| November 7, 2003 150 miles north of Opua, New Zealand Dear friends and family: It's now 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, November 7, and we're 24 hours away from Opua, New Zealand. The water temperature is down to 68.9 degrees F - ten degrees COLDER than it was at the head of Princess Louisa inlet in British Columbia two years ago. I think it will be good, in a way, to get back into a temperate climate. We're using blankets at night now, but the days are still very pleasant. But we sure will miss the swimming in 85 to 90 degree water! We had a rugged couple of days going close-hauled through a cold front -- large, steep, choppy seas, and the boat comes off the top of one crest, only to whump down in the trough like a fat man doing a belly flop. None of us felt too wonderful, and we have had a hard time working through the various fresh foods that will have to be given up to the NZ customs if not theretofore consumed. NZ seems to be quite paranoid about what it lets in, and we fully expect to give up all meat, fish, fresh vegetables, fruit, and an assortment of cupboard items (e.g., all seeds -- which encompasses all beans, alfalfa sprouting seeds, popcorn, and lots of my spice cabinet.) |
 Reggie's mahi-mahi: one of the fish (now in the freezer) which we expected to give up to New Zealand customs. (As it turned out, they let us keep it.) |
| Now the wind is altogether gone, the seas are flat calm, and we're
motoring. It will be a good day to get our act together, get ourselves and
the boat cleaned up, get lists made for the customs folk... Not to mention
eating up some of that yummy mahi-mahi in the freezer... Later -- Well, even though we knew the customs folk were going to take away our fresh fruit and vegetables -- and a lot more -- it was still kind of a shock to put each item into the man's giant heavy duty customs garbage bag. The limes that were brought to us by Vaha in Hunga lagoon -- the cabbage and tomatoes from the Neiafu market -- the last papaya of those that were given to us by the Austrian guy at his restaurant (Papao resort) above anchorage #14 -- the dollar-a-pop oranges from the little store on Neiafu's main street -- not to mention the last of the $15 packs of really nice chicken breasts. But we managed to get all our souvenirs through the net, he didn't touch my spice cabinet, we got to keep all the fish, and we had enough to make breakfast the next morning. |
| The Bay of Islands, where Opua is located, is really quite beautiful. It is surrounded by green hills covered here and there with darker green forests or scrub brush. It might be as San Francisco Bay would look in the early spring -- if there weren't so many people there. There were plenty of people out fishing as we came in, several tourist boats, and lots of sailboats. The customs and immigration guys were exceedingly friendly, glad to answer all of our dumb tourist questions, and very welcoming. Unlike every other country we have visited, there were no fees to be paid, AND they took all our garbage! |  |
|
We've signed up for a few days at the Opua Marina, which can't be more than a year or two old, and has very nice facilities. There's not much at Opua, other than a little grocery store, a hardware store, a chandlery, a restaurant, and a car rental place. But what more could a person -- fresh from a South Pacific crossing -- want? We tried out the restaurant -- named "Kama Sutra" ("a seduction of food") -- which turned out to be a very new, very green around the ears Indian restaurant. They are having trouble getting a liquor license, and trouble getting permits for tables on the outdoor deck (over the water). I'm almost inclined to tell them they need to change their name, and all their problems would be over -- but perhaps I don't know the New Zealand moral attitudes well enough. In any case the food was excellent, and plentiful. (When we returned to Opua in May, 2004, the restaurant was closed, with an eviction notice on the door). The wildlife in the water here is quite something. During the day, you notice lots of brown jellyfish, with long straight tendrils and frilly streamers. At first they look like exotic algae, but then you notice them jetting through the water. The underwater portions of the dock floats are encrusted with clams, and every rope hanging underwater is covered with oysters. At night great schools of six inch fish congregate around the dock lights, and jump en masse out of the water whenever anyone walks by. As we go to sleep, we hear what sounds like rain, but it's actually some sort of marine life, clicking away in the water. (We think it's shrimp, but we haven't seen them). |
 |
We rented a car and drove to some of the neighboring towns and countryside. The closest town, Paihia, is full of souvenir stores, whale watching cruises and hordes of tourists. We drove a little further, to the town of Kerikeri, where there are some historic buildings (a little bit reminiscent of Colonial Williamsburg). The green rolling hills of the countryside are full of cattle and sheep, with plenty of citrus groves, kiwi fruit plantations, and wineries. We stopped at the Marsden Estate Winery for a tasting and lunch. The lunch was really excellent, served under a grape vine trellis, with a view of lawns and vineyards. The folks at the next table told us that they live just down the road, and come there for lunch "at least 27 times a year." |
| Possibly the highlight of the drive was the public restrooms in
Kawakawa.
This otherwise undistinguished town apparently hired the Austrian
architect/artist,
Hundertwasser, to design their public restrooms. The
result is sort of Salvador Dali meets Mondrian meets the hobbits. The
entrance is a collection of columns made of brightly glazed planting pots
set atop each other; the walls are either whisky bottles set in concrete, or
brightly colored ceramic tiles set into organic, undulating uprights. The
roof has a tree and grass growing out of it. It's really quite difficult to
describe.
I've written this message over several days. All attempts to send it by the usual method have failed. Our radio email connection has not worked since a couple of days before we arrived in New Zealand. Possibly we're too close to the New Zealand stations and too far from all other stations, but more likely it's also local radio interference and unusually bad propagation conditions (lots of sunspot activity). Reggie and Barbara made it onto their plane, and are by now back home in Montana, where it is reportedly snowing (what a rude shock to the system, fresh from the tropical beaches of Vava'u!) We've just about firmed up our own plane reservations for the Christmas break, and we'll be back on the west coast for December and part of January. When we get back here to New Zealand -- so we understand -- the Kiwi Christmas holidays will be in full swing, the weather will be at its hottest, and the tourists and cruising boats will be everywhere. Best regards to all! Craig & Barbara Johnston S/V Sequoia
|
|
|
|
Most pictures on this page
were taken by R. Good and B. Bates