We woke up to pouring rain, the forecast was for rain all day long, and it was accurate! We had planned to sit the day out here but once Rowan’s work call was done we decided to get closer to Auckland with our temperamental engine. We headed to Kawau island just off the mainland, about 30 miles away. We had to motor the first ten miles until we got out of the shadow of Little Barrier Island. The rest of the passage was a very gentle sail as the wind hovered around 10 knots. It was not great visibility in the low cloud so we were extra vigilant. We discovered an hour into the journey that our AIS button had been switched off, it must have been accidentally knocked, glad we spotted it as it is pretty essential in these low visibility conditions. We got in late afternoon to Mansion House Bay, on Kawau island. It has a beautiful home remodelled by Sir Grey, Governor of NZ, into a mansion in 1862. We squeezed into the anchorage, it is pretty small, there were already four boats anchored. Typically the engines behaved impeccably all the way, so now we have an intermittent fault, to just keep us on our toes. At least we are not far from Gulf Harbour marina where we are booked in from Friday over Christmas, while we go and join Rowan’s cousin.
Rainy view from the bedroom window
Low cloud on Great Barrier island
Out in the channel navigating our way into the anchorage on Kawau island
Mansion house bay
Grey skies with cheerful visitors to the boat
Lights and reflections from Mansion house and the other boats
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