Christmas in New Zealand

New Zealand has been fun! We have been here for a month now and as our departure day is looming we are all wishing we had just a little bit longer to enjoy the New Zealand summer.

There have been quite a few unexpected maintenance bills ($$$) and hold ups with workers over the Chrissy & New Year break but we've still managed to have lots of fun!

We motor/sailed over to Waiheke Island for Christmas (if you are interested do a google map search of the Hauraki Gulf you will be able to see all of islands we visited). We spent 2 nights in Rocky Bay and Santa still managed to find us! The Christmas stockings were stuffed full of pressies and the reindeer left plenty of munched up carrots on deck! The kids got a "WipeOut" tyre tube to tow behind the dinghy and we zoomed around the bay at about 6 o'clock in the morning! Rocky Bay was pretty... with a pebbly beach and little boat houses at the waters edge... there was even a bus just up the hill so we did a bit of a cooks tour. The view from the back of Catina was amazing... rolling green hills, vineyards and sheep dotted across the countryside.

On Christmas day we decided to go for a bit of a sail so we headed out and into a passage between the islands and spent the next two nights in Man O War Bay. It was a much larger bay and had a picnic area open to the public. We also stumbled on a Cellar Door/Wine Tasting shack that opened for the first time on Boxing Day... one of the first customers we got to sample some of the finest wines on the island. I had made a nice antipasta platter so we really had a good picnic and the kids got to have a run around. We met a really nice couple from Chile and invited them back onto Catina so Fernanda could fulfil her lifelong dream of diving off the back of a yacht!

For the next few nights we sailed around to Onerowa Beach which is where the main township is. It was a bit like a mini Byron Bay... Organic Fruit & Veg, lots of local art and crafty shops and even a homemade gelati wagon parked on the footpath. We enjoyed our stint of civilisation and discovered a seasonal beer called Summer Ale (tastes a bit like ginger beer!)not to mention enjoying a real coffee at a trendy little cafe overlooking the bay with a spectacular view to Great Barrier Island. At low tide we walked around the rocks exploring caves and rockpools to Little Onerowa where we discovered a mobile wood fire pizza dragon (oven), amazing! Soon it was time to head back to the Marina at Gulf harbour as we were expecting guests!

Catherine (Puff) & Steve arrived with many many gifts for us all (and one enormous red suitcase!) but luckily we are in a cat now and there is lots of room. We took them back to Waiheke for New Years Eve and spent the night playing Phase 10 (card game), and joking about who's eyes where the poorest under boat lighting. We ended up trying on each others $2 magnifying glasses! For some silly reason we all had a coffee and ended up still wide awake well after midnight! I think we went to bed at 3:30 new years day!!! Sounds boring but it was lots of fun and there were lots of laughs! There were little fireworks being set off all around the bay and we had a really good display on the cliffs just near us.

Right on cue the kids were up nice and early... Duncan kept them busy and let us sleep in a bit. That was really nice so later we left him to get some rest and we all went for a walk. One thing I've discovered is that New Zealanders love to go walking or "tramping" as they call it. We found a map and explored a few walking trails meandering along country lanes past ducks and chooks, and through vineyards of chardonnay grapes to rocky escarpments with turquoise bays nestled below. It was warm and sunny and we were all happy. On the way home we took another track that went right through the middle of a small orchard of fruit trees. We saw apples and pears, nectarines and peaches. Darcy and Seisia were amazing keeping up with us.

On the day we left we sailed over to Rangitoto which is an 800 y.o. volcano. This is very young in volcano lives and there was very little vegetation able to grow on the volcanic, rocky surface. It almost looked like a black soil plain that had been ploughed up and the mud had been left to harden. Very clumpy and lumpy. There were trails leading to a lookout at the top so of course we had to climb it! For the first 40 minutes it was a hot walk along a gravely road with a slight incline. Then the last 15-20mins was uphill on slippery gravel and then steps with a boardwalk leading to the crater summit. The view from the top was well worth the effort. 360degrees from Auckland all the way out to the islands. Again the kids were amazing... no whinging or whining. They slept well that night after a cracker of a sail back to the marina racing a cruise liner!

After Puff & Steve left we all felt a bit flat. It had been lots of fun having our wonderful friends come and stay and now we were waiting for tradesmen again - boring. Once we had teed up the work to be done we had a short window of opportunity to head out for another few days. So we did. We just went with the food in the cupboards. Untied the mooring lines and away! The first night we stayed at Tiritiri Matangi which is a bird sancuary for some of New Zealands most vunerable & endangered species. We met Greg, one of only 250 Tukehe left in the world, visited the lighthouse and rangers quarters and went ashore at night to spot penguins and the very rare spotted kiwi. This was a short lived exercise as for some reason the kids didn't realise this was going to be a dark operation! We will have to take their word on the penguins and kiwis as we didn't see anything - just sat in the dark with our red torchlights while the disturbed birds fluttered about above us on their roosts. (I guess that could have been quite scary when you are 5!) Anyway, we tried.

Light house on Tiritiri Mataingi

The next morning Duncan woke us all up early with fish flapping in the cockpit! 3 beautiful snapper - straight off the back of the boat! Sensational! We sailed over to Kawau Island where we dined in style that night. The next day we moved to a new anchorage just off the (historical) Governors Holiday house. A beautiful, white mansion a little bit like Gone With the Wind or even like the Wentworth's house at Vaucluse where we were married. Complete with manicured lawns and a peacock it was a beautiful setting. Once again we decided to go for a walk. We are all enjoying the exploring... we crossed over the hill to the Lady Bay which was once only open to the ladies (a bit like Lady Bay in Watsons Bay) and then trekked on to the old copper mine ruins which were right on the edge of another bay. The entrance to a mine shaft was speckled with the most exquisite blues and greens. It was amazing to see the copper in the rock face. Another enjoyable day out in the bay.

On the last morning it was dead calm (sorry Puff - had to use that line) and we took the dingy out to take a look at the bays up close from the sea side. The water was like glass! We could see great wide ribbons of kelp and fish hiding in the shadows. Another wonderful moment. Before we went back to Catina we made the most of the calm water and zoomed over to a deserted island with fringing reef and shelly white sand. There were thousands of oysters on the rocks and beautiful shells on the beach. Darcy & Seisia played along with the "shipwreck" idea and built a shelter out of sticks. I think this is the best part of cruising and really look forward to more times like this.

We have been back in the marina now for a few days and it hasn't been as boring this time. Catina was hauled out onto the hardstand and the mechanics finally did the job they were meant to do 6 months ago when Duncan was over here to get all the work done. Darcy particularly enjoyed investigating the bottom of our home. He almost tricked me into poking my finger into one hole until I realised just where it was exiting from... the toilet! He thought it was a huge joke! Yuck! We met some interesting people, Melanie Michelle and John who own Waiwere Thermal Spa, the first spa in the Southern Hemisphere. While Duncan was working on the boat we were invited to go there as their guests. It was so much fun. As well as the calming day spa the resort included a park not unlike Wet N Wild! Waterslides with heated water! wow! We were going crazy for hours! It was very kind and generous of them to offer this to complete strangers! Then yesterday we took the kids to Snow Planet which is a huge indoor snow slope. We all got fitted with snow boots and were able to toboggan as much as we liked... which was only for like an hour at a time because we didn't have proper snow gear! The kids had on raincoats and Duncan even wore his wet weather sailing bib'n'brace! We also enjoyed yummy hot chocolates to warm our hands and tummies!

Now we are just waiting for the weather so we can go North. I provisioned the galley this afternoon. Tomorrow we will pay our marina fees, top up the water tanks and sail a short leg maybe back up to Kawau overnight. Then if the forecast light winds kick in we will do 2 big days up to the Bay of Islands.

I hope you have enjoyed our adventure so far... stay tuned for more updates when I get access to the computer and internet! Love to all... xxxx