Two At Sea

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.

December 17, 2013

We decided to go motor around the bay we didn’t end up in: School House Bay. We’d heard it was a good anchorage, but we found it so full of moorings that anchoring was impossible. This turned out to be a good thing because we loved were we ended up (Sunny Bay), but we still wanted to go back and get a better look at School House Bay.

I think the most interesting thing about School House Bay was the houses perched up on the hillside. The whole area feels very private: private piers, private moorings, private houses, etc. I’m sure it’s a wonderful place to live, but there’s not much there for the cruising public.

Our ride back to Sunny Bay got very interesting as we passed a tall ship coming in. It would be a surprising thing to see anyplace else, but after all the unexpected things we’ve seen here in Kawau, we just looked at each other and said, “Of course there’s a tall ship here.” Below are some pictures of the tall ship, Picton Castle. –Cyndi

December 17, 2013

We were anxious to check out the Kawau Island Yacht Club and headed over in the dinghy soon after we got anchored. It reminded me of the yacht club building in Avalon Harbor at Catalina Island, but this place is much more casual and open to the public.

Inside is a combination bar and dining area with a small market off to the side. We were too early for lunch but were able to order coffee drinks at the bar (I don’t think there is a single bar in all of New Zealand that doesn’t have a cappuccino machine). We sat at one of the tables and got a feel for the place while trying not to get too pulled in by the Myth Busters show on the room’s TV, discussing the always-fascinating spontaneous human combustion topic.

We came back later for lunch, and while the food was decent, the beer and the atmosphere were the reasons to visit. The owner came out and chatted with us awhile, as did the guy who drives the mail boat. This is a casual, homey kind of a place, and I can imagine we’d hang out here all the time if we lived on the island.

Between coffee and lunch we took a walk down to the smelting house ruins and found it a lovely, rather unusual-looking place with stone ruins and big California-style palm trees by the still green water of the bay. The only thing that could make it more surreal would to be wallabies jumping around. As it so happens, they come out here in the evening.

Above is a gallery of the yacht club and Smelting Cove. As always, click to enlarge or scroll. –Cyndi