Month: December 2013

Saturday, December 21, 2013 in Oneroa Bay, Waiheke Island

Plan A, Wednesday… “We can stay here at Kawau another day, then hit a bunch of islands on the way to Auckland. We can work our way all the way to Waiheke. If the south-westerlies come up, it might be difficult to get from there to Auckland, but it should be OK. We don’t need to be there for another week or more. Maybe I should look at a more recent weather forecast?”

Plan B, Thursday Morning… Now, it looks like the wind will come up and blow pretty hard until Saturday. Maybe I should try to get a berth in Auckland starting Sunday – with the break in the wind Sunday, we should be able to get there. We will have a great time here in Kawau until then.

Plan C, Thursday Afternoon… Got the berth. Got a new weather forecast. Things have changed. Strong winds as far out as they dare predict (read: dare guess). I wonder if we will be able to get to Auckland on Sunday? We may have to stay right here for part of next week.

Plan D maybe, Thursday Night… “Cyndi, if the wind is light when we wake up tomorrow morning, maybe we should try to get to the Whangaparoa Peninsula in the morning before the wind comes up?”

Plan E, 4:30 AM Friday… “Cyndi, are you awake? It’s not blowing. Maybe we should head to Auckland now? We can anchor there until our berth is ready. What do you think?”

Plan E, Implimented – 5:04 AM Friday… we are motoring out of Sunny Bay in Bon Accord Harbor at Kawau Island, heading south but not quite knowing where we might stop.

Plan F, 7:00 AM Friday… It’s not so bad out here. After one more uncomfortable hour, it should be pretty easy to get to Waiheke (the wine island). “What do you say, Cyndi? Shall we go for Waiheke?”

Plan F versions 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 at 12:34 PM Friday at Waiheke… “Maybe we can rent a taxi tomorrow for a few hours and go wine tasting.” “Here’s a tourist info center, lets ask about the bus.” “They rent cars, lets reserve one for tomorrow.”

It’s Saturday morning now and we have a car reserved. Wine tasting and touring it is! The heck with the forecast winds, we’ll get to Auckland tomorrow, somehow. -Rich

December 18, 2013

One of the challenges of the cruising life is that plans are often dictated by weather.  It dictates when you can go, where you can go, and how long you will stay.  One of the difficult choices weather creates is whether to leave an anchorage earlier than planned or get pinned down and stay longer than planned.

Generally we decide to head on, and that was the case here as we were spending Christmas with friends and needed to get to Auckland by then.  We had planned to stay in Sunny Bay a couple more days and then head to North Cove, but high winds were predicted and we needed to get going.

There is always the danger in returning to a special place that it could seem less appealing the second time around.  Not only is that disappointing, but it can tarnish the original memory.  This certainly wasn’t an issue with Kawau!  We found it even more beautiful and enchanting on our second visit, falling under the spell of its strange magic.  In a country full of beautiful and special places, Kawau manages to stand out as a little extra special.

Below is a hodgepodge of pictures from this visit, stuff that didn’t get posted because it looked too much like another picture or just didn’t fit in the gallery.  As always click to scroll and enlarge.–Cyndi

December 18, 2013

One of the prettiest times in Sunny Bay is after the sun goes down. Dusk brings out different colors in this bay, and the sight of the a big full moon rising up behind the pine trees is truly magical. –Cyndi

December 18, 2013

Orienteering is a sport that involves finding your way from point to point using a map, a compass and your own wits.  It often involves using a variety of physically skills such as hiking, climbing, kayaking, and falling without hurting yourself.  Orienteering is big here in New Zealand, just the sort of thing outdoorsy, self-sufficient Kiwis love to do.

We on Legacy often do involuntary orienteering as we try to find our way around and figure out where the start of the path is from the parking lot (our biggest orienteering challenge, that one).  Today we decided to do some voluntary orienteering and see if we could find our way from Sunny Bay to the trails that lead to Mansion House Bay, about half a mile away from us as the crow flies.

We would have to begin with the most dangerous part of the journey: tying up to and making our way down the dilapidated and treacherous pier complete with yellow crime scene tape and signs that said Danger, This facility is closed!  Such signs do not deter real Orienteerers.  We tied up our dinghy, climbed the ladder of death to the top and got over the orange -webbed plastic fence, conveniently bent from other interlopers.  We made our way carefully down the supported areas of the pier, getting around a missing area by climbing over another fence and walking across a beam.  At the other end was more orange webbing, and we were ashore.

After determining that the bach (Kiwi word for cabin – pronounced “batch”) onshore was empty, we went through the yard to a trail leading up the hill.  The trail petered out, but we continued to climb as we could see another cabin on a hill above us.  We got there, found no road, and ended up on another trail that led back down the hill.  Finally we came to a dirt road, and from there we found the Redwood Track leading to Mansion House Bay.

It’s quite an experience to walk through beautiful pine and fern forest and hear the sound of kookaburra birds!  One of the magical things about this island (and about New Zealand in general) are the surprising combinations of things that don’t usually go together, like pine trees and jungle bird sounds.

We made it to the Mission House cafe and rewarded ourselves with coffee and brownies, giving us the energy to orienteer our way back.  We ended up back by one of the hillside cabins.  Luckily the occupants weren’t home; so we took a shortcut and orienteered our way across their deck and down their stairs, bringing us back near the trail to our bay. (Skulking across private property seems to be another valuable skill in orienteering.)

Above is a gallery from our walk to Mission House Bay, including a couple of the descendents of the late albino peacock at Mission House Bay.  As always click to enlarge and scroll.–Cyndi

December 17, 2103

Just a quick update with some evening scenes from our anchorage in Bon Accord Harbor at Kawau Island.  The pictures tell this evening’s story.