Tag: New Zealand

  • Day 4: Passage New Cal to New Zealand

    Woke up to a continued current ride, seas forward of the beam, but moving fast – great sailing angle and still with the magical current. We’ve done a great job getting east away from the squall line and now we can correct a bit to south. Ahhhh, what a difference 15 degrees makes – our…

  • Day 3: Passage New Caledonia to New Zealand

    Overnight, continued our same course and sailplan (a reefed main and genoa), waves still forward of the beam. At one point, on my watch, the winds kicked up along with the seas prompting Calder out of bed to see what was going on. He said his feet and legs were lifting off his bed as…

  • Day 1: New Cal to New Zealand

    At 8:25am, we left our mooring ball at Ilot Amendee, next stop Opua, New Zealand (with a possible stop at Norfolk Island along the way). Trying some different seasickness meds for Cora, as the scopolamine patch itself doesn’t make her feel well. While passage planning and looking at all the different variables in this crossing,…

  • Day 6: Passage from NZ to Fiji

    It’s challenging to write this morning, as we buck up and down, side to side. Most passages we are able to go forward and check on the boat, perhaps sit on the side and enjoy a sunset. We have not been able to leave the cockpit for this entire passage due to the sea conditions.…

  • Goodbye New Zealand – off to Fiji

    We’ve continued to enjoy New Zealand, whilst looking at the weather a couple of times daily, waiting for a passage window to Fiji. We spent a few nights anchored off the Waitangi Bike Park so Calder could get another day of biking in before we leave New Zealand. We played family baseball in a field…

  • Boat Sweet Boat: Back to Terikah

    Back to boat late after helping a friend on SV Linnaea with a haul-out in Whangarei. Home sweet boat – the distinct smell of our boat greeting us, the comfort of the warm wood interior, and a cozy cabin in which to sleep. We all slept great. Next day, busy with work for me and…

  • Wellington, Volcanoes, & Geothermal Wonders

    After a lovely morning drive along the coast, we caught the Interisland Ferry from Picton to Wellington. Staying at the Agnes House Farm, a 1906 restored farm house full of character, we enjoyed the chooks who were hiding their eggs, aloof alpacas, native brush, and so much birdsong – happy to have the morepork (ruru)…

  • Physical Education Class: Making up for Time on the Water

    Heading north to the Dunedin area, we parked for the night at a beachside Freedom Camp near the end of the Otago Peninsula, where we spotted a male sea lion resting in the sand during our evening walk. One of the highlights of our trip was a nighttime little blue penguin tour—there’s nothing cuter than…

  • The Healing Power of Nature: Milford Sound and the Catlins

    Back to our caravan in Queenstown after our drive from Dunedin, we tucked into 12 Mile Delta Campground outside of Queenstown (featured as Ithilien in LOTR). I took time with my cup of coffee and had an excellent meditative morning. It can be an interesting gift to talk with one’s mortality, reflecting on the best…

  • Schist Happens

    But first, the adventures before…Three nights at Glendhu Bay Holiday Park on the shores of Lake Wanaka allowed us to explore this area to the max.  Was the extremely bumpy washboard road and river fords to the 10km Rob Roy Glacier Track worth it? An emphatic YES! And we were treated to a road-grader smoothing…