April 21, 2022
Many apologies for the fact we haven’t done much in the way of blog updates since arriving at our destination, a mooring off the quaint and historic town of Russell in the Bay of Islands. Technically it’s on the mainland but so remote it feels very much like an island, and almost everyone who comes here arrives by ferry.
There are a couple of reasons we’re slow on the Russell posts. One is that our drone, in need of a re-calibration, was out of commission until we could get to a park and get that task done. Arrival drone photos have been a great inspiration for posting quick updates where photos say it all, but with no drone those quick updates didn’t happen.
The second reason is Russell marked the beginning of a new phase of our lives; so it took some time for us to figure out how we felt about it. We already knew it was a pretty spot, but actually living someplace on a mooring is a very different than visiting for an afternoon. It always feels strange to arrive at a new place where we’re going to be living for awhile. There’s so much to figure out and so many questions that can only be answered by living them. It took some time before we had a story to tell.
The first part of settling in here was the merging of hopes and expectations with reality. We were hoping we’d find some of our international cruising community here and were a little disappointed (although not really surprised) to find Russel’s moorings were taken by local boats, mostly unoccupied.
We did end up chatting with visiting owners on a couple of these boats. I’ll sum that up by saying the world is very divided right now, and when people start making statements we vehemently disagree with, we take our leave as quickly as possible (sometimes while they are still pontificating).
I have to wonder, as we’re preparing to head back out into the big word, to what extent Covid and politics will change the face of the day-to-day cruising life, much of which includes chatting with new people. Because of the events of the past two years–the pandemic, the insurrection in the United States (which reflects a greater division in the world), and the radical disagreement over Covid measures—I fear the casual friendly conversations we took for granted may have become a relic of the past, now full of land mines.
We tried going to the Russell Boat Club, a local institution for boaters and visiting sailors, but these days things are quiet, and it lacked the sort of festive atmosphere we hoped for. I think in normal times the club has a mix of cruisers and locals, but these days, for various reasons, most cruisers opt to stay in Whangarei, a river town 40 miles south of the Bay of Islands.
On the bright side, the locals in Russell are incredibly nice, and everything about this town oozes charm. Pohutukawa trees line the waterfront walk, while every cottage yard has flowering bushes with huge blossoms in riot of colors. There are some nice hikes to choose from, including a beautiful trail up through the sort of New Zealand forest that feels miles away from civilization. And this area is prolific with native birds, including weka, kiwi and moreporks, little owls whose night call is iconic to this area.
In town, there’s a surprisingly good small market and a few eateries. Our favorite, Hone’s Garden, serves yummy wood-fired pizza in a tropical setting. Tuk Tuk, a British-looking pub with Thai food, is still as good as we remembered. If we want to visit a bigger town, we can take the passenger ferry to Paihia, about 10-minute ride across the harbor, which has more eateries, a bigger market, and a laundromat.
As far as life on a mooring, there are trade-offs. When it’s windy it can mean a splashy dinghy ride to town; so we’ve had to start being more conscious of the weather. The laundromat in Paihia is nice but a lot more expensive than we’re used to. And when another cyclone veered towards New Zealand, the forecast winds were high enough that we had to leave our mooring and anchor in a more protected spot. This may not be the only time we’ll have to do this.
Overall, though, we’re getting used to the inconveniences of life on the swing and starting to bond with Russell. It’s fun taking the ferry to Paihia, and we’ve even rented a car through our go-to car rental guy, Wayne at Rent a Dent. Two days rental enabled us to do some shopping in the biggest town, Kerikeri, take some accumulated trash and recyclables to the waste management center near Russell, and do a wine tasting at the incredibly beautiful Paroa Winery near Russel. People have been recommending this place to us for years, and we can see why!
Russell is always a nice place, but it’s in the evening when it really becomes special. The afternoon breeze dies off and sun goes down behind the hills across the harbor, bathing the area in a golden light. There’s a backdrop of mellow music, courtesy of musicians at the Duke of Marlborough hotel, that aligns with the peaceful feeling of this time of day. Visitors and locals spill out onto the tables that line the waterfront walkway for evening drinks, while kids have fun jumping off the wharf.
This gives us a sense of being on vacation, that feeling when you head out for sunset drinks and dinner, the world is peaceful, people are happy, and for the moment there’s nothing but good times on the horizon. Of course this isn’t a lasting state, but sunset in places like this seems to bring a period of grace, between the day people turning in and the night people getting going.
In essence, the pleasures and beauty of this place are offsetting the inconveniences. But frankly I realize this could be the title of a book about the entire cruising experience: Pleasures offsetting Suckage!
As I write this, we aren’t on our mooring at Russel at the moment but have moved for a few days to the Opua Marina. Why? Because once again, much sooner than we would have imagined, we have some strong winds coming. It’s not cyclone remnants this time, but there may be high winds from the worst direction, the west, and thunderstorms.
Rather than fret about the changing wind forecasts, we opted to sit this system out by spending a few days at the Bay of Islands Marina and make use of their laundry facilities and boat stores. It’s very convenient, but we’re already missing Russell; so I guess that means it’s starting to feel like home.
Below are a few photos to sum up this post, including pictures from the Paroa Winery, the boat club, the forest walk, and a few of Russell’s lovely evening scenery. (Click any photo to enlarge).–Cyndi
