17th April - Return to Auckland and Poronui

 

Its been a while since I blogged as things have been pretty busy.  Currently we are back in Perth for a brief sojourn before commencing the passage to New Caledonia.

To catch up on the trip…….

Kawau Island is about 30NM north of Auckland.  We arrived on 19^th March after a short transit from the village of Leigh and dropped anchor in a long inlet on the western side called Bon Accord Harbour. The weather was pretty miserable  so we hunkered down for the rest of the day and waited for the forecast change. Kawau Island is a holiday destination for the greater Auckland area and is serviced by ferries from the mainland although it still has a remote feel to it. In its early days there was a short lived copper mining venture on the island before it was purchased by the then Governor of New Zealand, Sir George Grey, as a private retreat.  Nowadays the island is owned by the government and some private residents and visitors come for the beaches and nature trails.

The Abandoned Mine Works

Kawau Coastline

The next day was beautiful and clear and we moved anchorage to a small bay near the mouth of the harbour called Mansion House Bay.  Here there was a historic home (mansion) with surrounding gardens once owned by Sir George Grey.  This was a beautiful, calm spot and we went ashore  to enjoy the day.  We had a look around the Mansion grounds, saw a Weka (native NZ bird), and then spent a couple of hours walking some of the trails and visiting the abandoned copper mine.  The views across the water to the mainland and surrounding islands were spectacular.  In the evening there was a colourful sunset to cap off a fantastic day.

Sunset Behind Mansion House Bay

The cruising around New Zealand was coming to an end.  Sam was due to fly out in a few days and we were really just passing time slowly moving towards Auckland where we were due to arrive on the 24^thMarch.  The next day we moved to Rakino Island for an overnight stop and then went onto Onetangi Bay at Waiheke Island.  Waiheke Island is the Rottnest of Auckland.  It is a very short ferry ride from Auckland and is the most populated of all the Hauraki Gulf islands – in fact it is more densely populated than either the North or South Island of New Zealand.  There are lots of thriving businesses based around tourism on the island which supports a permanent population of over 9000.

Onetangi Bay

Onetangi Bay is a large open bay with a small settlement on the north shore of the island.  We secured the boat, dingy’d ashore and then spent the next day exploring the island using the excellent public transport system.  The main attraction was the small town of Oneroa which was packed full of cafes, restaurants, small boutiques and general stores.  This was the largest town we had visited in 4 weeks since Russell in the Bay of Islands.  Waiheke is a beautiful island with a great vibe to it – the fact that the weather was perfect just added to the overall charm of the place.

View over Oneroa Bay from town

On the 24^th we motored the last 20NM across a very tranquil Auckland harbour and back into Westhaven Marina where we had picked up the boat 5 months prior.  As always the arrival in the marina spelled the start of the latest round of maintenance activities.  Having now used the boat for a few months there were a number of improvements to be made along with the routine maintenance activities. 

Nik and I celebrated our 30year wedding anniversary the day after we arrived in Westhaven.  It was marked by working on the boat followed by a dinner in Auckland and drinking in a bar with Sam until the early hours.  The next day Sam left to return to Perth. 

I had organized for a bit of a treat for our wedding anniversary and on the Sunday Nik and I headed off inland in a rented car towards Taupo.  Nik has always wanted to try fly fishing and so I had booked a fishing lodge for three days for us.  We drove first to Rotorua where we visited a Kiwi hatchery.  This conservation group take kiwi eggs from the wild and hatch them in protective surroundings to increase the birds survival rate which is threatened by the introduced predatory ferral species such as stoats and possums.  We then headed to the fishing lodge called Poronui.  Poronui is a 3000 acre private estate which caters to a mainly American clientele for shooting and fishing. 

We spent three glorious days at Poronui fishing and enjoying the scenery and the amenities of the lodge.  Neither of us had really fished before so the first morning we got kitted up in our waders and boots.  We spent the whole day on the river stalking fish and Nik caught her first trout.   The next day we were closer to home on the Mohaka river where I managed to bag my first trout.  Fly fishing is so immersive that the time sails past.  The spots we went to there were no other people so it was very relaxing.  It is all catch and release here.  In the evenings we would gather in the lodge building with the few other guests and have drinks beside the fire followed by a dinner at a long table in front of the kitchen where the chefs worked.   We got to chat to the other fish folk and the hunters who regaled us with their stories of the day's shoot.  The hunting scene was a bit weird for us – interesting but certainly not something Nik or I would try.  I guess you just have to get used to it.

After our three days we sadly left Poronui and headed back to Auckland via a stopover to see a glow worm cave.  These caves have insect larvae living in the ceiling and which give off bio-luminesence to attract food.  You descend into the cave and onto a boat to float through darkness with thousands of points of light covering the ceiling.  It is quite spectacular.

I depart on 19^th April to travel back to Auckland with the intention of sailing the boat to Noumea in New Caledonia where Nik will join again for a few weeks.