Coromandel Quest

It was really good to catch up with some friends, too.  Geoff, Geraldine and Blue Dawn were in Hobson West, so we visited them for lunch, and whilst Andy and Geoff were discussing electrics, Gerladine and I visited the Auckland Art Gallery; a crashing disappointment:  "installation" art is not my cup of tea at all and we both thought it a waste of $7.  The Auckland Museum, however, with its wonderful display of Polynesian artefacts - tapa cloth, tivaevae, pandanus mats, waka and other such items - was a real treat.  We also spent some time at the Maritime Museum, with its fascinating history of seafaring in New Zealand, and a detailed history of the Kiwis' success in the America's Cup.  There was also a gallery devoted to the life and achievements of Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand's finest yachtsman, sadly shot by pirates off the mouth of the Amazon.

On another day, Vincent Reidy and his friend Delwyn, who we had met on Vincent's yacht Moonglow in Tonga, picked us up and drove us to some of the sights around Auckland: Mount Eden, the Savage Memorial, the beachfront communities on the south of the Tamaki Strait, Delwyn's house, where she gave us some fejoa fruit, a lovely little Italian delicatessen (where I spent a fortune!) then lunch at an elegant pavement café: a lovely day.

Auckland Skyline

Andy, Delwyn, Vincent and Me on Mount Eden

We made it to Omaha Cove by about 1800, dropping the anchor just in time to have a quiet sundowner-with-supper before the darkness closed in.  Omaha Cove was quite pretty, steep to and thickly wooded with podocarps, but the coming and going of fishing boats and motorboats marred the stillness of the night, and Coromandel rocked gently for most of the night.

21 March 2010  Omaha Cove to Bon Accord Bay, Kawau  Again Andy wanted to get away early, so by 0900 we were ready to raise the anchor - and what a difference the new windlass motor has made.  It came up remarkably quickly, much faster than the old one.

It was barely 12 miles from Omaha Cove to Bon Accord Bay on the west side of the island of Kawau, and again we had very gentle winds so ghosted along. Andy was pleased with his new main doing 4 knots in 6 knots apparent wind, catching a catamaran ahead of us before tacking up the bay. I was able to do some of the echo quilting on Araña de Nazca, my January 2008 Journal Quilt - well, better late than never.  Bon Accord is a very deep inlet on the west side of Kawau, and shelter can be found in there from most wind directions.  We had intended to anchor in Mansion House Bay, but it was packed with yachts and motorboats, so we carried on to Schoolhouse Bay on the south side of the inlet.  A short while later we were joined by our Swedish/Hungarian friends, Agnes and Bertil, together with Mae and Chris, on their Najad 39 Panacea.  Agnes had told us that whilst she was doing a transit of the Panama Canal on another yacht, Bertil had had supper with a friend of ours Jeanne Socrates on board her Najad Nereida, which Jeanne sadly lost on the Mexican coast just 60 miles short of her solo circumnavigation. What a small world the sailing community is!

22 March 2010 Bon Accord  This morning, after Andy had given the propellor and hull a quick scrub and having listened to a weather forecast, we moved from the south side of the bay to the opposite side as the wind was forecast to go from south west to north and to increase to 20-25 knots.  About 10 minutes after we'd anchored, Panacea followed, and that evening we all met up in the Kawau Yacht Club for delicious seafood suppers.  Goodness knows what we talked about, but the evening passed very quickly,

The only sour notes about the day were that first Andy lost his best lure and the anchor light stopped working, so I put the tricolour on instead: better that than nothing in such a small anchorage with so many buzzing motorboats - and such a dark night with a navy hull.

23 March 2010  Bon Accord  We spent the morning trying to get the anchor light working again, Andy cursing about the people who had designed a tricolour light fitting that didn't fit a standard bulb, so that he had to go up the mast three times adjusting the terminals on the bulb until he thought it was going to work. The original tricolour was stolen from the mast in Whangarei, whilst stored with a firm that claimed to do rigging and mast storage, and who had laughed when they heard that the tricolour had been  stolen the morning the mast was due to go back in. This has coloured Andy's opinion of New Zealand and it has gone down hill since; it will be a relief to leave here, as he no longer has a particularly high opinion of kiwis.  So we'll be away as soon as the cyclone season is over and we've had the liferaft serviced.

Once the wind got up the anchorage became rather roly, so I got the solar-powered light ready to use instead.  In the meantime, we bade farewell to Panacea - they were going to Gulf Harbour for the night before going on to Auckland the following day.

24 March 2010  Bon Accord to Auckland  Well the forecast was maddeningly right today.  After a slow start, during which we ran south dodging the pladdys which rim Kawau Bay, the wind picked up first to 20, then 25, then gusting 35 knots, so we finally made it into Waitemata Harbour with just a scrap of genoa, surrounded by whitecaps.  With the wind gusting out of the west, we butted our way up to Westhaven Marina, where we discovered that the lady to whom I had spoken didn't know port from starboard and directed us quite the wrong way.  With winds gusting from 20 to 30 knots, it was not a good time to be poking about a marina trying to find one's allotted berth!  Still the view of Auckland's waterfront was well worth the ride.

Omaha Cove

Smeltinghouse Cove

Dredger in Bon Accord Bay

Bye-bye Panacea

Motoring towards Auckland

I also learned that the lady who had hand-dyed the fabric I had used for Whangarei Ferns was Robin Halverson.  Robin does a lot of her own dyeing, but also has the most marvelous creative talent.  the lower photo is of Marie, Lynne and Margie who have all been great to know: Lynne lent me her sewing machine, whilst Margie showed my a fantastic fabric shop in Whangarei and Marie came to see Andy and me on Coromandel at the same time as Jan and Marian from Avanta, who had just returned from Holland.

In the meantime Andy has been concentrating on selling the car; now that we're going sailing again, it is superfluous to requirements, although it has been very useful since we've been here.

Sandy Robinson's Quilt

Andy would like me to make one that looks like climbing flowers, so that will be the project for the next few months, when I'm not making Journal Quilts.