Back in Whangerei NZ

On the 15th of April we started our long flight back to New Zealand and Saphir. In the morning we got an email that the flight was one hour delayed and at the end we were 2 hours delayed due to the air room over Iran was closed we were told. This was our layover time in Doha that disappeared. We missed our connecting flight to Auckland by 10 min and next flight was next morning at 01.50 after 24 hours. Luckily there was one room left so we checked in at the hotel inside the airport and slept most of the time before we took the flight to Auckland. We have flown over lot of water from Doha to New Zealand and lots of it we will be sailing on when we sail to south Africa. Tiered but happy to arrived in Auckland. Only 1 1/2 hour before the car rental opens at 05.00.

You think it should not be any traffic at 5.30 in the morning but New Zealander are early birds. Luckily most traffic was on their way to Auckland so less traffic when we past Auckland. 2 1/2 hours drive ended up in 3 1/2 due to road work. Edgar is in a hurry and even if he tries he can’t drive 100 km/h as it is aloud. Too many curves and they can only be taken in 65 down to 25km/h. There are signs before every curve that tells you what speed to use.

We drive straight to the Marina to have a look on Saphir. She is still in indoors but will be moved out during the day. The painting of the hull looks great and the have put Saphir af Stockholm back, Nordia and the Saphir diamant on the side.

She looks strange without the mast.

The upcomings days we spent doing things on the boat for a few hours and exploring Whangarei area. Although on the longer walks I didn’t get Edgar with me. I had a plan to walk to Whangareis falls but ended up on Mount Pahrihaka. Which was halfway to the falls but also very much up. The walking tracks are very good and well taken care of and parts of them you have steps when it is to straight up I guess. I counted to 800 steps to the top and the totals hight of the mountain is 241m. My legs was a bit sore when I came up and was happy to rest while I enjoyed the view. On the way down I did see a tiny tiny waterfall.

We went to the falls the next day by car. Although Edgar didn’t want to walk down and have a look at the fall. To many steps down for his knees… hmmm

It is a bit frustrating when not much happens on the boat and things get delayed. Meanwhile we continue to drive around along the coast and found a very nice harbour in Tutukaka that we might visit on our sailing up along the coast. The knittings continues as well.

The mast is getting in place and we can go in to the water. Very happy for that since we already moved in to the boat. It is a bit uncomfortable/strange to live on the boat when it is not in the water. Although we can use the toilet and also cook but we have not been shopping so not much to work with. The last thing is to hang up the dinghy before we go in to the water. What a nice feeling we are floating and on our way in to town to do grocery shopping for the crossing. First we have two nights at Nikau Marina next to the boatyard since there was a bit more electricity and other things with the mast to fix. Lucky us there is a nice Greek restaurant in the harbour.

Still not all done but we decided to go in to the town basin so we can start doing some shopping and continue preparing the boat for our sailing. We have to wait for the high tie so we can go in and also get the bridge opened. I really like the shape of the opening part of the bridge. It is a giant fish hook.

The next morning our sails arrives but can’t be hoisted since the hydraulic needs to be fixed. We got the mainsail fixed so we don’t have to have battens in them any more, mended the torn and new UV covers.

Sailing is just a tine part of our journey. We spend a lot of time working on our patience with all this waiting and somehow it is hard starting doing things so I am glad I have my knitting and the blog even if I have hard time writing in it some times and sometimes I can go on writing a lot as this time. (At this moment I am waiting for my wash to be done at Opua Marina so a perfect time to write.)

Our wind indicator is getting changed. Glad it’s not me on the top of the mast. It works and we can finally se on the instruments the strength of the wind and where it comes from. Makes sailing a bit easier

After the rain the sun comes out and so does the rainbow. This time was not fun though…. We have a leak in the ceiling in our kitchen. Grrr more problems! Luckily it is an easy fix that we could do our self. It was leaking from our buttons in the cockpit. Just needed some silicone and we are all good for now, I hope. Talking about leaking we have had problems with our windows and hope know all is fixed after they been put back in with new isolation around them. They didn’t find ours so they use something else which they had to change immediately on a few after we hade used the water hose to see if they were leaking.

In Whangarei they have this eternity machine that shows the time. Very cool with all the metal balls that moves around and the cyclist.

Tuesday morning on the 7th of May we leave Whangarei Marina which by the way have one of the employees that speak Swedish.

We are ready to start our sailing but wait there are only one sail up….

Hugs Eva