march 3 2005 : south island road trip, new zealand
We woke up bright and early the other day in order to get out of Greymouth. But first we had to stop at the gas station where, while Ali was paying for the petrol she was asked if she would like to buy a raffle ticket. First prize was a truckload of coal. She was about to buy $20 worth before she found out you must be present to win. Damn, we sure could have used that coal.

A little bit down the road we came across something that we just couldn’t pass up, Pancake Rocks. Sounds exciting doesn’t it? These are limestone rocks that formed like 30 million years ago and to this day scientists haven’t figured out how they ended up the way that they have. I stood back and thought it over for five minutes but was stumped as well. I’m sure with a roadside attraction like Pancake Rocks, a genius scientist is bound to stop for a look and figure it out one of these days.

Later on in the afternoon we took off down a side road to check out a seal colony. Along the way we came across yet another cow who appeared to have gotten out of his enclosure and was running along the road. That got me thinking back to a conversation I had with a farmer type guy about a week ago. We were talking about God knows what, when he mentioned that he had lived in Oregon for four months back in 1983. He talked about how alike NZ and Oregon were, being about the same distance from the equator and all. Then he sort of stared off thoughtfully and said, “They sure ain’t got her fenced in as well as we do here though.”

He was bragging about NZ fencing. That conversation made me start looking around, and that’s when I noticed that he is right. There is hardly a piece of land in NZ that isn’t fenced in. You can drive for hundreds of miles and there will be a fence 10 feet from each side of the road the entire way. I’ll bet that if you walked in a straight line from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island you would have to climb over 100,000 fences. And yet practically every day we see an escaped cow, goat, or sheep. Granted once they escape from home they have nowhere to go but right down the middle of the fenced in road.

Yesterday we went white-water rafting on the Buller River. We woke up to find that it was about 45 degrees and so foggy you couldn’t see 50 yards in front of you. We were less than optimistic about having a good time in the water under these conditions. But amazingly, in the one hour from when we left the motel until we got out on the river the weather completely turned around. The sun came out and the sky couldn’t have been more blue. It was great.

Our group on the raft turned out to be a guide and five guys from Sweden who are here in NZ studying. They had been taking a white-water course for the last four weeks and this was their last class. So the guide was pretty excited that we would be having such a strong group of paddlers on this trip. The rafting itself was cool, there were a couple of Class 4 rapids including a 10 foot high chute that we had to scout out before going through. During one section of rapids I got to do the windshield wiper, which was just me sitting up on the front tube with my feet dangling over the side, and through another set a few of us jumped out of the boat and swam through instead of riding the raft. Then at the end of the trip we pulled the boat to the side along some cliffs and went cliff diving. I’m terrible at guessing heights, but I’d guess it was about 30 feet, enough to be exciting. All in all I thought the rafting was a pretty good time, though next time I would need to have some Class 5’s and Ali said she would want more rapids, so there wouldn’t be so much down time.

Today we took off for a much more sedate adventure. We took a sea kayak out to see the Abel Tasman National Park. The brochure said to expect two hours for safety training. I told Ali that there was no way they would really take that long, but she was sure that it wouldn’t say that for no reason. Well, I owe her a back massage.

It was unbelievable. There were three couples like us going out without a guide. We all told the guy that we had experience, which may have been a slight exaggeration on our part, yet everybody still had to be taught everything. First we had to show him our paddling motion, while we were on the beach. Then we had to sit in the kayaks and show him how we would escape if we tipped over. Then he sat us all in a circle for a very serious talk. He told us that in the 20 years their company had been in business three people had died when renting kayaks without a guide, while none had died with a guide. He asked, “What does that tell you?” “That the odds of something happening to us are incredibly small.” I felt like saying, but managed to hold my tongue.

Next it was out onto the water for the skills test and some more great safety instructions. “Paddle in a straight line, paddle fast in a straight line, stop quick, turn right, if you are washing into the rocks on the right lean to the left, if a giant whale breaches underneath you try to ride down his tail to safety, if a sea lion jumps onto the kayak use the paddle to tickle him under his left flipper while simultaneously leaning to your right, quick stop again, give me 20 push-ups!” I had really started to zone out while still on the beach, so I may have gotten some of the instructions mixed up, but that was pretty close.

So after 2 hours and 15 minutes we were finally let go to paddle anywhere along the incredibly still water we wanted to. Ali and I had our sights set on an island that seemed to be sitting just offshore a few hundred yards away. We paddled and paddled and after about an hour finally reached it. It was at about that time that we came to the conclusion that sea kayaking was not our cup of tea. An hour later, when we finally circled the island and pulled up onto a beach, we made another decision. We would rather have our teeth pulled out one at a time than paddle a kayak. I know a lot of people love these sea kayaks, but we can’t stand them and will never be seen in one again. It is just too damn slow and ungodly uncomfortable. After a couple of hours on the beach we paddled back and happily returned the kayak two hours early. So over two hours of instructions for about three hours worth of  kayaking. Sweet.

march 6 2005 : south island road trip
After kayaking the other day we drove to Nelson and spent the night there. Nelson is a good sized city near the water but not on it, and near the mountains but not in them, making it a pretty visually boring place to visit. We didn’t do a whole lot there, we took in a movie, got some internet stuff done, and called it a night.

The next day we woke up and had until 9:30 p.m. to kill by driving only about 100 miles to Picton, where we would catch the ferry back to the North Island. Along the way we stopped at pretty much anything that might be the least bit interesting. A whole bunch of scenic lookouts, a couple dirt roads, a sheep eating grass, anything.

Then we drove across this bridge that when I looked over the edge looked like a great place for a swim. So we pulled over and went for a short little hike down the hill to the cliffs along the river. It was a great spot with super clear water flowing pretty slowly and, best of all, it had some cliffs to make it interesting. The cliffs weren’t very high, only about 10-15 feet, perfect for diving which I did after a quick jump in feet first to make sure it was really as deep as it looked. We hung out down there for a little while until the bees finally chased us off. I don’t know what the deal is right now but there are some monster bees flying around.

Next stop was the tiny town of Havelock, the green-shelled mussel capital of the world is what the sign said as we entered town. If that isn’t worth a stop then nothing is. Sad as it may sound we had never tried mussels before and so we figured what better place than the capital.

Right on Main Street, or the only street, we found Mussel Boys, a very nice looking restaurant that seemed to serve nothing but fresh mussels and beer. Perfect. We were greeted by the owner as we came in and after telling him we were Mussel virgins he very enthusiastically recommended the 16 mussel platter to us which had 4 different flavors served in the half shell. All I can say is that after eating my 15 mussels I came away a very happy man. Ali, not so happy, but the beer and garlic bread were excellent.

After lunch, with six hours remaining to be killed, we walked down the street to check out the museum. I don’t know what it is, but every town in NZ seems to have a museum. No matter how ridiculously small the town is. When I get back to the States I’ve got to check out our small towns closer to find out if we do the same thing. This particular museum was housed in a small building that looked like it may have been a church about 100 years ago.

The door was unlocked and creeked nicely as we went in, making us feel like we were the first visitors in a very long time, which I have no doubt we were. Inside was a walkway down the middle and on both sides were fenced cages holding the booty. The booty, in this case, was a selection of old sewing machines, a wide range of both clear and green bottles, and the best darn collection of saws that either of us had ever laid eyes on.

The most interesting display was of a moonshine still just like you used to see on The Dukes of Hazzard. Next to the display they had a letter dated 1962 from the Customs Agency. The letter stated that the officer was satisfied that the still had been modified to the point that it would now be inoperable, but that he still had concerns that such a display may lead to visitors believing that it was okay for them to run off into the hills and make their own stills. In the end the officer granted his permission but under the condition that they post his other letter that stated that this sort of thing was illegal. I wouldn’t have thought that would have been a big problem in the 60’s. I could understand all the precautions if the museum had recreated a meth lab, but a moonshine still?

On the way out we turned out the lights and dropped our two bucks in the donations box. With 5 hours and 52 minutes now remaining, we set off for Picton. A pleasant enough town, but how do you compete with Havelock? We walked around town a bit, but finally drove down and got our spot in line for the ferry. First place.

A ferry ride in the middle of the night is extremely uneventful, so we entertained ourselves by people watching. Our favorite was the family with two kids. The kids spent the majority of the trip running around playing hide and go seek (mostly underneath sleeping passengers chairs) as loudly as they possibly could while Mom laid across four seats snoring and Dad watched rugby while getting good and drunk. Really warmed our hearts.

Around midnight we pulled into Wellington. By now Ali and I had had enough road tripping and were anxious to get home, so we decided to just drive all night and get back. About 6 a.m. I realized my driving skills were fast deteriorating and Ali’s head had been wobbling around in circles all night, so we pulled off onto a dirt road and slept for an hour. By seven we were feeling quite a bit better, especially with the sun up, and hit the road again. It was a brutal day but by noon we were home.

After 13 hours of sleep we woke up feeling ready to get some work done. We’ve still got a list of projects we would like to get done before heading out again. Most of them are no big deal, but some are going to require quite a bit of work. I started on our most confusing project, the watermaker. A while back I tried to change the watermaker filters, which I had done lots of times in the past. This requires nothing more than unscrewing a container that holds the filter, pulling it out, dropping the new filter in and screwing it back on. To screw and unscrew the thing, I usually use a tool whose intended purpose is unscrewing oil filters in cars. This tool gives me just enough leverage in the cramped space to get it tight, which it needs to be in order to keep water from finding its way out.

Anyway, I am always careful not to overtighten, but this time I just couldn’t get it unscrewed (thus my confusion). Even with all my weight cranking on the little tool it wouldn’t give. The container thing had nice little ridges on it which I assume are for you to get a good grip, so I used these to press a large screwdriver against while I pounded it with a hammer. All this did was break off the ridges. The only other thing I could think of was to use a huge pipe wrench. So after a quick trip to the store for my $60 wrench I went back in after it. And like magic, it was off. I have decided that a pipe wrench is the most useful tool I have onboard. This new one is my fourth. Yet I’m still having a hard time convincing Ali just how important having a giant pipe wrench onboard really is in the long run.

Another quick story about how great the Kiwis are. The Volvo has had this nasty squeak in the brakes for the last couple of weeks. But seeing as how the brakes seemed to be working just fine, and the squeak went away after a few minutes, we managed to ignore it until today. When we were going to the hardware store we noticed that there was a Midas shop right next door and they were open on a Sunday. So we pulled in and I found three guys finishing their lunch and who seemed pretty keen to have a look at the car for us.

We sat in the office while the mechanic poked his head through the door every few minutes to tell us what he was finding. What he found were a couple of pins that hold the brake pads on the rear wheel had worked their way loose and were all bent out of shape. He said he could straighten them and disappeared back into the garage. After about a half an hour he came in and told us he was done. The pins were back in, he cleaned a bunch of rocks out, and he sprayed some non-squealing crap on them. Then he told us, “No charge.” I asked if he was sure and he said, “Ya mate, it was no problem, I didn’t need any parts and it only took like 30 minutes.” Can’t argue with that line of logic. Cheers mate.

Lastly, a lot of people are wondering what the deal is with the builders. Just to let you know, we never heard from them again. Though I can’t say that we really expected to. A few people have emailed to tell us how humid the weather is in Durban, a fact I did not know. Seems humidity is probably the number one cause of blistering and delamination.

One guy, who is from South Africa, emailed to say that Cape Town boat builders really hate Durban boat builders because they give South African boats a bad name due to the high incidence of gelcoat problems. I’m not saying that is what happened to our boat, but it sure does make me think. Oh, and we also found out that Charter Cats is currently in the process of moving their factory from Durban to Cape Town. The old factory, from what I have been told, only had a roof and open air walls. They never mentioned any of this to me so I don’t know the reason for the move. Can’t imagine what it would be. Anyway, here’s wishing Charter Cats the best of success with their new Jaguar 36.

march 9 2005 : gulf harbor marina, whangaparaoa, new zealand
Not a whole lot of excitement the last few days. A lot of boat projects are finally getting done. The big one has been the attempt to reconnect the water heater. It’s been disconnected ever since the hot water pipe blew up on us way back on our way to Panama. Until New Zealand there was no way to fix it because the pipe is glassed into the boat and can’t be removed (well it could if we removed the wood floor and cut some big holes in the floor). A brilliant piece of engineering. Anyway, we finally found the type of hose connections that we needed and got it all hooked up again. Although she won’t say it, I think Ali is really going to miss those cold showers in 60 degree weather while clipping along at 7 knots. Good times.

A bunch of other little projects too, Ali has been busy going through all of our clothes and getting the books and the food straightened out. We donated a huge bag of clothes to charity and have decided that from now on when we buy something new, something old needs to get off the boat. We’ll see if that holds up or not. We’ve also made a few grocery store runs. We have a couple of weeks so we have just been buying things from our list as they come on sale. Yesterday we went through the checkout line with 20 cans of chili (hey, it’s damn good chili), 8 tubes of toothpaste, and 24 bottles of Mountain Dew. We get some strange looks from the cashiers.

Something that has been bugging us here in NZ is pumpkin soup. What is the deal with the pumpkin soup? If you go to a café here in NZ there is a 90% chance that the soup of the day will be pumpkin. The other 10% is tomato. In all the driving around this country we have done we have yet to see a pumpkin growing out in the fields. Where do all the pumpkins come from?

march 12 2005 : gulf harbor marina
I really wish we had something interesting to say, but putting the finishing touches on five months of boat work just isn’t all that exciting. We just continue to whittle away at the list. However, some friends of ours who live in Denmark are originally from Auckland and his parents had us over for dinner last night which was a nice treat. They are self proclaimed “foodies,” a group for which you all know we do not belong, and made us a fantastic dinner of NZ lamb. It was great. Ali and I found ourselves talking about it all day today.

Aside from that it’s just more boat work. We did find out today while working on the winches that they are actually bolted into a steel plate embedded in the fiberglass base. So it wasn’t quite as bad as I had originally thought, though the bolts still did yank out, so I guess it wasn’t that strong. Anyway, we had a couple of teak mounting plates made so now we can thru-bolt them instead, making it virtually impossible for them to be pulled out again.

Eight more days until the car goes back to the car fair. No doubt that interested buyers will be lining up to purchase a used and abused 1988 Volvo with 3.5 trillion miles on it for $1500 NZ.

march 16 2005 : gulf harbor marina
We’re almost ready to get moving again and to be honest we’re pretty anxious to get to it. It’s been about five months since the boat left the marina, the longest time in one area that we expect to spend on this trip. It’s strange to be feeling a little nervous about sailing again. Actually not the sailing part so much as just going to sleep with the boat tugging at an anchor instead of tied up to a dock.

The small boat projects are getting done now, and our four page list has just about every line crossed off. We were wondering today if maybe we should have left a few things on the list to do when we are back on the water. As it is now, we shouldn’t have anything to do but relax once we get back out there.

Ali has three ducks that come by the boat at least three times a day. They’ll stay for hours, waiting patiently for more bread while Ali holds a conversation with them. I’d swear they are talking back to her too. Currently we are going through a loaf of bread per day. Yesterday I was working on the front of the boat and when I walked to the back I found one standing on the dinghy straining his neck to get a look inside to see if Ali was coming out with his lunch. When he saw me he just quacked and looked at me like, Where’s the lady with my bread?

So Ali walks out into the cockpit and starts talking to him so he flies towards her like he is going to fly right into the cockpit and have lunch with us before he thought better of it and went to the back step to be hand fed instead. It wouldn’t surprise me to be at anchor thirty miles away from here and suddenly hear a quack out the back door and find these guys sitting out there.

Anyway, tomorrow we are heading into Auckland to finish some last minute running around. Then in a couple of days we are taking the car to the car fair and by Monday we should be out sailing. The plan is to head north up the coast for a couple of weeks, taking in Great Barrier Island and the Bay of Islands. From there we will be waiting for a weather window to head across the Tasman to Sydney. We are going to hire one of those weather routing services for this trip since I have no confidence in my ability to accurately predict when a big low will be moving up through the Tasman Sea, which it tends to do every week. That trip should be about ten days and has a nasty reputation as a rough one.

march 19 2005 : gulf harbor marina
Yesterday we received a visitor on the boat. His name is Flat Stanley. He’s actually a piece of paper from our niece Lea’s first grade class. He travels around the world visiting family and friends and then reporting back in to the class on his findings in the different countries he visited. So today he was busy working on a winch when Ali decided to take a picture of him. She had the camera in her sweatshirt pocket when she bent over to show Flat Stanley how to crank the winch. As she did the camera fell out of her pocket and somehow managed to fly right between the deck and the front trampoline walkway, which is about the width of one and a half cameras, and silently disappeared into 20 feet of murky water. Yes, a second digital camera is lying at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, 5000 miles apart!

I was in the cockpit when it happened and all I heard was, “Oh my God!” I froze, and in seconds dozens of possibilities of what could have happened ran through my head. I looked up front and Ali was just standing there in shock. Ouch! That was an expensive goof. And of course it happens on the last day that we plan on owning our car. So we spent the next couple of hours driving around town camera shopping. Eventually we found the same camera, a new model, but basically exactly the same. It cost $200 USD more than it would have back home but we decided that having one shipped, worrying about customs, and where to have it shipped since we want to leave wasn’t worth the headache so we bit the bullet and bought it. Besides you can’t be without a camera when you’re out sailing, you never know when something cool is going to happen.

The fortunate thing about finding the same camera was that our power cord will still work. That is the problem with buying electronics in another country, you get that countries power cord, which in New Zealand is this crazy circular three pronged thing.

Which reminds me, when we flew home in December I brought along my two batteries for the cordless drill. They had gotten so worn out that they would only last about five minutes. I brought them to the store and found out that the batteries were going to cost more than an entirely new drill set. So I just threw the batteries away and figured I’d wait until we got back to NZ and buy a drill set there instead of hauling one in our luggage. It wasn’t until I got to the store here that it dawned on me that I would have to find a power converter and for the rest of the drills life I would always have to have the converter around. So for the last three months I haven’t had a drill on the boat. That’s a not to subtle hint to any family member who comes to visit us next.

march 23 2005 : great barrier island, new zealand
Well it was a busy few days, but we are finally back on the water. Last week when we were in Auckland we had a guy honk and pull us over. He was interested in the car and we spent about an hour with him going all through it and taking a test drive. We finally agreed on $1350 and said we’d call him in a couple of days to figure out where to meet him. So we called him and he told us he wasn’t able to get a loan from the bank. If we had known he was going to the bank for a loan and not just to withdraw the money we probably wouldn’t have wasted the 50 cents on the phone call in the first place.

So Sunday morning we were up at 6:30 to wash the car and drive down to the car fair. The alternator belt had been squealing every once in a while lately but since it was a dual belt system, meaning there is a backup belt in case one of them wears out I figured I’d cut off the one that seemed to be making all the noise. It was really worn out and the other one looked brand new, so I cut it off. I started the car and it instantly started squealing and wouldn’t stop. I’d cut off the wrong belt. Crap.

The belt finally stopped squealing about a mile down the road and when we drove by the auto parts store, where by the way is where I was told about the cutting off the bad belt in the first place, we stopped and bought a can of squeal stopper. We sprayed it on the belt and it seemed to solve the problem.

We finally got to the car fair where we put a sign on the car that said, $1700, Must Go Today, Make Offer. An hour later a very unlikely looking couple started poking around in the car. A big fat farmer guy from the South Island and his wife, a tiny little Indian lady wearing a sari. They started up the car, which promptly made a horrible squeal, to which the guy replied that it was just a belt. A few minutes later, without a test drive they offered us $1400, which we got up to $1500, and we had a deal. And as it turned out they lived in Albany, which was just down the road from the marina, and could give us a ride home.

After a quick stop at the Post Office to file the transfer of ownership and pay the $9 fee, we were done. Ali and I couldn’t believe how easy that was. We bought a 1988 Volvo for $1900 NZ, spent $100 in repairs, drove a ton of miles (we’re not sure how many since the odometer stopped working after a week), and five months later sold it in an hour for $400 NZ ($300 USD) less than we paid. Sweet deal. If we can manage to do that well on the boat we’ll really be happy.

Monday we spent putting the finishing touches on the boat and doing laundry. Around four we walked over to where the guys who had done all the work on Bum, were busy working on their next project. We were towing along a cooler full of beer. When we asked them if they had time for a beer they threw their gloves in the air and promptly walked away from whatever it was they were doing. We sat around and polished off a case with them before calling it a night.

So Tuesday morning we finally untied the lines and set out for Great Barrier Island 40 miles away. There was virtually no wind which was fine by me since the batteries were long overdue for a good charging anyway. In all our time in the marina we never even bothered to hook the boat up to shore power, showing what a good job our solar panels do.

The only problem we had with the boat was the starboard engine was getting air in the fuel line, which would cause the RPMs to drop down to 1800 for a few seconds before the self bleeding engine would recover and get back up to cruising revs. I figured out the problem was with the in-line fuel filter which has a little valve on the bottom of it that you can open to let out whatever the pre-filter has caught. For some reason the little valve isn’t sealing tight. Seems like it should be an easy thing to fix but we’ll see.

Anyway, about an hour before dark we pulled into the island and weaved our way through a few passages between the rocks into a completely protected bay. Within seconds we had half a dozen ducks swim up to us looking for food. I don’t know if all the ducks in New Zealand are hand fed or what, but it sure is starting to look that way. The anchor set on the first try and even though our routine hadn’t been practiced in quite a while we were settled in to our new anchorage within just a few minutes. Ali heated up a couple of mince pies for dinner and we called it a night.

One of our boat projects recently was adding another 100 feet of chain to our existing 150 feet (along with 150′ of rode) bringing the total, obviously, up to 250. We had found that once we reached the South Pacific that we rarely were able to anchor in anything less than 30 feet. So a lot of times we would find ourselves anchoring around coral and putting out 250 feet of line; 150 of which would be chain and 100 of which was rode. So I would have to dive in and make sure that there was no coral heads around for the rode to slice itself on. Seemed pretty stupid to be worrying about coral cutting us loose at night when the problem could be solved with just a little more chain.

So we took care of that. And we also upped our anchor size while we were here. We bought a 44 pound Bruce anchor to replace the 30 pound Bruce we had used up until now. We also have a 35 pound CQR which we don’t like at all. It dragged all the time in the Bahamas and is just really big and hard to maneuver or store. The Bruce has never dragged but we figured the extra weight would help it set easier. Of course there are a million and one different opinions on anchors, but this is what has worked for us so far.

And of course this morning Ali woke up to find a duck sitting on our deflated dinghy sound asleep. We fed them pancakes for breakfast. The dinghy is deflated because I still haven’t been able to fix it. I know where the leak is but no matter what I do I can’t stop it. Oh well, it gives me a project to work on out here.

march 25 2005 : great barrier island
The dinghy leak has been conquered. At least for now. I’m 99% certain that my patching skills won’t hold for a real long time though. I’m going to run out of glue soon. Next project was to hook up the outboard and get it running. It had now been about 6 months since I last ran it and I was positive that I would have to take it apart and clean out the carburetor. I plugged in the gas line and gave it a pull. Nothing. Pull out the choke all the way, open up the throttle a little, and two pulls later she starts right up. Unbelievable, the Yamaha 15 horse is truly the greatest outboard there is.

After that little project was completed we took the dinghy to shore and found a hiking trail. By now you’ve probably realized that we aren’t really the tramping through the woods types, and so after about an hour of that we headed back to the boat. We’ve determined that if there isn’t a nice town at the end of the trail with food and a cold beer that we’re just not all that interested in sweating and slopping through the mud.

As we were walking along I also got to thinking that it would be a lot more exciting if there was at least the possibility of seeing some sort of animal. Back home walking through the woods at least you could be on the lookout for deer or maybe even a bear, hell, I’d take a squirrel. But here in New Zealand they don’t have anything to look out for. They could really spice things up by importing some grizzly bears here. Things would get really interesting around those hikers camps at night then.

The weather kind of went to crap on us here the last day or two. So after looking at the forecast for the next couple of days we decided to switch anchorages. We actually only moved about a mile away to hide behind another island. We moved over at 7 this morning and by noon every other boat in the country had moved in as well. We hear it is Easter weekend and is going to be busy around here. Ali always sleeps terribly when there are a lot of other boats around. She worries about other boats dragging or swinging into us and ends up being up half the night checking on things outside. So this isn’t exactly our ideal anchorage. But with the winds kicking up to 35 knots this morning I think we made the right move.

march 27 2005 : great barrier island
So one day we say we are never going hiking again, and the next day we are trudging through the woods looking for yet another waterfall. Actually we dinghied over to the town of Port Fitzroy, which is actually just a boat fuel dock, a little used bookstore which doesn’t appear to be open very often, and a general store. So after stocking up on hiking essentials, well, two ice cream bars, we took to the trails. We walked and walked and finally came to a sign that said, Waterfalls 15 minutes. So on we went.

After about twenty minutes we crossed this little bridge that looked like it would have water running under it if there was a big rain storm and we started to think that maybe this was the waterfall they were talking about. But we kept walking and now about 30 minutes in we started thinking about turning around. But we pressed on and finally, 45 minutes after the sign said 15 minutes we came to the waterfall. Maybe we are just extremely slow hikers.

The waterfall wasn’t exactly thundering down the hillside, but it was cascading down nicely, and best of all it actually splashed down into a small pool at the bottom. We always had this vision of every waterfall ending in this perfect little spot where you would have a picnic at the edge of the crystal clear pool of water while rainbows appeared high above your heads. This wasn’t anything like that, but it was as close as we have come, despite seeing dozens of waterfalls by now.

One thing I found kind of interesting today was the number of boats I saw sailing. Today was really a nice day for sailing (about 10 knots right on the beam headed north or south) inside the protection of the islands here. So all told, I would say that I saw in the neighborhood of 100 sailboats going back and forth today and a grand total of two with their sails hoisted. Just thought that was interesting. Personally I would have been right alongside those other 98 boats in motoring the 4 miles or so, but it surprised me to see how many other “sailors” are too lazy to hoist a sail for a one hour move across a bay.

Last night the wind died down completely. I mean zero knots of wind. Usually there is some sort of ripple on the water to make some noise on the boat, but last night it was so quiet and still we could have been still sitting up on the hard at Gulf Harbor. So this morning when I woke up and found that it was still that calm, I decided that maybe today would be a good day to make our run back over to the mainland. The forecast had been looking pretty bad, meaning about 20 knots right from the NW which is where we are headed of course. So we got everything ready and within about a half an hour we had the anchor up and were on our way. While we were raising the anchor we felt a few small gusts of wind start to blow across the water. Once we got out of the protection of the island we found the wind blowing about 10 knots. Still not terrible. But by the time we had motored about 3 miles, and were nearing our last chance for a spot to anchor, the wind was up to 20 knots and right on the nose. So we turned back into the protection of the island and dropped the anchor again. Oh well, we’re one hour closer to where we want to go.

And today I also fixed the problem of the air getting in the fuel line on the starboard engine. It wasn’t the valve at the bottom of the filter but actually was a bolt at the top of it. I think the bolt is used to bleed the line by loosening it, pumping the bulb until all the air bubbles are out and then retightening it. The problem was that the bolt was loose and was letting air in. The reason I thought it was the valve at the bottom is because the fuel that was getting out through the bolt was running down the back side of the filter and dripping off the bottom. So problem solved. And it was only a two paper towel job. You can pretty much figure out how complicated and frustrating a job was by counting how many paper towels I used on it. Two is a very easy job. A whole roll usually means that I will be in a really bad mood afterwards.

march 30 2005 : gulf harbor marina, whangaparaoa, new zealand
A couple of days ago we tried to run the watermaker. The same watermaker that I have been raving about to anybody who asks. Telling them all how we haven’t had any problems at all with it, other than our own operator errors, and that other than needing a lot of water filters it hasn’t cost us a dime. The same watermaker that had been running just fine two days before we left when it ran through a freshwater flush. Now, finally out at sea again, the watermaker wouldn’t start. It was immediately obvious that the reason was that the pump wasn’t starting. Luckily, while in New Zealand we had gone to the Spectra dealer to buy filters, and while there had grabbed the guys business card. So we spent a couple of days emailing back and forth and finally coming to the conclusion that the pump is dead. A pump which of course costs $600 NZ! Ouch, yet again.

So we started figuring out our schedule. Our NZ visas currently are only good through April 7th, though if we stop in and talk to the customs and immigration officers we should be able to get about three more weeks added to that. We wanted to be able to fix the watermaker before heading for Australia, so we needed to sail back to the mainland in order to get the parts. Looking at the weather forecast for the next five days there was no way we were going to be able to sail north to the Bay of Islands during that time span, so we decided to run back south to our old home, Gulf Harbor Marina. And that is where we sit today, with the watermaker ripped apart and waiting for the new pump to arrive to be, hopefully, quickly installed.