We finished our time in the Bay of Islands (for now) on Monday. We departed from Oke Bay pretty early in the morning to begin our passage south to Auckland. We were anticipating the first jump would take us 7-8 hours. It was a bit overcast when we weighed anchor and the first hour or two were a bit bumpy as we headed directly into the wind to round Cape Brett. The views of the Cape and the lighthouse however were stunning. There is also a small island right off of Cape Brett called Motukokako which is basically a big rock structure with a cool hole in the middle, aptly named, “hole in the rock”. It was super cool to sail by and see them up close. Once we got past the Cape, we had a better point of sail so less lumpy and the sun even came out intermittently. Still, it was quite chilly and I had to dig out my knit hat, gloves, and heavier coat. We were able to sail most of the way and arrived at Whanguamu Bay mid afternoon which was faster than anticipated. We found a nice spot pretty close to the beach and got settled for the night. Even though the bay was not super protected, the swell and the roll overnight was very manageable.
We got up early again on Tuesday as we decided to head to Kawau Island in the Hauraki gulf region. The trip was 53 nautical miles and we were anticipating it to take about 8 to 8.5 hours. We were very pleasantly surprised to have a lovely sailing day with sunshine and a beam reach which is Meraviglia’s favorite and fastest point of sail! We saw lots of sea birds but no dolphins sadly. It was so calm and lovely, we even Facetimed with Nick and Kat while we were enroute. We arrived at the entrance to the channel earlier than anticipated which was great. But the most exciting thing was that we saw a Little Penguin swimming in the water as we made our way to the anchorage! Kororā or Little Penguins are the world’s smallest penguin species, characterised by their iridescent blue feathers and white underside. They live and breed all around the New Zealand mainland and offshore islands but in all our travels last year we never saw one! What a great way to start our visit to Kawau which is known for its diversity of birdlife! We got anchored in Bon Accord harbor and settled in for the night.
On Wednesday, I had a webinar in the morning to maintain my education hours for my child life certification so we had a slow start on board. We did happily discover that we think our oil leak was due to a loose fitting. We tightened it before we departed from Oke Bay and have not had additional leaking so far so fingers crossed for that! We then spent the rest of the day just puttering around on board and resting. Bob was still recovering from his big hike on Sunday!
On Thursday, the weather was predicted to be clear for the morning so we decided to take advantage of it and get the dinghy in the water to explore a bit. The island is 8 by 5 km (5.0 by 3.1 mi) at its longest axis, and is almost bisected by the long inlet of Bon Accord where we are anchored. There are approximately 80 people who live on the island permanently which is composed of both permanent and holiday residences. The island has no connecting roads, except a few for access to properties, and other than a fragile electricity network from an underwater cable from the mainland, they are very much dependent on their own resources. There is no water system on the island so most rely on water tanks and cisterns. Trash is removed on a “pack it in, pack it out” principle as there is no trash collection service on the island. Sewerage is predominantly septic tanks with the occasional long drop system still being used.The community has developed their own emergency response group, who manage medical, civil defence, weather and fire events. They liaise with mainland first responders through the 111 system. A regular ferry service operates to the island from Sandspit Wharf on the mainland, as do water taxi services. There are no stores on the island and the only restaurants are two small, seasonal cafes, one at the Kawau Boat Club and the other at the Mansion House tourist attraction. The island has quite a history starting with the cannibalistic tribes who were notorious for piracy. They were defeated for a final time in 1832 when the last war party was tracked down and slaughtered. That began a series of private owners of the island with the most well known being one of New Zealand’s first governors, Sir George Grey. He built a stately home known as the Mansion House. The Governor created an extensive garden containing plants and animals from all over the world including wallabies, peacocks, kookaburras, and weirdly possums to name a few. Unfortunately the wallabies and the possums became a pest and now the Department of Conservation has had a big job of eradicating them from Kawau. A major multi-year project is currently underway to make Kawau Island free of animal pests. Once completed, Kawau Island will become the largest inhabited pest-free island in New Zealand, helping to restore native bush and bird populations. Kawau is already known for its extensive bird population and specifically kiwis and two-thirds of the entire population of North Island weka. I was excited to get on land and start bird tracking!
We took the dinghy up to the Mansion House but this early in the season it is only open on the weekends to go inside. Instead, we explored the grounds and quickly had our first sighting of weka! We also saw the many peacocks strolling around the mansion grounds. We decided to hike the trail from the mansion out to the old copper mine. It was so green and there were so many varieties of trees and flowers. We also saw lily ponds in a few spots. When we got down to the bay near the copper mine we had to go across the rocks to get over to the mine. This was where Bob saw a kiwi in the wild! Very exciting, sadly it was too quick for me to see but super happy Bob got to see one! We peaked around the old copper mine and then took the trail back to the mansion and our dingy. We were surprised to see Canadian geese along the way and when we ran into a ranger we asked her about it. Apparently early on, people relocating to New Zealand from other countries wanted to bring their own native animals with them. Unfortunately, the Canadian geese have become quite a pest not unlike at home. The ranger was definitely not a fan!
We are planning to stay here at Kawau for another day or two before heading in closer to Auckland. We have a marina reservation in Auckland beginning on the 10th so we will likely try to make our way there beginning on Sunday. Unfortunately, there is rain in the forecast everyday for the next week so it might be a damp journey! But we need to get provisioned and prepped for my sister’s visit to New Zealand so we are excited to get to Auckland!
P.S. Last night I heard an interesting bird call. When I looked out, there were little penguins swimming in the bay!! They are the absolute cutest! Love it here!
