Sailing around the world

We are ready to leave New Zealand for Fiji (Luatoka) - about 1000 miles North, so here are some of our highlights




While we stopped at Slipper Island (Lloyd and Ngaire on board their cat, Te Harinui and Sean and Norma with us) we had dolphins visit us at the anchorage. Lorna dived overboard and spent 30 minutes or so swimming with them.





Visited Lloyd and Ngaire in Whangmata for the beach hop, a gathering for the old American classic cars that have been restored and modified, some with superchargers. Real 50’s and 60’s stuff with all the art deco and Elvis Presley no less. He won the talent competition. Elvis is not dead but he did leave the building. It was a 4 day celebration of the muscle cars and beautiful women.

An event not to be missed, not if you can help it. Check out the Whangamata "Beach Hop" photo album specially included for all you petrol heads out there or just for those of you who appreciate beautifullly restored or modified american cars and rods. They even gave away 3 restored 60’s Mustangs! Each night the town was abuzz or aroar with the sound of the big V8’s doing their parade laps up and down the main street. There were hundreds of them, all gleaming - Buicks, Cadillac’s, Chryslers, Chevvies and Fords,(50’s & 60’s) Including Camaros, Stingrays, Malibu’s, Impalas and yes MacDonald - even a Studebaker) – Hotrods, Dragsters, Funny Cars. There were also bikes - you name it, it was there..

We bought a car (not American) in Auckland, parked the boat at West Park marina for a month and went off touring South Island. We stopped in Wellington and enjoyed the museum which featured a Monet art exhibition, Lorna was in her element.

We crossed the Cook Strait, in calm conditions by Ferry and sailed into the spectacular Marlborough sounds. This area must be much like the fjord lands of the Scandinavian countries. I have never seen anything like it.

We drove south along the west coast stopping at many of the well know tourist sites along the way. We loved the spectacular scenery, rugged coast line, glaziers, lakes, waterfalls and snow capped mount Cook and Tasmin. We often slept in the car, a 2L Mazda station wagon. Some nights were more comfortable than others judging from the roof lining the looked like road kill or a war zone as we did battle with the hordes of mosquitoes that somehow found their way into the car despite the closed doors and tightly wound up windows.

We spent some time in Queenstown with Olive Hutchins, she and her husband were pioneers in the tourist industry and built their tourist business, now called “Real Journeys” into a very substantial organisation. Pride of their fleet must be the Earnslaw a steamship very popular with tourists on lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. Olive’s late husband Les was knighted for services rendered to the tourist industry and his dedication in protecting the environment for future generations. They were instrumental in preventing the artificial raising of the lake Manapouri water level which resultant flooding would have caused devastation to the natural habitat and beauty of the area. If you can get hold of a copy of Les’ book, “Making Waves” it is a very good read and makes a visit to the area so much more enriching.. I quote from it “You did not need scientific knowledge, only common sense to see that the result would have been a permanent monument to man’s stupidity in his quest for progress”.

No trip to this area is complete without sailing Millford or Doughtful sound. Again visitors are catered for by the “Real Journeys” fleet. Doughtful sound was named by captain James Cook when he stopped off the coast and decided it was not a good place to enter. How wrong was he. We experienced superb weather for this trip and were told that only one in every hundred days was like that. Our experiences was not all about outstanding natural beauty as we got the adrenalin going with our Jet boating on the Shotover river

We proceeded all the way south to Invercargill from where we could see Stuart island but did not visit. Then, north along the east coast via art deco Napier, more beautiful lakes and mountains. We also stopped at Hayley Westenra’s home city of Christchurch. Beautiful garden walks along the river in the city. The city centre is well worth a visit where artists display the wares. A trip in the cable car to view the surrounding country side and coastal bays concluded our visit there. We then had to do the river rafting experience going through grade 5 rapids and jumping off a 7 meter cliff into the freezing water below.

The last night on south island we stopped just north of Blenheim, on the coast. Next morning we drove along the coast on some unsealed roads across the mountain ranges towards our return ferry point at Picton. Along this route we saw some of the most amazing coast line and charming bays imaginable. Long narrow waterways surrounded steep cliffs, lush green vegetation and high trees. It was Wow!

Returning to North Island we stopped to see the natural hotwater springs and enjoyed a spa bath Polynesian style in Rotarua.

Since then we have sold the car, sailed our boat back from Auckland to Opua and ready to leave for Fiji. Just waiting for a suitable weather window which now looks to be Saturday, 2nd May.


James and Lorna