Location: New Zealand – All Points – by Hugh
Well, my apologies to our regular blog readers for whom it has been a long time since our last update. You’re probably asking yourselves “What the heck is going on with the Oceangybe Expedition? They haven’t written anything in months. Did they sail off the end of the earth? Were they swallowed by a whale? Did they lose a battle with a giant squid?”
Right, right, an explanation is definitely in order.
The Big Picture
Well, as usual, weather dictates our movements and destinations, and we’re in New Zealand as the weather in the regular cruising latitudes is stormy and unpleasant. You see, right now cyclone season is playing itself out up in the warmer waters north of us. As you may or may not know, cyclones (aka hurricanes or typhoons) are driven by warm water. As the southern hemisphere summer approaches, sea temperature heat up and these nasty storms start appearing. Generated by warm water, they run large paths of destruction through the tropics in the summertime. Clearly these are best not encountered in a sailboat; one reason we escaped south to the cooler waters of New Zealand. Sometime in April the ocean temperatures will cool down enough, the storms will no longer a problem and we’ll head north and west again.
It has always been our plan to wait out the cyclone season in New Zealand, and it is a wonderful place to be ‘waiting’. There is an awesome crew of friends here, both natives and ex-pat Canadians, scattered over both the North and South Islands. When we pulled into the customs dock in Opua, the welcoming party included friends Mike, Adi, Melissa, Shane, Jo, Dean, and Simon! It was so good to see familiar faces in a place so far from home. After the very thorough and efficient customs check and some celebratory dockside drinks, the crew packed us up and took us straight to Mike and Adi’s place for a huge cook up. I’ve got to say, while Khulula really feels like home now, it was soooo nice to stretch out on a huge couch, cook in a proper kitchen, and not fear putting my plate of dinner down lest it slide off the table from a rogue wave! Wow, what a dinner and what a sleep we had that night!
We took a few days to get our land legs back. It was Bryson’s birthday 2 day’s after we arrived, so that called for a day long surf mission and another potluck dinner. The following weekend Shane had organized an overnight hike to Cape Brett Lighthouse. Despite monsoon conditions
on the 1st day, we had a great hike. Talk about trial by fire though… a 40 km hike after being confined to a 40 ft boat for weeks! We all made it, although Ryan and Brys’ feet looked a little worse for wear.
It was then time to attack the “To-Do in New Zealand” boat maintenance list. And let me tell you, this list is no joke! We had six months to figure out all the little (and big) things on Khulula that needed upgrading, changing, throwing out, and fixing. Anyhow, have a read of Ryan’s latest blog for all the gory details. We were all pretty burnt out at the end of it.
Lucky we had a fairly important deadline to make; my parents were arriving December 17th for a Christmas cruise. Their last time sailing on Khulula was on a nervous shake-down cruise back in Mexico and I was anxious to prove how far we had made it, literally and proverbially. So after a few rounds of golf in Paihia, they jumped on board and we headed into the Bay of Islands. We cruised there for a few days, then headed farther north to check out a some other protected harbours and bays. I tell you, after the hectic and less-than-ideal anchorages of the South Pacific islands, it was a real treat to be anchoring in 3 – 5 meters of water with a sandy bottom. This is great holding ground for the anchor and made for many good nights of sleep for me.
Also a treat was escaping the hectic pace and commercialism of Christmas in the city. It was one of the most relaxed Christmas’s we’d ever spent. It is such a great holiday in New Zealand and I’m sure it similar in most southern hemisphere places that celebrate it. Christmas is about going to the beach, sun, and the start of holidays. Because it is the beginning of summer vacation, practically the whole country takes at least 2 weeks off over Christmas and New Years. The weather is warm, days long, and everyone is on vacation. Funny, but you really don’t feel the pressure to shop, shop shop. I guess because any retailer really pushing Santa, with fake snow in the windows and reindeer on the lawns would just look kind of ridiculous. So it is much more low-key holiday. Anyhow, ours was especially chilled out and relaxed, a welcome change.
Since then I have gotten off the boat and have been traveling the South Island; by road, kayak, and foot. Now I’m back in Auckland doing a bit of work to pay some bills, Bryson is held up in Dunedin with Jess, and Ryan and Thea (and now Mel and Pete) have been doing some cruising in the North Island on Khulula. I’ll let the other boys give you the full write up of their respective experiences.
And what is the plan in April? As I said, in April we’ll head north-west to Fiji. Jess (Bryson’s girlfriend) and Thea (Ryan’s fiance) will be joining us in the islands for a bit of cruising. Then it will be onto Vanuatu and New Caledonia with Mike Robertson, the proud father of the two boys! After that, we’ll make a big passage over the top of Australia, past Papua New Guinea, and Timor. We’ll spend some time around indo, then carry on west to Christmas Island and Reunion. If the winds are favorable and we don’t get becalmed 1000’s of miles from an airport, we’ll all be flying back home in late August from somewhere in the Indian Ocean for Ryan and Thea’s wedding. Something tells me we’ll be carrying extra fuel just in case 🙂 After that we’ll be back on board and making our way to South Africa for Christmas 2008. Of course, schedules and sailing are a tough mix. And then? Well, who knows really… it is a long way off.
So great you say, don’t bother checking for updates until sometime in April? No, silly, we wouldn’t leave you stranded in your cubicle at the office with nothing to read! Stay tuned regularly for pictures, stories, thoughts and meditations from the past year. Ryan has promised pictures to accompany his account of the major re-fit that Khulula underwent in Opua. Bryson (web-master, grad-student, researcher, first-mate, and media relations expert) is working on a website overhaul (just as soon as he hurries up and gets a PhD already!) We understand that the site is bit tough to navigate and our most importation is a bit tricky to find. I’m going to put down some more thoughts on the trip so far. So we’re on it!
In the mean time, if you have any comments, questions, or anything really. Stuff you’d like to know about, or whatever. Please send us an email and we’ll get back to you. Check out the Contact page for how to reach us.