Back in New Zealand - the travels without Nautilus!

We made our way back to Suva to complete the exit formalities for Fiji and wait for a weather window to head for New Zealand.  There seemed to be a constant procession of big low pressure systems heading up from the South, the last thing we wanted was a repeat of the conditions we’d had on the way up to New Zealand but we also needed to arrive before the 1st November.

After several days deliberating and looking at weather GRIBs we set off on 13th October - and again the new sprayhood was put to the test by the conditions we met in our way south.

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Despite big seas for the first few days we had a good trip, we seemed to have the ocean to ourselves. The wind gradually eased and we motored the last 12 hours, after 8 days and 1080 nautical miles we  arrived in Opua in the early hours of the morning and tied up on the Quarantine dock to have a well earned rest.

We caught up with friends in Opua, in particular Bernt and Birgit on the yacht Rebell who we’d last seen in the Caribbean.  It was lovely to see them again and we’re looking forward to sailing together again next year

Tied up alongside Rebell in Opua Marina.

We spent a week in Opua before heading a bit further south to Port Whangarei where we have had Nautilus lifted out of the water and stored on land - another week spent stripping sails and ropes off and generally servicing and tidying and we were ready to finally see a bit of New Zealand from land.

We headed first to the Coromandel Coast, on the East where we caught up with more sailors from our past: Gavin and Lica, New Zealanders we last saw in Licata, Sicily in 2014!  After that, we headed right across the country to New Plymouth on the West Coast - and the best reunion of all:  my childhood best friend Shelley moved here when she was 19, our first catch up in a very long time.

Relaxing on the New Plymouth seafront with Shelley.

Shelley took us on a whirlwind tour of New Plymouth, including a walk half way up Mount Taranaki, the huge volcano that dominates the skyline there.

We made it up to the snow line, it was still a very long way to the top - perhaps something for another visit!

A final view of Mount Taranaki, seen from the Te Rewa Rewa Bridge, designed to resemble both a breaking wave and a whale skeleton.

We left Shelley with a promise to return and headed back towards Auckland, stopping to visit all things Geothermal at  Rotorua in the centre of North Island.

There really were pits of boiling mud and steam rising from the ground - and at times a very strong smell!

Wai O Tapu Geothermal valley.  The Pohutu Geyser erupts many times a day, apparently up to 30 metres, but t was a bit more tame while we were there.

The area was dotted with ponds of bright green water, boiling mud and water -  not the place to stray from the marked paths!

While in Rotorua we also visited the Redwoods Treewalk,  28 suspension bridges have been hung off the giant Californian Redwoods.  Back in the 1900’s over 170 species of trees were planted in the Whakarewarewa Forest as part of a commercial trial, few still stand, but the Redwoods thrived and are a fabulous way to appreciate the trees themselves as well as the many native tree ferns, the largest of which grow to 20 metres tall.

Tree ferns and Redwoods in the Whakarewarewa Forest, Rotorua.

Our next destination was Auckland Airport, a flight to Christchurch and a weekend with Leonie and Greg in Methven before setting off on a trip round central South Island.

We stopped for a walk at Arthur’s Pass on the way to Hokitika on the West Coast - a very scenic spot.

Even by west coast standards, there has been some exceptionally heavy rain and vast tree trunks have been washed down the rivers and ended up on the beach.  Hokitika is known for its driftwood, but this time there really was a lot of it.

Hokitika Gorge was our next tourist destination, the usually bright blue water was muddied by all the rainfall but still an impressive sight.

The Department of Conservation does a fantastic job providing and maintaining paths and boardwalks all over New Zealand.  The Hokitika Gorge path.

The big excitement of our South Island trip was to be Ian’s Skydive over the Franz Joseph glacier - another stunning drive in the New Zealand scenery took us to Franz Joseph, the town was surprisingly small but every second business seemed to offer helicopter trips to the glacier - we got very used to the drone of helicopters over head.

A tandem flight, it was supposed to be from 19,000 feet but it was too cold so they had to make do with 16,500 feet instead.

65 seconds of free fall.

And some stunning photos of Franz Joseph Glacier from the plane.

We did the 1 ½ hour walk, initially through lush forest then on gravel and rock to 750 metres from the face of Franz Josef - to get any closer you have to take a helicopter and a guide, it’s the fastest moving and steepest glacier in New Zealand and pieces of ice frequently fall off it.

We attempted to see the Fox Glacier as well but a land slide caused by the recent heavy rain had closed the access roads. Instead we walked round Lake Matheson, once the clouds lifted you could see Mount Tasman and Mount Cook in the distance - yet more spectacular New Zealand views!

Lake Matheson, with Mt Tasman just visible in the distance.

Lake Matheson, the mountains hidden by clouds in the distance.

We are leaving New Zealand shortly, by air, but plan to return to the boat next year, sail back to Fiji before returning here and spending a summer in New Zealand.  There will be no more blogs until we get back to Nautilus in April 2019.