 |
| Southbound with Cape Brett and "Hole in the Wall" rock behind us. |
In May 2014 we embarked on another ‘retirement installment’ and
went for an off-season cruise between the Bay of Islands and Great Barrier
Island, a 285-square-km island comprised mostly of parkland, about 80 nm to the
south of Cape Brett.
 |
| Pipi Bay |
First step: out of Opua, into the Bay of Islands. Pipi Bay on Moturua Island is sheltered from most directions and is one of our
favorite spots. The island is almost all park and we like to walk the trails
Kiwi-style - that is, barefoot! After all, there's very little here to hurt you, maybe just a little bit of gorse prickle if you're not watching.
 |
| Looking south from Whangamumu |
After rounding Cape Brett, which forms the eastern headland of the Bay of Islands, we anchored in Whangamumu harbour. This excellent anchorage is protected by steep hills from southerly through to northerly winds, and the unpopulated ridges ringing the bay have spectacular hiking trails. The bay was the grisly scene of whale slaughter during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and on shore there are remains of the boilers for processing the animals into whale oil.
 |
| Then: Whangamumu's bloody past |
 |
| Now: Three dolphins fished around Picara for hours |
 |
| Cabbage tree on the tramping track |
 |
| Oh yeah, snappa for dinna |
 |
| Mussel barge working the farm in Port Fitzroy |
From Whangamumu, we
sailed overnight to Port Fitzroy on Great Barrier Island. In the first bay
we ventured into were greeted by a friendly local who tossed a package of
delicious freshly cooked snapper on our deck! Maybe it was the time of
year, or maybe the fact that many of the GBI bays contain commercial
mussel farms, but Mike’s snapper fishing success rate immediately
improved!
“The Barrier” is “chockas” with hiking tracks and we went on long walks almost every day of our visit. There are over 2000 steps on the long, long staircase to the top of Mt. Hobson! Finally made it and the view was worth the tired legs.
 |
| Regenerating stand of Kauri in the foreground; looking west with Little Barrier in the distance |
 |
| Kauri Dam with scarred creekbed |
 |
| Top of Mt Hobson |
The
island, like pretty much everywhere on the North Island, was extensively logged for Kauri trees. We didn't see any big old ones, but there are large stands
of regenerating Kauri to be seen.
We hiked past the remains of an old Kauri dam built in the late 1920s – loggers collected the felled
trees into the reservoirs behind these dams. When the time came to send
the logs downriver, the large gate was tripped and all hell broke loose –
as one logger recalled, “ the logs… would rip up any trees in their path
and you could hear the roar they made miles away. As they tore the valley
sides the ground would shake under you. Hundreds came to watch and many of
them were terrified.” Scars on the riverbed are obvious below the dam.
 |
| Chopping fuel for the hot shower in Smokehouse Bay |
One of
the highlights of boating at GBI is ‘world-famous’ Smokehouse Bay, in Port Fitzroy; the
land was donated by yachties for yachties and in addition to fish-smoking
facilities there is freshwater available, laundry tubs and lines, and best
of all a bathhouse with wood-fired hot water. That's right: hot shower. Oh, yeah.
 |
Messing about in boats: the new-to-us Tinker dink
With winter looming, and the prospect of heading to Fiji, we made our way back north to the Bay of Islands. and spent a few days at another of our favourite spots, near the Black Rocks at Moturoa Island. There’s green-lipped mussels galore in them there rocks!
 |
Black Rocks Anchorage, Morurua. Cape Brett is in the distance at right.
|
A WWII gun placement with strategic views of the BOI is being overtaken by Pohutukawa trees on Moturoa Island. These days it is part of a farm property and sees a lot more sheep and cows than soldiers.
|
By late June winter has pretty much arrived in subtropical Northland – cue the hibiscus.
|
 |
| Just to prove it's not all fun and games - dinghy malfunction! Handyman to the rescue with hammer and chisel. |
 |
| Winter surf break at Patau North, north of Whangarei |
