Homepage INTRO PAGE BIOGRAPHY PAGE JOURNAL PAGE Email
   JUNE , 2009
PUKENUI, or "BIG STOMACH"

May 30, 2009

We enjoyed our sail to Houhora Harbour, which involved rounding North Cape and heading south along the east coast.  It was a beautiful day, although we did have a short episode of dark clouds and could see rain in the distance.

We motored into Houhora Harbour on a falling tide with a 2-knot current against us.  We had a bit of information about this harbour in our cruising guide and yachty friends had told us that they had spent one night anchored close to the entrance across from the cemetery when they were there and then moved through the marked channel to the village of Pukenui.  It was close to low tide and mid-afternoon when we arrived so we decided to drop the hook across from the cemetery.  We had difficulty finding our way to the cemetery over the shallow water and didn’t really like the look of things when we found it so we decided to get back to the main channel and head for the town.  There was good depth of water in the long channel and thirty minutes later we were at the western end of the harbour where there were lots of moored boats.  Finding a place to anchor amongst these boats and not be in the sand flats and running out of water proved a bit of a challenge but we managed.

Paul immediately jumped into the dinghy and went into town to get some salad (Mary said that she could kill for a salad!) and fish and chips for dinner and a few vegetables at the grocery store.  Our friends, Tom and Vivienne from Imajica, had told us that the fish and chips in Pukenui were the best that they had ever had.  They were indeed very tasty but the portions were huge and Paul bought too much.  We ended up eating the fish for three dinners and went back to buy one more order of fries the next day. 

We enjoyed Pukenui, which we learned is Maori for “big stomach” – ‘puke’ is stomach and is pronounced ‘pooka’ and ‘nui’ is large or big.  Everyone we met was very friendly.  We were actually offered a free mooring by the fellow who manages the moorings.  The forecast was calling for strong southwesterly winds for a few days.  We didn’t really want to stay at anchor so close to moored boats (we would be on a longer scope and swinging differently to the moored boats), so we moved to the very substantial mooring and were very comfortable for a few days.

We also learned that we could arrange to get some diesel from the public wharf by arranging it through this same fellow, however, we would need cash as we did not have a fuel card.  The fellow would use his fuel card and we would pay him the cash.  When we went to the grocery store the next day to get money from the only ATM, we met up with a problem – we could only get funds from this machine if we had an account in a New Zealand bank.  This is only the second time that we have had a problem getting money from an ATM in our time aboard and the first time was in a remote village in Vanuatu.  The staff at the store were very helpful.  The manager of the store (who drove us and our groceries to the public wharf in his van) offered to use his fuel card for the diesel and then Paul would pay him back at the store using our credit card.  That was arranged for the next day and it worked very well.

Our next need was to fill a propane (LPG) tank and this could not be done at the wharf – we needed to walk to a service station about 2 kilometres up the main road.  So, we loaded up our travel cart with the empty propane tank and empty petrol can and headed off in the dinghy looking for the ‘fishing club dock’ where we had been told that we could leave the dinghy while we go to the service station.  There were big ‘do not leave unattended boats here’ signs all over the dock, which we had no choice but to ignore.  After tying up the dinghy, we went up to the fishing club to tell someone what we were doing but the place was empty.

Off we went down the road and unfortunately ran out of sidewalk after about 300 metres.  The rest of the journey was navigated on a two-lane main road with lots of traffic and no graded shoulder.  The woman who was working at the service station was extremely friendly and we spent an enjoyable 30 minutes talking with her about a variety of subjects, one of which was fishing.  Mary got a chuckle out of a sign on the station door that said “the last service station before Australia” but we didn’t have our camera on hand.  When will we learn to never leave the boat without our camera!!

June 3 - 12, 2009

It was time to leave Houhora Harbour and we sailed across Karikari Bay to Karikari Peninsula.  There are a variety of anchorages on the western side of the peninsula and we knew that we would be anchorage hopping depending on the wind direction.  We were in no hurry to continue going south.  Our first anchorage was at Wairaka Beach and the beautiful sandy beach called to us shortly after we set our anchor.  When we were walking on the beach we saw a vehicle parked at the top of the sand dune and waved to the people who were watching us.  We walked up to meet them and had a long conversation with a Maori named Beno who wanted to welcome us to his land and make sure that we knew that we could walk anywhere we pleased.  Beno pointed out several houses that belong to his relatives.  It turns out that most, if not all, of the Karikari Peninsula is Maori land.  Beno also told us that his nephew is married to a Canadian woman and pointed out their house at the top of a hill in the next bay to the southwest.

In the week and a half that we spent on the west side of the peninsula, we spent time in every anchorage, moving every couple of days depending on the wind direction and strength. 
 

This is Waipapa Bay and we enjoyed watching the surf roll in and the beach walking at this anchorage.
This is our anchorage at Punamawa Point and we took this picture when we were on a hike halfway to a lighthouse.  We planned on completing the long walk to the lighthouse the next day and having a picnic lunch but it was raining and we never made it back there.


You’ve heard of Where’s Waldo?  Well, Where’s Paul?  We were sitting at the top of this ridge and Paul decided to get closer to the edge to take a picture and fell into a dip in the high grass.  Imagine Mary’s surprise when he suddenly disappeared from view and then came up laughing!


We saw no other sailboats, just a few fishing boats in the distance during our time on the west side of the peninsula.  On Tuesday, June 9, the forecast was calling for northeast and north winds for a few days so we went southwest around Maraewhiti Point and settled at anchor in front of a few houses, the ones that Beno had earlier pointed out as belonging to his relatives.  Paul went ashore and asked a fellow on the beach if it was okay that we were at anchor in front of his house.  He welcomed us to the anchorage and pointed out the home of Beno’s nephew and Canadian niece.  They lived at the very top of the hill, a steep climb over a rough road.  Paul went up to introduce himself to Peter and Jennifer and they offered us a ride to Kaikaia (the nearest town) the next day.  We had provisioned in Pukenui for about a month and really didn’t need anything but we weren’t going to pass up the chance to learn more about the area and the people who live here.
Here is Mary with Peter, Jen and baby Richard, after our morning shopping in Kaitaia.  This young couple lives in a house at the top of a steep hill and Bella Via at anchor can be seen in the distance.

June 13 - 28, 2009

The wind direction was good for rounding Cape Karikari and continuing south along the east side of North Island.  We didn’t have far to go on that morning of June 13, as we planned on staying for a few days in Matai Bay, only eight miles away.  This bay is actually two small bays connected by a point and, due to the southwest wind, we settled for one night in Waikato Bay.  We had some swell coming into the bay the next morning so we moved over to Matai Bay to be more protected.   On a beach walk later that day we met a couple from Auckland who were on a driving trip and drove down into the bay to look around.  We enjoyed a 30-minute conversation with these people.  We have been told that Matai Bay is a very popular camping and cruising spot in the summer months but for now, we were the only boat around.  We did see some people fishing on a distant rocky point.

We headed off for Whangaroa (pronounced Fongaroa) Harbour on June 16, a distance of approximately 20 miles.  What a beautiful harbour.   Here is how our cruising guide describes it:  “If you have never visited Whangaroa before, prepare to be amazed.  The outer reaches of the harbour make it seem as if a Norwegian fjord has been mistakenly dropped into the middle of the Northland coastline.  The very narrow entrance leads into a backdrop of majestic rocky outcrops and cliffs.”  There are several anchorages listed in our guide, all of which are described as ‘all wind direction’ anchorages. 


Part of the rocky bluffs of Whangaroa Harbour includes what is called The Duke’s Nose.  Can you pick out the nose and the rest of the facial features?  This is a popular and rugged climb for the people who visit Whangaroa.  We set off to climb it on our second day but got sidetracked talking with two men who were oystering and who later invited us back to their boat for tea.


We hadn’t seen any boats other than Lode-Star for about six weeks and we were beginning to think that we ware the only people around.  We were delighted to see a few boats in this harbour.  In fact, on our second morning we met two Kiwi couples, Barry and Barbara and Wendy and David, from Auckland who had rented a houseboat for three days.  We had morning tea with them and invited them for sundowners on Bella Via for that evening.  We had a delightful time with these people and exchanged contact information so that we can connect again when we are in Auckland.
Here are Wendy and David and Barry and Barbara saying good-bye to us from their rented houseboat.  Note the name of the boat and the graphics design.  We are not sure if there is a Canadian connection with the owner of the houseboat.

Three or four times since we have been in New Zealand, we have seen pilot whales.  This picture shows one and it is the closest we have been so far.  They actually look like big dolphins but with a bigger dorsal fin and they move slower in the water.  Beautiful!
Fill’er up, please!  We were unable to use our desalinator and make water while we were at Whangaroa because of the amount of silt in the water from rain.  Locals had told us that the best place to take on fresh water would be at the water buoy in the eastern arm of the harbour.  Mary put the boat stern-to the buoy and we filled up our water tanks with good-tasting water from a well up in the nearby mountain.


On Sunday, June 21, we took the dinghy into Whangaroa Village (a very tiny one!) to walk around and see the sights.  There weren’t very many sights but we did enjoy a walk through a very old Anglican cemetery and a look at the over one hundred year old wooden church.  A stop at the ‘grocery store’ to look around was interesting – mostly non-food items (touristy things) and we were amazed at the prices for the few vegetables and the bread ($6.00 for one loaf).  We had no need to pay those prices as a few days before Paul had met the manager of the lodge that has Internet available and she offered to take us into Kerikeri (the closest big grocery store about 45 minutes away by car) in a week or two.  We ended our tour of the village with a stop at a pub to shoot a few games of pool and have a drink.  Again, as with everywhere we go, we enjoyed talking to the locals and learning more about this marvelous area called Northland.

The weather was very calm and that meant that the seas outside Whangaroa Harbour would be calm as well so we decided to go out to Stephenson Island for a few days.  Only 3 miles away, this island offers crystal clear water and good rocks for diving and spear fishing.  We spent three days at the island and Paul went spearing and brought home dinner each day.  We went back into the harbour late in the afternoon of June 25 as the wind was picking up and some swell was starting to come into our anchorage.

While we were at the island Paul performed a scheduled oil change on the port engine and discovered to our dismay that we once again had water in the oil, which meant a poor seal in the sail drive.  This is the third time we have had this problem on the port sail drive, probably due to a worn shaft where the seal rubs against the shaft.  This is a problem that cannot be ignored, as eventually the water will cause the gears and bearings on the inside of the sail drive to rust.  Therefore, we needed to start looking for a place to once again beach the boat and dry out so that we could replace the seals.  The alternative would be to haul the boat at a boatyard and we are not planning on a haulout until February 2010.

Luckily, we have a great network of informative sources through our HF radio friends and we learned from Christian, who is on his boat just south of us in the Bay of Islands, that one of the best places to dry out a catamaran is Whangaroa Harbour, right where we were in the western arm.  The next issue was timing – a look at the tide schedule showed that the greatest tidal range (we need to make sure that we can eventually float off of the beach) would be at full moon in July, which would give us two weeks to get ready for this task. 

For the next three days, Paul went ashore several times throughout the day to check water depth at the various stages of the high and low tides and also looked for the hardest sand and the most level spot to beach the boat.  With that accomplished, we marked the spot as a GPS waypoint for use in July. 

At the same time as all of this was happening, we needed to find a source in New Zealand for a “speedi sleeve”, which is a thin tube of metal that will be placed over the worn shaft.  Several telephone conversations with various people in different companies eventually gave us the information needed and the part was shipped from Auckland on June 26. 

On Sunday, June 28, we moved into the anchorage beside the marina at Whangaroa Village.  We learned on Saturday that our upcoming shopping trip with the lodge manager was not to be, as she and her husband were now out of a job due to the fact that the owner decided in the last day or two that he was going to be the manager.  Luckily (as we don’t have much food left), the owner offered us the use of his van for Monday, June 29, and we accepted.  So we intend on moving into the marina on Monday morning for one night as we have a big shop to do in Kerikeri (about 45 minutes away by car) and it will be easier to transfer our purchases to the boat if we are at a dock.

 

    Journal Page 9
    
Beware Bumps