Tuesday 20 November, Opua,  New Zealand  South Pacific Ocean 35 18.8S 174 07.3E 

Today’s Blog by Peter (Time zone GMT+13.00; UTC +13.00)

Sorry to have been a bit lax in our blog completion since our arrival in New Zealand.

After the highlight of the total solar eclipse last Wednesday,  we had a bumpy ride down to Opua (Bay of Islands, ….eer NZ!) with wind well above 25knots for many hours - 30 for several-  though fortunately behind the beam.  We eventually crept into the harbour at 2am and finally found the 400m long quarantine berth marking the perimeter of Opua marina at around 03.15AM boat time.

The obligatory “everything must go” breakfast, before the quarantine man arrived,  was duly consumed – steak, eggs and a glass or two of wine with cheese and biscuits for after. (Slumming is not a Serendipity trait).  This turned out to be just as well because,  at 8:30 am (6:30am boat time – another 2 hours of our lives had disappeared on the passage),  the friendly quarantine official arrived complete with large black bags.  He then proceeded to fill these with all meat from the freezer, as well as our remaining fruit and veg.  There were some unexpected casualties:  dried azouki beans (but sadly not the dried lentils) and three (expensive)  tins of Confit de Canard.  Finally cleared, we relocated to our berth in the marina.

After that, Friday was spent in a semi-vegetative, somnambulant  state.  We did discover that we had arrived  at the tail end of the 2012 All Points Pacific Rally;  we found ourselves qualified to join the barbeque as a result of sailing to Opua from somewhere in the Pacific.

Saturday it rained – heavily.

Sunday it tried to rain as we toured across to the west coast in our hire car.  Ultimate objective was some old Kauri Trees but there were several stops along the way.

First stop was Haruru Falls.

Then a chocolate factory (David would love to be reincarnated as a LH blue glove!)

Our plan was to cross the Hokianga Harbour by sea, but ferry timing meant we needed an early lunch in Kohukohu,  where New Zealand home-made steak and cheese pies were sampled.

Next highlight was the entrance to Hokianga harbour, marked by some enormous sand dunes / hills.

Then came the Kauri trees, one estimated to be 2000 years old before the long trip home.

Monday it rained……

Peter and David had decided to extend their diving aspirations by doing a two day Advanced Diving Course.  One objective was to dive on the wreck of the Rainbow Warrior as well as making it easier (ticket wise) to dive other wrecks and more difficult dive sites.  Very historical.  The Rainbow Warrior was Green Peace’s flagship of the pacific which was sunk in Auckland Harbour by French Security officers in 1985.  This was to forestall it travelling to the Tuamotos Islands to interfere with France’s nuclear testing programme – blowing up atolls.  Refloated in Auckland for forensic evidence – a photographer had died in the explosions – it was re-sunk just off the Cavalli Islands in 1987 both as a memorial and a dive site.

Our diving was great but cold – water temperature 14 degrees C which 7 mm full wetsuits with boots and hoods just about staved off.  Looks like the end of snorkelling from the dinghy for a while!

Terry ad Lenie meanwhile viewed the sites of Keri Keri,  including the two oldest houses, dug out their walking boots and tramped 5km to Rainbow Falls and 5km back.

Tuesday it rained (and rained)

The diving course was completed with another visit to the Rainbow Warrior. It was unfortunately too rough for the planned subsequent reef dive.

Sightseeing moved to Waitangi Treaty Grounds, unfortunately shared with tourists from a cruise ship anchored for a picnic lunch in the bay.

Tomorrow we plan to see what the Bay of Islands and coastline to the north have to offer.  The weatherman has (yet again) promised dry sunny weather – shades of Michal Fish!