They had head winds all the way at 25 - 30 knots and spent half the time trying to avoid a slow moving low.  This was not helped by the fact that Jonathan's Clearpoint weather prediction on his computer crashed.  So at lunch time everyday I emailed Jonathan with the position of the Low, wind strength and wave height and direction.  Eventually they got near enough to New Zealand to pick up Radio Russell and Bob McDavitt who gave very good predictions and I am pleased to say that although at first it was a huge learning curve for me I got most of it right.  Having remembered of course that the lows go clockwise in the southern hemisphere and the 'arrows' giving wind direction are not arrows but feathers on an arrow!! there is not grid to explain this.

Aqualuna withstood the pounding well she has a very strong hull and she has large fuel tanks so motor sailing was not a problem.  I had made casseroles for the freezer so 'the boys' did not starve and when it was possible to fish they caught a couple of 20lb each Albacore to replenish their stocks.  They arrived in Opua four days later than predicted as they got further south in the Tasman sea than they wanted to. On board were Francis Williams (J's brother in law), David Saunders (I stayed with his wife Jenny)  and Guy Bonsall who was doing his 600 miles towards his yacht master certificate.  David stayed on with us for another week to cruise down to the Hauraki Gulf.

12th Feb' 2012

I flew across and joined them in the Bay of Islands, Francis who did the sail across joined the Coleman's on their yacht.  We all got together that evening for dinner in Russell it was very good at The Gables in Russell.   That afternoon we explored the Treaty Grounds where the first Treaty was signed between the Maori and the colonials, over 500 Maori Chiefs around the country signed the treaty which was also translated into their language.  

The idea was to stay in The Bay of Islands for a few days and explore.  We spent a night off Roberton Island but the weather closed in and was predicted to be wet and windy for a few days so we decided to head South to the Hauraki Gulf.  We did do a walk up to the peak on Roberton Island which was lovely.

We anchored the following night in Smugglers Cove just inside Cape Marsdon.

We arrived in the Hauraki Gulf late afternoon and anchored in Mansion House Bay on Kawau Island.  There is a beautiful old Victorian House with filigree balconies built by a retired New Zealand Governer.  We walked for two hours through the most beautiful bush of fern trees, Redwoods and other shrubs to an old copper mine built by Cornish immigrants.  The sound of the Cicadas was deafening and not the same usual sound more like water dripping off rocks.  We saw some wallabies and various birds as well.

The following morning we set sail for Waiheke Island to ManO'War Bay which is on part of the island owned by a friend of David's, John Spencer.  In Man O'War Bay is a Wine tasting house so we went ashore and did some wine tasting of the Man O'War wines and had a light lunch sitting on the verandah looking over the bay.  John and his partner flew in to see us in their helicopter for a couple of hours.  He is  a keen yachts man and owns many of the islands in the area as well as this end of Waiheke Island.  Because it is privately owned it has not been developed as much as the rest of the island and is really stunning with bush, old 2nd world war military area and vineyards.

We spent the night in Putuki Bay and had dinner in Thyme Table which was good as we were walking from the beach where we had left the dingy a local who saw us come in offered us a lift which was great as it was quite a long walk.

The following morning was hot and sunny so we headed across to Calypso Beach on Motuihe Island which is a nature reserve where they are replanting indigenous plants and there are grassy tracts for walking, it was beautiful and we had a wonderful walk in warm sunny weather.

Back to Waiheke Island as we planned to meet up with Glynis who has a house on the island (she is an old HK friend) also joining her was Donald Hughes.  We had been in contact with him over Christmas and he said he would be visiting NZ around that time.  Glynis had not told him we were already here so it was a huge surprise for him as he wanted to meet up with us again.  We had a brilliant time and had lunch together at Stony Ridge and a wine tasting again.  (BACK GOES ON THE WEIGHT!!)  The following day Glynis took us on a tour of the island and wine tasting in her Yte there were five of us.  David Saunders hadn't seen Glynis for 16 years last time at the Kings Cup in Phuket.    David Saunders took us all to MudBrick for dinner both the food and the setting were superb see photos below.

The following day David had to leave us to return to Sydney but Donald decided he would like to join us for a weeks cruising which is great.  We all had dinner that night at Glynis's house, which I have fallen in love with very modern Japanese on the outside wood and stone, very high ceilinged and huge bifolding doors instead of walls with stunning views and set in vineyards, olive groves and orchards she also has an amazing art collection of contemporary art and sculpture as well as some lovely asian art which all fits in perfectly.  Also at dinner were Glynis's neighbours   Don and Maureen they are both very experienced sailors so we had a lot to talk about.  We ate on one of the terraces with an outdoor log fire burning in the outdoor fireplace where Glynis cooked the most delicious Paella. 

The following morning, with Donald on board, we set sail for Great Barrier Island to meet up with some old Blue Water Rally friends Sue and Bill Redgrove on Camomile. 

On our way across the fishing line ran, after about 10 mins on the rod Jonathan got it in along side the yacht where it dived deeper so we hoped it was a Tuna, but when it surfaced it was a 6' Shark!!  Fortunately it shook the hook so Jonathan did not have to put his hands near it to release it.

 Bill and Sue came aboard for drinks and the following day we had lunch together ashore.  We visited their yacht for drinks as well and Sue does all her own canvas making and Bill is the most amazing carpenter having done all the renovation of Camomile a Westerly Yacht.

The wind is up and we had 40 knot gusts during the night.  Today it is raining so not sure that we are going to get our walk in today.  Great Barrier Island is huge and mostly nature reserve with original bush and full of wild life.  We have shifted from Tryphena Harbour Bay around to Whangaparapara Harbour to shelter as the winds are turning more northerly.  Camomile came in an hour later with a very large pod of Dolphins playing around their yacht.

See lots of photos below:-

G