Right, so Rae, Barry and myself piled into the car and set off for parts north. We knew it was going to be a long day, so we got an early start. The drive was uneventful, though we did stop for an hour in Orewa to use an internet cafe and to grab a light lunch. We arrived in Paihia in the early afternoon and checked into the Saltwater Lodge. Barry and I went immediately to a dive shop to find a boat to take him to the Rainbow Warrior. He signed up for a two-day deal, with two dives each day, all in various different parts of the Bay of Islands, one of which was in fact the Rainbow Warrior. Fair enough. On the first day of Barry diving, I took the car and drove up to Cape Reinga. Oy, that was a long day. It was easily 3+ hours each way. The views were nice once I got there and it felt cool to be there and imagine the Around Alone boats going past. One the way back I took a short detour over 12 miles of the worst gravel road I’d ever been on. This let me out onto Ninety Mile Beach, which was fairly dramatic. It faces the Tasman Sea, is fairly wide, almost perfectly flat, and stretches off in both directions as far as the eye can see. When Barry and I met up late that afternoon, we were both too tired to cook, so we went out for a light dinner.

On the morning of the Jan 29, Barry again left early for his dives. I loitered over breakfast and tried to decide which of the nearby small, historic towns I felt like visiting. There was a woman at the next table finishing her breakfast and we got to talking. Her name was Lorraine, and we decided to set off for Kerikeri together. The two oldest buildings in NZ are there, one made of stone and the other of wood. There is also a Maori “pa” (village on a defensible hill) and a neat hike to some pretty waterfalls. When we got back to Paihia we found Barry, who had caught a large crayfish during his dive. These crayfish are about the same size as a hefty Maine lobster. We boiled it up for an appetizer - I was stunned at how much meat was really in this thing - much more than a comparable lobster. And quite yummy, too. While eating this crayfish we had attracted some attention, including a young German named Phillip. Anyway, Barry and I wanted to charter a sailboat, so that I would be able to say that I had skippered a boat in NZ waters. It was going to be a tad expensive, so we wanted to find some people to share the costs with us. We were able to convince Rae, Lorraine and Phillip to come along. After a light dinner, the lot of us went shopping to provision the boat for 24 hours in the Bay of Islands.

Up early again next morning. Got down to Opua to the Moorings base and started on the paperwork. Took the boat out of the dock around 11am. We steamed north past Paihia and Russell and then hoisted the sails and set off to the north, hoping to make for Hole in the Rock. The breeze was light and shifty for a couple of hours, and then filled in solidly in the low teens of knots from the northeast - which is exactly where we wanted to go, of course. Sailing is often like that. After a couple more hours it was clear we weren’t going to make it, so we settled for anchoring in Urupukapuka Bay. Barry did a bang-up job barbecuing the chicken, once Phillip and I figured out how to keep the darn thing lit. After sundown I noticed some sparkles in the water - bio-luminescent critters! Clearly it was time to go skinny dipping. Alas, I could not convince anyone else to go, as they all thought the water would be too cold, or they were scared of sharks, or whatever. Anyway, I had a great time. Once I came back on-board we all settled down to sleep. Since it was cool but not cold out, I decided to sleep in the cockpit. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful it was that night. Barely a cloud in the sky, and a light breeze, and not a single man-made light anywhere nearby. The view of the stars was breathtaking. I’ve never seen so many shooting stars.

The next morning we all had breakfast. After raising the anchor we sailed south and southwest heading back toward Opua. A little before noon we dropped anchor in a small cove at the east end of Roberton Island, which is the first bit of land Captain Cook set foot on when he first explored these parts. We had lunch and then proceeded back to the Moorings Base. The docking (sort of a med-moor raft-up) was actually a little challenging, and I had to bail out of my first attempt and come back with a better angle. Did the wrap-up paperwork and then drove everyone back to Paihia. Alas, Lorraine had missed her bus to Auckland, but since Barry and I were driving there anyway, we gave her a lift. Barry and I stayed in the City YHA.

Barry was scheduled to leave on the 1st of February, but not until late in the afternoon. We treated ourselves to a nice brunch (I had a stack of pancakes for the first time in months) and then decided to see a movie which Barry had wanted to see for a while. It was called “Whale Rider” and I’d recommend it. Not only does it paint a good picture of New Zealand and Maori, but it’s got a positive feminist message to boot. I drove Barry to the airport and hung out with him for a few minutes before he went through security. Then I went back to Auckland and checked into the Auckland International Backpackers (aka Alan’s Place) which I cannot recommend - it was a tad on the grungy side, but I wanted a place out of the central business district since I had the rental car for two more days and I wanted an easy, safe, cheap place to park.

Since I had the car, I decided to do some of the running around I had wanted to do, but that was not obvious which buses to take. First, I went to Westhaven, which is where all the Auckland yacht clubs are, including the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. At the RNZYS I was able to go inside and see the actual America’s Cup. Amazingly enough, even though it was Sunday, I was the only person there. The concierge was nice enough to stay and chat with me for about fifteen minutes, and he also took my picture next to the Cup. Quite the thrill. I also took the time to grill him about any low key “beer can” races, as we call them in the SF Bay Area. Here in Auckland they call them “rum” races. The short answer is that pretty much any Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday there are races going on which I could just walk up and find a crew position. This is good news, as I plan to be in Auckland for five days after the Tauranga “Around Alone” restart on Feb 9. I also went by the Syndicate Row. I had promised Eric (the guy looking after my boat while I’m away) an Oracle t-shirt. Now that Oracle has been eliminated, they are selling their merchandise at 30% off, so I got one for him and one for me. Then later in the afternoon I drove south to Mt Eden and One Tree Hill. This is one of the bigger volcanic hills in the Auckland area and the view is quite nice.

This brings us up to yesterday. I went into downtown to an internet cafe and typed up a big weblog entry. Then I drove over to the bus station where I met the rental car folks. They took the car back, and I caught an InterCity bus to Tauranga. Once in Tauranga, I checked into the Mount Backpackers, which I also cannot recommend. Also, it seems there was a fire on Mt Maunganui, so you aren’t allowed to hike up to the top! Very disappointing. I bought a copy of the NZ Herald and the local Bay of Plenty Times to try to catch up on the shuttle disaster. I felt very disconnected and the whole story sounded completely surreal. No one here in NZ talks about it at all, so I feel left out of the mourning process. I traded a couple of SMS messages with Barry and Bridget in New Hampshire, so that helped.

Today I took a bus to the Around Alone village. I also walked the docks and got up close looks at most of the boats in the race. I took a lot of pictures, too. The race village is not too exciting, but I imagine it’s nice to have a social center for the skippers and their families and all the crew and maintenance folks. It didn’t look like there were many spectators like myself, though. I asked at the info desk about spectator boats for the restart and they had no idea. I hope that gets sorted out soon, so I left them my mobile phone number and asked them to call me when they knew more.

Now my plans are to take another bus south to Napier, one of NZ’s seriously Art Deco cities. I’ll hang there for a couple of days and then come back to Tauranga for the restart. Then Back to Auckland for the America’s Cup keel reveal ceremonies. While I’m in Napier I want to take some time and make my plans for March and the South Island. If I buy some plane tickets now they shouldn’t be too expensive.