We all had rather restricted sleep last night, the excitement of nearly being in NZ kept us going. The sea was pretty rough and by midmorning it was becoming obvious we were going to hit the front with 30 knot winds, spot on arriving in Opua! The weather deteriorated and the seas became very choppy, so the last 30 miles seemed to take forever. The wind was right behind us and we surfed nose down the waves and back up again.
I cooked up a storm using up all the fresh produce we had left, made a huge fruit salad with all the left over pawpaws from our various sevusevu Fijian offerings. Also did a lot of tidying up and cleaning so that Biosecurity would go easily.
Rowan managed an afternoon nap and then it was our all weather gear on, as we entered the Bay of Islands in 30 knot winds. We had to get right in before we could see land as the cloud was so low. There was a boat in front that we have been creeping up on all day, they just snuck in before us. It actually was quite good being able to follow them in, it is a deep bay with the marina right at the far end, you have to navigate in wiggling through marker buoys. It was 6pm by the time we got to the marina, everything was closed so we followed the boat in front, Annie to the Quarantine dock. Another boat that we had been following was also in, we would be 3rd in line for inspection tomorrow. Annie crew, very helpfully came and caught our ropes, having just tied on themselves. They had left us a very precise space to get in between them and the dunny barge (toilet!). Rowan nailed it, extremely difficult doing it in 20 knots winds, in this protected marina. Phil was gobsmacked as we missed the Dunny barge by inches…..but it all worked perfectly in the roaring wind, we were secure and relieved to be here. It wasn’t long before we were having a celebratory drink.
About half an hour later a boat came in, with a guy who was next door to us in Vuda marina in Fiji. Tom is a Delivery Skipper, Rowan had recommended him to someone on our sailing chat group who was looking for a delivery skipper. He got the job and is now Rowan’s big friend! Phil and Rowan went and caught lines for them and about half an hour later they were on board having a drink with us. His American girlfriend was very jolly, we heard a number of times that she is a scientist, they have done some serious sailing. He is English and qualified as a chef, his mum moved to Antiqua which is how he got into yachting. They did 3 months cheffing on a Fishing trawler in the Artic. They now have a boat they live on and keep in NZ. More and more booze flowed, it was 10pm, and they hadn’t left, so we just decided to feed them too with left overs. He cooked up the last of our aubergine and bok choy with a dash of gin which was surprisingly good. At midnight a huge German cat came in on the other side of the pontoon to us. The men all went to help, the Germans were typically unappreciative of the help and barked orders to the helpful trio, this really riled up Tom, who got more and more sweary, so we were very glad to get him off the boat. Way too much booze had flowed, combined with our lack of sleep. I went to bed a little nervous as we had been warned not to get off our boats and that there were security cameras everywhere! We collapsed into bed under our snuggly down duvet…… it has got very cold!
In our matching warm gear
Fully concentrating as we enter the bay, and can finally see land
Looking forward to exploring these islands in better weather
Rough waters in this supposedly calm bay, following the Cat in front into the marina
Disposing of our Fijian wreath in my all weather gear
Safely tucked up on the Q dock
Celebrating our safe arrival
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