get onto the delivery dock. We managed this with a few minutes to spare even though we had to take our time raising the anchor to wash all the mud off.

With the fine tuning done, the upholsterer left and we departed anchoring in a different and shallower spot. One of the changes we’re implementing is to improve the fastenings on the cushions as the old ones don’t hold very well. The last project of the day was to remove all the old fastenings, drill out and retap all the holes, seal all the holes, screw in all the new fittings and clean up.

We were not contacted by the tech for the charger. We’re getting kind of used to this. Sadly.

I did receive an email overnight from France saying that we will be able to contact the tech at 2pm our time. We had planned to go hiking today but are now staying in to hopefully establish contact and hence replace the charger.

This morning we’ve ordered a few more things we need for the boat which took a few hours of research. The day has been a little gray so perhaps it hasn’t been too bad staying in. Tomorrow afternoon there is a presentation planned on good anchorages in the area so we’ll hang around for that. We’d still like to do a hike so that now looks like Friday. Maybe tomorrow morning if we can get our act together.