Back to Wellington for Mum's birthday party!

Mum's Birthday:

Fortunately the good timing of our decision to abort the trip meant I could be here for my mum's birthday party. The birthday cake was quite a surprise as they had organised an old photo of mum from when she was first married to be iced onto the cake. A bit weird eating a picture of ones own mother!!! We had to be careful where we put the candles too.

Most of the family was here so it was a great meeting of family members many whom I had not seen for ages. There was Sarah, David, Ben and Hannah (who celebrated her 5th birthday at the same time), Judy and Mother of course, Hilary and her partner Jennie, Michael, Andrew and Emily, Jarred and Emma, Tim and Glenda and David, Jill and Katie and who ever else I forgot to mention.


At the moment I am living at my brother's house sharing a room with my 17 year old Nephew, David. Tim's family has been very hospitable but much as i love it here i need to get back to the sea so am searching the web pages looking for short handed yachts on passages.

"Oh it is good to go down to the sea again
To the Lonely Sea and the Sky"

"A wet sheet and flowing sail
and a wind that follows fast
That fills that white and billowing sail
and bends the gallant mast

That bends the Gallant mast my boys
and away the good ship flys and leaves
Old England on the Lee!"


My little girl, Antara in Germany aged 1 or 2

Latest news

Well sorry everyone for my slackness in posting news of my trip.

In a nutshell the weather went from bad to worse over here. Four genuine "Twisters" hit Taranaki, Mt. Egmont (you might recall that this is the sea area first up in our voyage northwards) creating untold havoc destroying buildings, upturning vehicles and creating water spouts that would have sunk us for sure.

Unbeknown to us this was happening as we sailed up Tasman Bay to the Tasman Sea. Lckily upon receiving the latest weather report and seeing the weather ahead and condition of the sea we head back in to Torrent Bay in Abel Tasman National Park for shelter . We arrived there in the dark by GPS and me on the bow looking for shallows. Absolutely beautiful bay with golden sand beaches and pure wilderness.

Here i managed some wonderful walks to stretch the legs and photograph a few funghis and experience the rainforest again.

Finally we decided to return to Nelson enjoying a pleasant sail in calm conditions whilst just north of us the seas were spuming and foaming under 55 knot winds.

In Nelson we checked out Netvuw an excellent detailed weather planning website by Wellington University. Based on our findings we decided to abort the trip until the summer months. Firstly because we were getting far too cold with more and more frosts and snow in the nearby hills again.

Even salt water froze on the boat at Torrent bay. The other reason was simply the weather patterns. There now seemed to be just one gale after another with little relief inbetween.

Locals here were saying these are the worst winter gales for a long, long time.

Down in the South of the South island the worst winter storms have placed the whole area into an Antarctic type landscape closing off much of the south. In the north large areas never before flooded are under water and mud slides have destroyed numerous homes and caused evacuations.

In Auckland off the East coast the conditions were so wild the giant cruise ship "Pacific Star" got severely beaten and fled for the open sea only to later abondoned their voyage at Vanuatu after a real beating across the West Pacific where we also were heading. In Central North island more floods and disaster areas and also further south in Napier and Hawks Bay is now a disaster area too. Not the best year to have picked for a sailing trip like this!

If we had continued on up the West Coast of NZ (and we were all stored and geared up for the passage) we would have headed straight into a real STORM force weather as reported and would have hit the Weather Bomb that hit the top of the North island flooding vast areas of land under torrential rain and very wild winds.

One boat hiding away up the top of the North Island, trying to do the same trip we were planning, reported winds up to 75 knots and seas over 12 metres described by them as liquid mountains. Lucky we pulled the plug and did not go.

Instead Max left to return to Oz (his house had been damaged in the rain storms in Sydney) and I picked up work in the nearby marina slipway working on a 33 ft catamaran. Days of wet weather had cost Rob a lot of money with his boat on the hard and unable to do work so he badly needed some help in the form of an extra hand to sand, fill, paint etc.This was fortunate as i badly needed some dollars and the owner also put me up in his beautiful multi-levelled pole house where i had a warm room and bed and all meals provided.

Thank you to Rob and Kathyleen and their two 9 yr old twins, Kellie and Jorden, for making me so welcome and part of their family for a few days. It was nice to sit in front of a warm fire at night and join in the meal preparation . I even got loan of their push bike to get around.

On my lay day Kathyleen took me and the kids and some friends for a walk and picnic to nearby Cable Bay and Pippin Island where we could see the entire stretch of Tasman Bay that I had just sailed.

Pippin Island is huge and the whole island is now privately owned by a farmer who emigrated from Germany recently. The walk started at the coastal estuary ascended through grassy hillsides then wound its way up through native rain forest and finally emerged high up overlooking Nelson in the distance.

This is where you can see me standing in the picture.

I am now in Wellington looking for another boat to sail the islands.

Departing Nelson

Nelson turns on some spectacular rainbows prior to a wild snow storm.


Well not much to report I am afraid. We are still in Nelson sitting out some very bad weather. Today another bad low is coming across from Australia.


We hope to ride out on the tail end of it with the Southerlies we need. We are told we are in for one hell of a ride as the seas between here and Cape Egmont (near Taranaki) are extremely boisterous to say the least but there is not other way to go now. Two boats left last week after the last big low system and we heard they had such a rough time they had to put into new Plymouth. We might need to do the same.

We get NE winds after the lows and that is no good for going north.

Have had a few wild storms here and some even heavier frosts on the boat in the mornings afterwards. The snow on the nearby hills in nelson as pictured was the first time that many locals can remember seeing such a phenomenon. Making lots of friends on the marina and around. Regularly getting invited aboard other yachts for dinner or social gatherings and we often end up in the Cruising yacht Club amongst nothing but live aboard yachties watching the Americas Cup race at 1am until 3am in the morning. Big following here at the moment as is the Rugby Bledisloe Cup about to happen this weekend. Not sure if I should barrack for the Aussies as I am outnumbered here in NZ. Seriously though there is a nice kindred spirit here about the Aussies.

Have been offered work taking backpackers up to the ski fields and possibly next summer care taking a hostel in Nelson. We will see if I am up to it. At the moment feel like I could take up full time work again but it still early days and my body is still recuperating with all this rest which I know it needs. If the boat trip does not work out I may well come back to nelson and take up the offer. Cool people here. Good alternative community, cool cafes, nice weather generally and what better location than close to skiable mountains, the Abel Tasman national Park, Rock climbing and great sailing.

The only bad point is that Nelson is renowned around NZ for paying the lowest of possible wages and for having a very high cost of living. Home rates here including garbage collection, water and electricity amount to over $3000 per annum and that with very low wages. many basic workers here are only getting NZ$12/hour!!!! The cost of living is high due to the lifestyle environment having brought many semi-retirees here and IT people who get big wages so they have forced up the price in housing etc as a result.

We have now bought food, water and fuel for our trip north and our third crew member, now a German guy called Maarten is on his way to join us on Sunday. Maarten regularly ocean yacht races on the Cook Straits so he will be most welcome aboard. Looks like we may well leave on Monday no matter what. We have been told that the only way to do this trip is to ride on the back of the southerly and put up with horrendous seas for a day or two and use the winds to get north. After that the seas will die down but we will be going into the wind with the usual huge HIGHs that follow. At least it will then be warmer weather. We will see how we cope with the seas likely to be 5-6 metres plus a 3 metre swell on top. Yikes! Wish us luck.

Waikura Bay to Admiralty Bay, Sth Island NZ

Well we finally set sail on the voyage but not very far. Just around the corner to Waikura Bay to pick up an anchor winch (to save my back muscles) and ended up staying overnight. We picked up somebodies empty mooring just near the entry to the marina then rowed to shore.

We only have a two man basic inflatable for this task and "NO" motor so in the strong winds around NZ it can be quite a fitness workout just to get home to bed!

The local yacht club welcomed us in so we joined them it being Friday night, for a beer tasting party. Some really interesting and very tasty boutique brewery beers. The locals were very friendly and we soon met most of them. Great night.

Next day we set sail for Cook Straits. This involved sailing the entire length of the Queen Charlotte Sounds to a small cove at the entrance that had been used many times by Captain Cook to replenish and refit the Endeavour. There was a land mark there and some very stylish picnic tables and toilet block from the National Parks otherwise we were the only ones there.

The trip up the Sounds can only be described as beautiful. Very beautiful. Mountain ranges and dense native bush right to the shore. Deep dark water and loads of sea birds. We rowed ashore bagged a heap of fresh greenlip muscles off the rocks and rowed back for fresh seafood dinner. Yummy. I tired my hand at a spot of fishing (never caught a fish before) and with seconds there was a fish on the line. Every time the line went in some silly fish would jump on it. Now I know we will not go hungry on this trip. Fresh Gurnard for breakfast, Wahoo for lunch and 'Spotty' for dinner. What a smorgasbord.

The next day we hauled up the sails and sailed off the Parks' mooring into the wild Cook Straits. The wind quickly rose to 35knots and the seas to a heaving mass of confused large waves. The weather forecast described the weather as "Very heavy seas" and Gale force winds". Fortunately, we going the right way and had an exciting first real sail for me aboard EOS. On the way we lost a water drum over the side and a few panels flew off the boat in the high winds. I had tried to tell Max to tie them down but he was adamant they had never blown off before. Not real important just covers for the cross beams. I quickly stowed the rest, took a reef in the main and the mizzen and settled back down to drink my tea that was still sitting there in the middle of the deck.

Because of the wild conditions we decided to go out to the middle around some notable hazards rather than take the inshore route recommended to us if conditions were suitable. They weren't!
We passed near the Brother's Islands and then Stephens Island and across Pelouris Sounds and into Admiralty Bay the access to French Pass all without a sail change or gybe. Fast exhilarating sailing and wet. The water splashes up between the slatted boards so wet weather gear was the order of the day. I had full ocean gear, harness, sea boots, balaclava, neck warmer and over gloves on. I was toasty and dry in my new ocean gear. Poor Max wore wet suit dinghy boots and had cold feet. He has now bought a pair of sea boots like mine.

When we turned the corner into Admiralty Bay the shit hit the fan. Now the wind was on the nose and massive bullet winds shot down off the steep mountain sides and hit us like hurricanes. One hatch blew inside out and more gear had to be tied down. A further reef in the sails saw an easing of the drama but we had to find shelter. The infamous French Pass is a narrow and very dangerous and difficult passage between D'Urville Island and the mainland but it saves heaps of sea miles. The current races through at 9 knots and you can only do it at slack tide (about 20 minutes in all) and it was not slack tide. In addition a real nasty storm was forecast and we did not want to be caught out in such a storm.

Every bay that seemed out of the wind was full of mooring buoys looking like fishing nets. As we got closer we discovered they were mussel farms and they were across the safe entrance to every bay. Eventually as the sun got low we saw a hole in one of the last bays before we hit land and downed the sails to motor in through the narrow gap to anchor in the beach. A lonely isolated house stood sentinel over a moored Ferro cement yacht. As we approached a man on the shore beckoned us to raft up to the ketch which we gladly did. He told us it was tied to not one but three mooring blocks as both the winds and tides in that area were known to be fierce.

As we sorted out all the gear, charts on the floor, cupboards open, sails all over the place etc the owner, Herb rafted out to us on his make shift very shaky looking pontoon on ropes from the beach. A friendly and humble man greeted us and made us very welcome. So welcome in fact we stayed for three days waiting for the right weather to move on.

Herb and Sandra, his Singaporean wife of 10 years, were pleased to have visitors. They live a sustainable life style with power from two hydro generators (there own mountain stream), several large solar panels and a noisey wind generator that does more revs than a spitfire propeller. We ended up guests for the evening but slept aboard the boat pulling ourselves on the shaky raft out to the ferro cement yacht then stepping carefully off onto ours. We soon changed to using our own dinghy as we really were not keen on a swim in the cold NZ waters. Crazy Sandra would swim across her bay every morning. Brrrgh!

As there is a fee in every town even for household garbage most folk with a bit of land just dump everything in there bush so the whole area was littered with one day may be useful bits and pieces. Herb loves to pull electrical items apart and invent things. He made all their pumps, and their heating units every thing in fact. A very clever man who can just not justify throwing anything out. Sandra regularly appeared with fresh scones or chapattis for us to eat over a cup of tea looking out of their huge glass window across the entire bay to the mountains beyond. I found out that Sandra had never been to the top of there mountain in all the 9 years living there so I challenged her and Herb to join me climbing to the summit. Herb reckoned he had been before so he backed out. I later heard that he just said that to avoid having to join us and climb that damn hill.

It was a beautiful day taking far longer than either of us thought. Sandra not being used to walking found it quite a struggle but refused to give up and pushed on to reach the summit. We were joined by their 13 year old dog who i am sure did the whole climb twice. Running up to me then back to Sandra way below then back up again. The view was well worth the effort and it was not long before the snow capped peaks of Mount Arthur and Abel Tasman were stretched out before us. We could see for thousands of miles it seemed. Eventually we could see over the top to Pelouris Sounds and Sandra could pick out her neighbours such a long way away. The summit proved to be home to fierce cold winds and steep rocky crags so we dropped to one side in the lee to eat our lunch looking way way down on EOS moored below in their private bay.

The trip down took a while with Sandra on all fours quite a lot of the way to save the strain on her knees and to avoid being blown over the edge. We reached the bottom around sunset before the S & R were called out. On the way down we had to negotiate steep grassy slopes and I found it easier to lie flat face first untie my pack and glissade down. Excellent fun! The dog disappeared to chase a few sheep. That night we met a real light house keeper, named Pip. A friend of Sandra and Herbs who came over by boat from D'Urville Island to help herb with some building. Pip and his writer wife lived even more remotely on a very large island with only 45 people in total, no shops, no road, no ferry and no phones. He really likes the isolation. Well I suppose he must have if he had been a lighthouse keeper most of his life. I had always dreamed of living in a light house and am still fascinated by them. For those of you who got to see the children's book i wrote shortly before i left for my daughter you will have noticed that it was based around a lighthouse family so for me meeting Pip was a a Godsend.

What I like so much about being stuck in this part of NZ is the friendly and hospitable locals. I feel it would not take time to meet everyone if I lived here. Even at the marinas the resident liveaboard folk make you welcome and feel part of there homes. I have been aboard so many boats already.

At last the stormy winds had eased and we bid farewell to our hosts and motored across in calm conditions to French Pass. This narrow passage in renowned for swirling whirlpools and nasty overfalls that can turn a massive steel boat in seconds and plough it straight into the reefs on either side. Luckily we got local knowledge from herb and Pip telling us to assume slack tide was twenty minutes earlier than that listed in the almanac. They were right we traversed the passage in ideal conditions with motor and sails up. It was hard to imagine the reason for so many wrecks having occurred there.

On the other side we were in Tasman Bay many times bigger than Sydney harbour and revealing a new set of weather patterns totally different to Cook Strait not very far to the east. The wind was light 10 to 15 knots. We enjoyed some nice sailing after dodging some nasty rocks that appeared in the middle of the waters without much warning. Alert we saw the disturbed water as the GPS flashed a warning: "dangerous rocks ahead". With still more bad weather forecast we head for shelter in Croisselles Harbour. There was not much there but it was very beautiful and a local sailor directed us to a nearby beach with a mooring that was absolutely stunning. So to the chorus of a multitude of native birdsong, and a setting sun across the Tasman Sea silhouetting several pointy islands before it, we rested with a yummy fresh seafood meal and a nice drop of local Malborough Red Wine.

I rowed to shore and found myself feeling a little like Robinson Crusoe. Not a foot print on the fine sandy beach, oyster for the picking, dense tropical looking native forest, bird noises everywhere, fascinating driftwood to make a home from and absolutely noone else around. I scrambled around the foreshore eventually rock climbing to avoid wet feet and soon I was up in the forest fighting my way through a tangled web of native vines and pandanus. Wild pig tracks everywhere soon had me heading down again as did the very loose shale rocks. I enjoyed my isolation and time to myself then rowed calmly to the gently bobbing Wharram catamaran on its mooring. Sadly a spot of fishing in the intense cold of the twilight revealed no fish whatsoever but we did have more mussels that I had collected from the rocks which made a fine seafood chowder that night washed down with more red wine. The oysters I ate on the spot. Very tasty straight from the shell.

Up early at 7.00am (Brrrgh) and we were away as there was enough wind to sail and yet another storm was due that afternoon of 40+knots. We had an uneventful slow sail to Nelson Harbour with one section of strong wind that saw us reef yet again but we ended up motor sailing the last bit for fear of being caught out again. The storm that was forecast never eventuated or at least we did not feel it in the safety of the Nelson harbour. Arriving at sunset again we spent an illegal night attached to the public wharf then booked a marina berth so we could have power over the next few days to effect last minute work to the boat.

We are still here. Now we are known in the local Nelson Cruising Yacht Club and around town. Many of the liveaboards on the marina have accepted us as one of them and I have had cups of tea aboard a few gorgeous boats most of which are our envy as they nearly all have wood fired stoves aboard like little miniature 'arga' cookers. It is cold. Very cold! In fact most mornings now we get deep frost on the boat. We get up at 7.30 but the sun does not arrive until 9.00am and is gone by 2.30-3pm. The walk along the floating jetty to get to the toilet is fraught with slippery ice and cold water either side to greet a wrong foot step. In the day I wear shorts and a balaclava and scarf (crazy me) and at night I pile two doonas on my bunk. We have no heating other than the kero cooker.

Nelson is a neat town with excellent facilities for yachts and supplies. The former owners of EOS, Rob and Jenny, invited us to their house last night and provided us with a sumptuous meal and a whole evening of interesting conversation about seas and cultures, sailing and life in Nelson and beyond. There is a bulk food co-op here and plenty of alternative cafes and foods available though we still cook aboard EOS. Some of the work we have had to do:

new main reefing system
new steering (Max finally admitted the old one was not strong enough for NZ waters)
connect the water tank we found (did not know there was one)
install my HF radio (with Robs help - he is a HAM radio operator and former journalist)
relocate the genoa track
stiffen the new cabin built
fix up some dry rot we found (minor)
install new light on the masthead
replace all globes with LED's
fix a few electrical problems including the solar charging system
construct the 120 metre drogue line
... and quite a lot more.

We need to leave here soon!!! It is freezing. Even the locals say it is a very cold winter so far. From our berth in the marina we can view snow capped mountains and we can sure feel the cold air when the wind blows from that way. At night it is thermals, gloves, beannies, scarves and down jackets and still it feels cold. Hopefully we leave soon. Just waiting on a a German fellow to decide if he will join us otherwise it is just Max and I. The former third crew member, Bruce, opted out some time ago as the boat was not ready, but we are getting there at last.

more updates shortly ...

Arrived midnight in Hamilton, NZ slept on bus stop the night then caught the Naked Bus to Rotorua and met by my sister, Judy, Stayed a few days visiting Sarah and David and their kids, Ben and Hannah who took to me straight away, especially Hannah who is the same age as my little girl, Antara. Then I bused down via Naked Bus Company to Wellington where I was met by my brother, Tim. Here I stayed with my mum which of course was so lovely especially as she seemed more fit and well than I had imagined for an 89 year old mum. Even managed to talk her into a Sunday afternoon drive and picnic with just Tim and I.





This is Judy's house and garden in Rotorua:

and this is my mum and brother, Tim:

As I will miss my mum's 90th Birthday we had a little celebration at Tim and Glenda's house and I gave mum her birthday present - a nice warm winter down quilt for her bed.





I am now in Picton, South Island, New Zealand still awaiting suitable weather to set sail on the voyage. Sailed today 5th June, from Shakespeare bay in 30 knots. EOS sailed like a dream doing an easy 10 knots with just the staysail up and the main and mizzen too. I helmed most of the way. Quite tricky picking up a mooring at the end in very gusty wind in confined quarters. Lots of fun. I have been living aboard now for over a week plus some time in a batch (holiday house) loaned by a friend so we could have a few showers.





I even went for a cycle ride with the skipper 75 year old, Max over the hills to a lovely Tavern for a quiet ale on Sunday. We borrowed one bike and Max has bought a folding bike which he used. My bike had bulging ancient tyres and wobbly wheels but I made it. I also cycled to a nearby Outward Bound centre to check for possible work in the future as i like this area very much.





Living aboard is just beautiful. The boat is warm, I have my own space and a comfy bunk with lots of cubboards. There is a lot of space on deck. I even rode Max's fold up bicycle a short way around the deck just to prove it could be done. I have been up the mast many times, fixing the tri-colour light up there and changing rigging.





We leave on Friday to sail to Nelson then Tasman Bay and finally farewell Spit for our big voyage. This will be the true start of the voyage. We have done lots of maintenance replacing a lot of the rigging re tightenening the rest, completing a new steering station, redoing a lot of the wiring etc. The sails are almost new which is good to see and the boat is built strongly. The rig is setup in such a way that we really should never need to go near the sides when on the open sea. All can be done from the safe platform in between the hulls.

After lots of research and debate we have both decided to sail up the West Coast keeping a fair offing from the coast itself. The weather at long last has changed to southerlies so we can now set sail northwards with confidence.