Winding up 2018 in New Zealand

Ahoy from New Zealand. Enjoying Mangawhai Beach on the way home from Auckland.

(Sylvia)
We've been incredibly busy so this post is a bit late and we're playing catch-up. The following is how we closed out 2018.


After arriving in New Zealand we were able to spend a few days and nights with the crew enjoying Northland New Zealand before they had to fly out. We were fortunate that the crew didn't immediately want to jump ship (it happens!) but instead chose to hang out, rent a car (thanks Torben!) and take us sightseeing.

We walked across the longest footbridge in the southern hemisphere.

We went to the beach and watched surfers.

Of course we had to research historic buildings on the way home.

While in Tonga the crew purchased some very cool shirts to use as CINNABAR team shirts, then they surprised me with the shirts. Tom added some graphics with fabric paint et voila...

Tom's art work - "CINNABAR express 52...To N.Z."

Phil lookin' good sporting the team shirt before he heads to Auckland.

Phil left us to visit the South Island and the rest of us spent another day visiting Russell, once known as The Hellhole of the Pacific. Russell was the first land-based whaling station in NZ (all whaling was previously done from ships) and you can imagine how rowdy and lawless it must have been.

We take the car ferry to Russell

Russell is now a lovely tourist destination featuring a HUGE Moreton Bay fig tree in front of the old police station. The Duke of Marlborough hotel is in the background and we had  lunch at the beachside table.

We had lunch at the historic Duke of Marlborough hotel which had roomfuls of wonderful old pictures.

Torben and Judy did a few more touristy things before they had to fly out from Auckland.

View of Whangarei from nearby Mount Parihaka (photo by Judy)
(270 degree vista; 1 hour loop trail from Town Basin Marina)

Tom on the local Mount Parihaka Trail, doing the NZ version of the annual Thanksgiving Day Hog Jog. Hilly trail ("tracks" in NZ), forest, creek, waterfall, and at night, the slope behind is full of blue-light glow worms!

The Kiwis have a great sense of humor and keep up with major current events in the U.S. They also have excellent local microbrews. One place combined all of the above into a cheeky, timely, and delicious pain reliever.

 Local NZ Brew. 

MYWGA Beer (Make Your World Great Again - we need a hat, yes?)

It's true - New Zealand is overflowing with beauty. This is an ordinary scene on the local river loop track, right in the center of town (Whangarei).

Over the next few weeks we re-connected with friends from the past years in French Polynesia and made many new friends.

The yacht DESIDERATA (Scottish) hosted a huge 60th Scottish-themed birthday party with bagpipes, food, haggis and whiskey. The entire marina was invited.

Amidst the socializing we still had to find time to fit some boat projects into our schedule.

Hatch gasket repair/replacement, couldn't get the darn frame apart! But Tom finally figured out a way.(2 days, 2 winches, Dyneema lines, steady pressure, lots of Kroil (creeping oil), gentle prying).

Whangarei really celebrates their holidays and the Christmas spirit was strong. Not only was the Town Basin thoroughly decorated including a 30' tall Christmas tree, the Marina had a boat-decorating competition and some of the boats took it very seriously. Every time someone added a significant decoration their neighbor would try to outdo them.

This boat's one of two Christmas trees was on the bow. The other was at the top of the mast.

It was a very social time, there were Christmas pot-lucks in addition to the weekly happy hours on the floating barge. December is summertime in NZ so our New Year's Eve pot-luck and BBQ was enjoyed in shorts and flip flops.

An international group of American, Canadian, Scottish, English, and Swedish.

After dinner we went back to the Scottish boat for a big New Year's blow-out with full Scottish traditions to ring in 2019.

1 January 2019 - Even after the huge after-midnight party a group of us managed to get up and go to the Highland Games in nearby Waipu for yet another dose of Scottish culture. Much of New Zealand was settled by the Scottish and Waipu in particular is proud of their Scottish heritage.

Look how tiny some of those dancers are! But they took their dancing seriously.

Welcome 2019! And with that I think we can take a break from all things Scottish.

In 2019 we were looking forward to some much-needed spa treatment for CINNABAR and a March rendezvous in Lake Taupo with some friends from the states. More about that adventure coming soon.

Photo Album: WHANGAREI 2018