Category Archives: 2022 NZ

Intense polar outbreak

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Friday 7th October
We got the laundry done and a bit of shopping before leaving Paihia for shelter.
It wasn’t enough being cooler in NZ than OZ, they had to throw a polar blast at us. We were just thinking that it wasn’t too bad during the day when the sun was out. Then the southerly hit. We thought we would have to get up in the morning and shovel the snow off the deck. Well, not quite that cold.
Now it’s passed and hopefully it will start warming up. We will have an easterly from tomorrow so we are going to set off to Auckland. We will probably stop at Whangarei for the night on the way.

It’s raining again

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Monday 3rd October
The weather got us again. We didn’t get to go ashore and do the laundry. The predicted lull in the weather didn’t happen so we had to go seek shelter for the week.
Paradise Bay was sheltered but it didn’t look much like paradise with the rain bucketing down.
There is supposed to be another break in the weather for the next two days, so we are giving Paihia another go. We have to be out of here by Wednesday as there is another storm coming towards the end of the week. After that it looks like we may be able to do a run to Auckland.

Change of plans

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Tuesday 27th September
The swell is still over 2.5m so we have decided to stay here in the Bay of Islands for another week or so. Not having a working autopilot at the moment (parts on the way) we are opting to be fair weather sailors, especially as we don’t have to be in Auckland just yet.
Sue as the international Laundromat critic is going to check out the Paihia laundromats tomorrow as our few winter clothes need deorderising.
We also need some groceries.

Paradise

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Monday 26th September
For the past 8 days we have been in paradise, Paradise Bay that is. Most of the time we have had the bay to ourselves, but being a long weekend others wanted their slice of paradise.
The weather has been nice, during the day it has been warm when out of the wind. Definitely not jump off the boat and have a swim weather although some of the people on the other boats (particularly those with kids) have taken some quick dips. 13° water temperature, we think we’ll give it a miss for a while. At night it’s been cold and we have used the heater most nights for an hour. That’s enough to keep the boat warm most of the night.
Overnight the wind has swung around to the east and has got up high, so we will wait till it drops off a little and may set off tomorrow for Whangarei then Auckland.

The storm

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Tuesday 20th September
Sunday we headed across the Bay of Islands to a sheltered bay on the North side. By the time we had reached this bay we were in 15kt winds, but as we entered the bay there was hardly a ripple on the water. We thought we would be well protected against the coming winds.
Yesterday it hit us. We don’t know what the winds were outside but in this sheltered bay the wind coming over the hill was gusting over 30kts. This continued well into the night, pulling Imagine back and forth on the anchor. All we could do in this cold temperature was the light the heater, making it nice and warm while we watched movies.
This morning the wind had subsided and only the rain affected us. We are certainly glad we weren’t still crossing the Tasman.
There seems to be a westerly developing on Friday, so then we will make a run to Auckland if it develops. In the meantime tomorrow we will find another bay to have a look at and shelter in.

Farewell

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Sunday 18th September

Last night we slept for ten hours uninterrupted. This morning Tony and Andrew went ashore into Paihia for a look around and to get fresh veggies. On the way back they stopped off at an island. Their own private beach on a deserted island. After taking a few photos they headed back to Imagine.

We all played a few games of cards before lunch, then it was time for Tony to pack and get ready for his long trek back to Australia.

After Tony was dropped ashore to catch his taxi to the airport, We headed for a bay to get shelter from the storm that had been following us across the Tasman.

Officially here

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Saturday 17th September

First, thank you to everyone that has left comments. We couldn’t get back to you until now. We now have internet.

It seemed to take forever to get past Cape Reinga simply because now we have a point to fixate on. We made good time coming down the coast dodging the boats. It was strange seeing boats after 8 days of only seeing waves. It was daybreak by the time we had arrived in the Bay of Islands and tied up at the customs wharf at Opua.

Customs/ MPI didn’t arrive till 10am. They were very efficient checking everything sorting what food had to be disposed of etc.

As soon as they left we refuelled. That was a mission. It was very tight in the marina, with a slight breeze blowing one way and the tide running the other.

Once fuelled we went across to Russell for an early lunch and then moved and anchored opposite Paihia. Tony spent the afternoon organising his flights back to Australia, while Andrew spent the afternoon getting a sim card connected.