We were off soon after I had surfaced and had my essential cup of tea. We discovered that the charts said we had anchored in an area marked 0.8ms yesterday, we had been faithfully checking the depth gauge when we anchored, we had not checked it against the charts that show the low tide depths! Hopefully we wont make that mistake again! We headed out the passage to take us down south, which meant passing Cape Brett with the dramatic hole in the island.
We had heard that the Whangamumu anchorage was lovely, we were not sure how comfy it would be but once inside the bay it was blissfully calm and with no other boats, we had the pick of the anchorage. In the afternoon we kayaked to the shore where the whaling station used to be. It feels incredibly sad that they used to trap the whales in the bay. I wonder if the whales ever visit any more, or if the horror has been passed down the generations, like the elephants. There was a lot of enormous old metal machinery, it must have been a really big set up.
What I’ve learnt from google …….
Whaling started here in 1844, in 1910, the station was transformed into an extensive factory. Whangamumu Whaling Station was the only one in the world that caught whales with nets, and it was Northland’s longest running and most successful station. The remaining historic structures include vats or tanks that held whale oil, the slipway on the beach front, and the old boiler. The gradual decline of the station reportedly begun in the 1930s. The depression had affected the market price for oil and the station could not dispose of its previous year’s catch. The whaling station was finally closed down and abandoned during the Second World War when German mines sank the trans-Pacific liner Niagara off the Northland coast. This left a crude oil slip in the vicinity of Whangamumu causing the humpbacks to avoid their old route.
We found a path that lead us up to a waterfall. There is a walking trail that we hope to do tomorrow to the top of the ridge and should have some good views. We got back into the kayak, and paddled all around the bay. Near the entrance to the bay was a cave Rowan wanted to investigate, we could hear a loud echoing noise coming from it, but the surge going into it meant it was a tiny gap, I really didn’t like getting that close, it was a huge swell and way too turbulent for my liking. Back at the boat we had a wonderfully calm evening, which Rowan celebrated with his favourite meal – boerewors on the braai (sausages on the BBQ).
Leaving the lovely Urupukapuka island,
The passage heading south out of the Bay of Islands
Cape Brett on the left, we had the sail up and decided not to go through the gap as there were so many boats about
Cape Brett lighthouse that you can get to on a trail
Cape Brett
So glad we went around Cape Brett, otherwise we would not have seen this amazing hole in the island
Dramatic scenery
Cape Brett from the other side
Chilly but happy
The entrance to the bay that we came and kayaked around later
The entrance to the bay behind us as we head into calm waters
Entering the bay
The whaling station
PolePole alone in the bay
The tree growing through the old building, love how the bricks are caught in the roots
Big old lumps of metal
The old boiler with all it’s metal tubes
Amazing old photo at the site, I’ve just watched a youtube video of film from 1933 that films people hunting whales from a rowing boat around Cape Brett, so sad, but at least that was a little sporting, but once they got this steam powered boat it must have been a lot easier, no wonder they increased their catch from 10 to 50 whales during a season
The waterfall we walked up to
Very pretty little stream
This water must have been essential for the station
Pics from Rowan’s drone footage
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