We arrived in Opua, New Zealand, after a five day sail from North Minerva Reef. Cruisers dread this passage to New Zealand, as there is a convergence zone one needs to go through on the way. The weather is unstable there, and most often there are weather systems with strong winds passing through every 5-8 days.
We were very happy with the weather window we had picked, and had a good passage. We experienced some confused seas with winds around 25kts TWS during the first couple of days, a quiet period in the middle where we motor sailed, before cruising into New Zealand on the last day, arriving just before sunset.
We spent the first night at the Quarantine dock in the marina at Opua. There were no other boats when we arrived there, so no one to help catch our lines. There are two rivers that meet in the bay, so we definitely noticed the heavy flow of the rivers as we docked. After a few tries, we were well tied up, just in time to help two other boats coming in right after us.
We enjoyed a night at the docks with grilled lobster tail, and emptied a couple of other goodies from the fridge, as we were anxious that they would be taken by the bio security officers during the check-in the next day.
We were definitely not the only ones who picked this weather window. By the time we woke up the next morning, another 5-6 boats had arrived during the night, and throughout the morning, another 4-5 boats arrived.
Checking into New Zealand requires a lot of preparation, and there are many food items which are not allowed. It turned out we had prepared quite well, but we had missed that we could not have any type of cooked meat, so our frozen, pre-cooked meals got removed. After about one hour, we were all checked in, and ready to start exploring the beautiful Bay of Islands.
We were so relieved when we were given the all clear by the authorities, and moved straight to an anchorage by the nearby town, called Russell. We took the dinghy to shore by the local boat club, and was immediately charmed by the locals we met as we touched land. Our first interactions with New Zealanders definitely answered all our expectations, the kiwis are very friendly and chatty!
We did a quick tour of Russell, a very charming, but a little touristy town. This town was the first seaport and European settlement in New Zealand, so there were plenty of historical sites to be seen.
It is clear that the season is just about to start in this region, as it seems there are quite a few summer houses here, and this is their spring. Labour Day weekend is this upcoming weekend, and that is the official opening of the summer season. After the sightseeing, we found a very nice gastro pub to enjoy a late lunch and some awesome, local craft beer, before we headed back to the boat to rest.
The following day, we took the ferry from Russell to Paihia, which houses the historical grounds where the New Zealand we know today was founded. We explored the area by bicycles, and truly enjoyed the lush, green hills, which New Zealand are so famous for.
After a bike tour and some sightseeing, we visited Waitangi Treaty Grounds. This is a large historic outdoor area, where the treaty between the MÄori and the British were signed, in 1827. Aotearoa (New Zealand in MÄori) New Zealand is the official name of the country. We spent many hours at Waitangi, joined a guided tour, saw a MÄori dance show and visited several of the museums on the grounds.
While we were still close to two towns, we made sure we visited a couple more of the local gastro pubs and got to taste some more craft beer. Good food and drinks is definitely easy to find in New Zealand!
We have not met many Norwegian cruisers on our journey so far, but in Tonga, we did meet two Norwegian boats a few days before we left. We were happy to reconnect with them in New Zealand, and hung out together for several days.
They both have kids on board, and were very creative with coming up with social activities onshore to meet up. We enjoyed a pique-nique in the park with soup and a game of petanque. It is almost a year since last we hung out with Norwegians, so this was definitely a good preparation for our upcoming five months back in Norway.
The admiral went on a morning hike with the women and girls from the two Norwegian boats, and we enjoyed beautiful views of the Bay of Island from the viewpoint just next to Russell.
We loved the anchorage by Russel, it was calm, with wildlife surroundings us (we had lots of birds and also dolphins visiting the anchorage), and still close to civilization. After four days exploring the inner Bay of Islands, we stocked up the boat with fresh produce, and moved to the outer islands in the bay. More to come about our experiences there in an upcoming post!
