(A quick current post from Cyndi.)
July 9, 2016
This time of year, the common greeting when running across any cruiser you know is, “What the heck are you still doing here?” We’ve gotten this question a lot, mostly from local business owners shocked to see us arrive after the final big group of cruisers departed.
The answer: We just haven’t had any weather windows we can live with. This year’s had terrible weather for crossing to the tropics, and while people have managed to go, they’ve bucked it up and put up with conditions we’d rather avoid. It all comes down to the choice: stay in New Zealand and keep waiting, or just go and put up with a fair amount of discomfort! After all, it’s only for a few days and then you’re in the tropics. In the end, the vast majority of cruisers will put up with the discomfort because the alternative, remaining in New Zealand into the winter season, is not an acceptable option.
As somewhat experienced cruisers, we know we can’t avoid some discomfort on passages. It tends to come along at some point and it’s always worse than predicted. We get through it because we have no choice in the matter, and then we start on the forgetting process with big rum drinks on arrival. But that’s starting with a good window. We would not want to experience a bad window gone worse than predicted.
On top of that, we’re really enjoying it here; so we don’t have much incentive to go. Either this is a mild winter, or Northland winters are much nicer than we’ve heard. We get lots of rain, but we get just as much sun. The temperatures are cool enough that we’ve traded our shorts for jeans, but I wouldn’t call it cold. We always bring a jacket or sweater, but we don’t always wear them. We have friends here, favorite eateries (muy importante), and there are even still a few cruisers waiting to make the jump north so we don’t feel completely out of sync. We’ve rented a car and are using this time to finish up some boat projects and go on a few outings to places we’ve missed on previous visits.
In short, we’re not just making the best of things; we’re quite happy and content here. We look every day at the coming weather and keep on eye on potential windows, but when they fall apart we aren’t disappointed. (In fact, a couple of times we’ve been relieved as we’ve had some boat projects to finish and didn’t feel ready to go.) So we’ll continue to wait and watch, but so far we’re pretty content staying put. Meanwhile, we’re also staying flexible, and some of our plans may change as our time in the tropics gets shorter (such as maybe skipping New Caledonia). We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
For now, I’m going to get back to a goal I’d love to complete before we head north: writing about our time in the Marlborough Sounds. When I’m done, we’ll create an information section in our blog for other cruisers. Meanwhile, here’s a gallery of photos from some of the stuff we’ve been doing, including a trek to Charlie’s Rock (a popular swimming hole and waterfall just north of Kerikeri), and the remarkably beautiful drive out to Whangarei Heads. And food. Always food.–Cyndi (Below, a hodgepodge of stuff we’ve been doing. Click to enlarge and scroll.)
