See Previous 2004 Voyage Logs
New Zealand 2004 / 2005 - Soren Larsen in the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Islands.
Ship's Cook Shawn Strange allows to read her journal of the first trips of the new NZ season -
 Arriving in Auckland
“Every flyer who ventures across waters to distant lands is a potential explorer; in his or her breast the same fire that urged adventurers of old to set forth in their sailing ships for foreign lands.” Jean Batton, 1979 from ‘Alone in the Sky’ written on the wall of the Auckland airport.
The Auckland airport, (well I guess any airport other than LAX), is quiet at 5am. Having slept little on the 13-hour flight over and being awake when most of the city was still getting that last good dream in, I went directly the ‘I” (information) booth, both gather info and to kill time, as few hotels will let you check-in before 1pm. New Zealand is one of the most traveler-friendly places I’ve been in yet. The entire country is covered with these “I” booths which amount to a government-run travel agency. You can walk up there knowing nothing and walk out with as much or as little of an itinerary as you choose, complete with hotel, hostel, car reservations and maps.
Corporate Charter Season
Long and wet. The city of Auckland is fun. I’m having a huge learning curve trying to understand the Kiwi and Auzzie accents and slang of Down Under. I spent a lot of time saying ‘what?’ and ‘Oh, that’s what you meant.’
Voyaging Begins with the Holidays:
V209a, From Auckland into the Hauraki Gulf (Dec 24-29)
 So, with one Christmas tree firmly affixed to the top of the forward mast and the other delicately decorated down below, we set sail from Auckland on Christmas Eve with a lot of wind, a bit of rain and a full boat of lively voyage crew fleeing to the Southern hemisphere to escape a European winter. Although it was not the balmy tropics yet, as New Zealand’s summer was slow to show itself this year, We headed for Mahurangi Heads. The sailing was great. That’s the toss up with sailing, sometimes the best sailing comes a bit of weather.
So, for those of you who may wonder, Santa does visit boats, and we awoke Christmas morning with the tree in our main salon spilling over with presents for all aboard and a holiday surprise of wonderful sunshine, while we feasted on smoked salmon, bagels and eggs. We pulled anchor and headed for Kawau Island.
 Although only a few miles from the city center of Auckland, the distance is deceiving. The landmass of the city of Auckland is massive and the inhabitants of the ‘City of Sails’ love its harbor. Someone told me (and I believed it) one out of every four people in New Zealand sail or motor around on boats. Not surprising for an island nation. Although, the sailors are many, the deserted beaches and islands are many, and never have I felt crowded once away from the city. It takes only a short daysail to almost anywhere in the Hauraki Gulf, and the bustling dock of Princes Wharf and the noisy restaurants and pubs of the Viaduct area are left far behind. The islands surrounding this Kiwi metropolis are like a step back in time to the days of Maori ‘pa’ (fortified towns) and Colonial New Zealand.
The Bon Accord Harbour anchorage on Kawau Island, (originally named “Te Kawau” by the Maori), allows direct access to the former mansion and estate of the Sir George Gray. (See the log from V210 for more on Kawau Island).
Once all had returned from their hikes and refreshed themselves it was time to open presents and Kenny played Santa’s elf handing out presents and collecting handshakes from the blokes and kisses on the cheek from the ladies. And then feasting began. Under the warm glow of the 24-volt lamps around the cozy tables in the main salon, we ate as many turkeys as Dave, the other cook, and I had been able to fit into our oven, as well as all the traditional fixings American and English.
This American cook is learning many dishes new to her and traditional to others, such as spaghetti on toast and beans on toast for breakfast and introducing some American favorites such as cornbread and baked sweet potatoes with a marshmallow topping. Dinner became dessert, and dessert lingered into delightful if not hilarious conversation over wine.
 As a group, sailors are some of the funniest people I’ve run into. My first few weeks on the boat, I laughed so hard that my stomach ached. Sailing by nature is a huge experiment in sleep-deprivation in a constantly moving environment with up to 32 other ‘housemates’ and inanimate objects that take flight with the wrong waves. You have to have an insanely large sense of humor to constantly see the funny side of things under these conditions. Plus when voyaging into long stretches of blue water within a world without TV, radio, video games or internet, a person must find ways to amuse oneself, which turns into standing games that vary from boat to boat. During our current coastal cruising, half the crew maintains a constant wrestling match with the goal being - to toss the loser into ocean when at anchor. So far Krystal is losing.
Boxing Day. A new holiday for me. One which I will never forget. While the rest of the world was trying grapple with the reality of a Tsunami that left the coastlines of SE Asia in watery ruins, we were unaware of anything outside of our 145 feet of ship and the surrounding anchorage. Another part of shipboard life is that your world reduces to the microcosm of the boat. Although constantly in your thoughts, your life on land and the world around it still continues, without you, and waits for your safe return to rejoin it, sometimes greatly changed.
From a safe port, oblivious to the world outside, we awoke to another gorgeous sunny morning and sailed to Waiheke Island between Auckland on the Coromandel Peninsula.
 We went hiking up the Stony Batter Walkway on Waiheke. Basically all hiking in New Zealand is at least a 30-degree angle. The ‘bush’ as they call the woods or forest here, is like a fairytale world to me; grassy green knolls with natural rocks jutting out of the land reaching toward the sky like a jagged lopsided, misplaced Stonehedge. Prehistoric palms with delicate lacey fronds create soft lime green awnings with delicate Jurassic echoes over the hiking trails. Many hiked up over the Stony Batter Hill and were able to shine their torches around in the old tunnels connecting WWII gun emplacements.
The next day we anchored in Okoromai Bay, Whangaparaoa and then set out for Tiritiri Mantangi, (Maori for ‘looking to the wind’ or ‘wind tossing about’), an island sanctuary that has been established to ensure the survival of many rare and endangered plant and animal species. Once thickly forested, the rolling grasslands are a result of centuries of occupation, first as a Maori pa and then European farmlands. Many hiked around the island, swam in the streams and saw the famous, although rare, blue Takahe bird that Nate and Ulrich have honored with a dance in its name. That night we sailed to our evening’s anchorage on Motuihe’s West Bay, feasted again for the final night dinner and enjoyed a long evening of conversation mostly around small day packs and laughter. The morning began with a short motor back into Auckland, final goodbyes and the departure of the voyage crew.
V209b, 3 nights in the Hauraki Gulf (Dec 30-Jan1)
 Th 12/30- With the addition of returning voyage crew, Lady Margaret and Vera, we set sail for a quiet cruise around the harbor. Christopher from the previous voyage was able to join us for yet another cruise around the Gulf and a last minute addition, Jill joined us for some New Year’s fun. We headed to the Mahauangi Heads with weather that was wetter than not.
Fri 12/31- Today we went ashore from our anchorage in Bon Accord Harbor and hiked around Kawai Island, (see V209a & V210 for more on Kawai I). From where the boat was anchored, we could see the fireworks of three towns go off and cheered on a few boats that set off their own. A quiet cold New Year’s Eve, but the few that stayed up enjoyed champagne toasts and loads of laughter. Christopher told some lively jokes and everyone tried to remember where they were last New Year’s. Some took longer to recollect than others. All thought of home and those there that they loved.
Sa 1/1- Calypso Bay, Motuihe Is. Jill called New Zealand the islands of rainbows. With alternating and have seen some beautiful ones. Some double, some single, all bursting out of the misty rain into a patch of promising sunshine, (as rainbows do), to the delight of the crew during cocktail hour.
Su1/2- We left our anchorage and headed back to Auckland, where we said our goodbyes and all the voyage crew departed, except for Vera and Lady Margaret who was staying for the next sail to teach us how to brew a cup of tea and make cucumber sandwiches.
V210, Auckland northwards to the Bay of Islands (Jan 3-8)
Mon 1/3- Our new Voyage crew came aboard and got signed on, got their gear, a tour and lunch, and we set sail for Bon Accord Harbor on Kawau Island. We anchored and had our dinner and everyone got settled in.
 After breakfast, we took the small boats to the dock that was situated directly in front of the of Mansion house. Built by, Sir George Grey, twice Governor during New Zealand’s Victorian era, his transformation of the old copper mine’s managers’ house into a grand Victorian estate and gardens, complete with peacocks strolling around the surrounding grounds, has provided us with a glimpse into New Zealand’s past. Restored and re-furnished with period decor the house stands now as a museum and the trailhead for many hikes around the island. Many of us hiked up the old miners track past beaches and lookout points to the old copper mine ruins. Along their walk, some saw wallabies and wekas, (a sort of indigenous chicken with shiny brown feathers that resembles a kiwi). Kawai Island made history with the discovery of copper in 1840, providing New Zealand with its first export. After a lovely hike around the island, we pulled anchor and set out for a night sail towards the Bay of Islands’ Ngungura Bay.
 The next morning, we sailed for Poor Knights, a deep-water set of islands with jagged steep cliffs dropping off into a torrid of blue, splashed atop with green by delicate fern palms that ominous from so far below. We took the small boats for tours through the dramatic craggy natural volcanic arches and caves and snorkeled where we could. Still too cold for me, but many of those from England went anyway and just thought I and others were wimpy. We anchored in the beautiful soft green Whangamumu Harbor, as diametrically opposed to Poor Knights as possible. It was as green and soft as the islands had been hard the jagged. The ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’, (NZ) has given us a little gift of sunshine between the coming and going of rain. And we were allowed an afternoon’s worth of show of the most amazing double and triple rainbows.
Continue our track North, the next morning we headed for Robertson Island and anchored there for the night. We were able to go on a very short hike on this sliver of land that mostly rock beaches with a few little peaks.
Th 1/6- Robertson Is.
Fri 1/7-Urupuka Island
Sat 1/8- BOI, Russell / Tallship Race Daysail
V211, From Russell back down to Auckland (Jan 9-14)
Sun 1/9-Russell, BOI
 Mon 1/10- We sailed to Poor Knights today to snorkel and see what we could in the caves. You drive a small boat right into the caves there and float around looking at the ceilings that look painted, with lichens and moss.
The Soren creaks. Old wooden boats do. I look at the main salon as if for the first time. Gimbled lamps that sway with the ocean’s swell, soft oak tables that fold in on themselves each night like a secret, dark wooden beams that surround and protect it like a floating fortress, stacks of books that tell stories places the boat has gone and where I will travel Tonga, Fiji, Easter Island, Europe, New Zealand, books on Shackleton, the Bounty and Cook, small wooden-carved wakes-canoes mounted on the wall along side, wooden masks and carved story blocks, city plaques from as far as Mauritius and as near as Gisborne, this is how I see tonight, my new home.
Tues 1/11- With bag lunches packed, all those going ashore after breakfast, loaded into the small boats and got ready for a wet landing on Bush’s Beach on the Kaiarara Bay. The Great Barrier Island, named descriptively by Cook, does just that, creating a protective barrier for the Harbor of Auckland from the open ocean’s waves. One of the first places inhabited by Maoris, named ‘Aotea Whakahirahira’ (the island of renown), the island still has many defensive and sacred sites, as well as many descendents of the original settlers. The following European settlers discovered and exported copper, followed by small seams of gold and silver. Extensive logging made a huge impact on the island in the 1860s, as the now protected Kauri timber and gum was floated down off the mountain via dams that still remain in ruins on the Kaiaraara River. The island was also used as a whaling station up until 1962. I took a short damp hike to Port Fitzroy and later enjoyed the digital pictures of other that had hiked up to the dam and the top of Mt. Hobson.
We anchored for the evening at Kawau Island and explored it today. The shell roads and plantation layout remind my own island home. (see V209a & V210 for more on Kawau I.)
Th 1/13- We headed to Tiritiri Island, and anchored at Mohuihe I. Tiritiri has been set aside  as a sanctuary for natural conservation, and resurgence of birds is visible from the moment you set foot on the island, a birders paradise.
Fri 1/14- We sailed into Auckland's Princes Wharf today and said our goodbyes to the voyage crew.
Sa 1/15- Alongside Auckland
Su 1/16-Alongside Auckland / Public Daysail
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Take a peek into Shawn's journal for part two of her account of the voyages on the NZ coast HERE
See the full Photo Gallery of these trips HERE
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2004: Voyage crew Karen Gustafson's memories of the New Zealand coast, January 2004.
"Shall I start by saying that I before Jan.19, 2004 I thought that I would like sailing............... After Jan.19th I know that without a doubt ........I LOVE SAILING...." here
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