Auckland, NZ

We departed before sunrise on Wednesday to sail the 7.5 hours from Great Barrier to Auckland. Dalton was on the anchor in her bathrobe, and then soon back in bed with a book. We enjoyed a beautiful day with calm waters. While underway, John gave the boat a thorough scrubbing and reorganized lockers and lines. I changed sheets, vacuumed, refreshed ant bait, cleaned countertops and heads. These things rapidly become activities instead of chores! Dalton and Hall read, wrote, played games, navigated and fished. I started spaghetti for dinner, and after making the sauce, we ran out of propane. Luckily, there’s a single electric burner on board that we could use for the noodles and remaining meals.

Our initial docking in Auckland went smoothly. John rapidly made connections and scheduled trades over the next several days. We finally found a rental car after multiple calls, so Hall, Dalton and I walked to pick up the car and explore. We have spent the last several days exploring this green, playground laden, vibrant, friendly, coastal city. It is exceptionally clean, easy to navigate, and biker/walker friendly. Professional and school days tend to start around 9am, and no one seems to be rushing anywhere. Coffee shops and breakfast nooks open around 8 or 9 am, and most places close by 7pm during the week. The playgrounds are typically expansive parks, some with in-gound trampolines, and ziplines! No waivers necessary.

We have visited a couple of the city libraries to refresh our reading selections. Although they cannot typically find their sought after selections, I’ve had to wrestle both Dalton and Hall out of there! We’ve made friends with the Dockmaster, who has allowed us to use his private washer/dryer. This is one of the greatest luxuries of being at a marina!

We have enjoyed the culturally expansive cuisine, and the seafood is fresh and readily available. We’ve installed a new stove (I am thrilled!) , which has 4 working burners and adjustable temperatures! We are also now back to two working heads and two functional water makers; full propane tanks, and other wins that bing us much comfort and joy!

We are getting into the swing of 2 minute showers and clirty (not clean, not dirty) clothes. The weather has been cool and sunny- low 60’s overnight and warming up to 70’s in the day. There’s a continuous breeze, which keeps the bugs at bay. We had intermittent rain yesterday and for most the of the night.

The Maritime Museum was a hit- worth visiting twice. We’ve done some shopping and dinghy touring. John and Hall have wing foil lessons scheduled for tomorrow. Yesterday, I ran John up the mast to take down the NKE mast head unit that provides wind speed and direction. We took out the spinnakers to assess, repack, and prepare for use.

We plan to be in Auckland for at least a few more days, but we’re in no rush to leave. There’s plenty to do here while we get the boat in ship shape, and we feel welcome and entertained with daily adventures and errands. Until our next update…

S/V Nogal