Whangarei to Marsden Cove

Hi everyone,

We spent four nights at Whangarei's Town Basin Marina.  It's a top spot for shopping with several large supermarkets in walking distance.  Many other stores like K-Mart, Bunnings and Harvey Norman too.  Besides shopping there are several good museums and art galleries, plus some good walks.

Whangarei Falls

Our pick of the supermarkets was Pak'n'Save.  It's a five minute walk from the marina.  We did two big sessions, each filling our packs and bags.

Our pick of the supermarkets

We did the bridges walk which takes you across two bridges - the bascule bridge below the town centre and the Canopy footbridge just upstream of the marina.  It's a nice walk with waterfront parks along much of the river.

Riverfront artworks

Bird, whale tail or seat?

Spectacular artwork, or is it graffiti?

Zen Again at the head of B jetty

We visited the Claphams National Clock Museum on the waterfront.  It houses an amazing collection of clocks and watches.

Inside the clock museum

Chronometers

Cuckoo!

We also visited the Hundertwasser Art Centre on the waterfront.  Amazing artist - very colourful!

On top of the art centre

Hundertwasser was into trees

Model of the art centre

Colourful posters

We've had Sodastream units aboard since leaving Australia in 2015.  The last time we swapped empty for full gas cylinders was in Panama.  Here we eventually found them at Briscoes.  The trick is that Australia and New Zealand cylinders use a different thread to the rest of the world.  When we arrived in South Africa we had to buy a new Sodastream unit.  Thankfully the cylinder threads aren't checked when one swaps cylinders.  So here we could swap empty 'rest of world' cylinders for local ones.  But we again need to buy an 'ANZ' Sodastream unit.

Sodastream gas cylinders with both threads

With shopping done we took a day off for the Whangarei Falls walk.  It took us about 4 hours with half an hour at the falls.  A really nice walk along the riverside up to the falls mainly through forest and parks.

The Falls

The reward back in Whangarei

Finally we visited Reyburn House which houses local art collections.  Really nice art at reasonable prices.

Art Gallery

Very nice pictures in the gallery

We met the crews of OCC yachts Shimshal 2 and Nimue for dinner in town.  There's an array of restaurants, cafes and pubs in the town centre, many of them in pedestrian malls.

Today we motored back downriver to Marsden Cove Marina.  We did so against a 15G25 E wind with a 1m chop and occasional showers.  Not much fun but once in we collected several parcels.  One of them was our new Sodastream-equivalent unit.

The unit we chose is a 'Sparkler' from NZ company Six Barrel Soda.  Sodastream is changing to a quick-release type of gas cylinder which they may have patented.  Over the last few years a host of Sodastream equivalents have appeared, all using the screw thread gas cylinders.  We have eight of them so didn't want to change.  It's great having sparkling water on tap for mixing up G&Ts, Rum'n'Gingers etc.  We're about to have one right now!

Heading downriver

Trust all's well where you are.

Marsden Cove to Whangarei

Hi everyone,

On Friday we departed Marsden Cove Marina for Whangarei.  We split the passage by anchoring overnight at Limestone Island.  Many of our cruising pals from the Pacific are in Whangarei with more arriving back from trips home over the festive season.

"Fish Hook" Bascule Bridge

We motored the 5nm to Limestone Island.  The island is about half way up Whangarei Harbour.  It's a nice anchorage with up to 1 knot of tide running through its outer part.  While there we did several boat jobs including separating our stern anchor's chain from its nylon rode and eye-splicing the latter.  Stowing them as a single unit wasn't working - too heavy!  We relearned how to splice 8-braid line.

Track to Limestone Island

Motoring upstream

Approaching Limestone Island

Anchored off Limestone Island

Stern anchor chain

Limestone Island sunset

After a good night's sleep we headed up the harbour to the Town Basin in the centre of Whangarei.  The lower part of the Harbour reminded us of the Tamar River in Tasmania.  The upper part reminded us of UK south coast rivers with lots of small marinas and boats on pile moorings.

About a mile short of the Town Basin one has to pass through a lifting Bascule bridge.  One calls the operator on VHF ch 18 to arrange passage.  We passed through with one other yacht.  From there the river is quite narrow with pile moorings and boat houses on each side.  Then it opens out at the marina beyond which there's a low bridge.

Track to Whangarei Town Basin

Arrival

Motoring upstream

Approaching the bridge

Through the bridge

Approaching Town Basin

In Town Basin

We've had another article published in UK magazine Yachting Monthly's March edition.  Entitled "Six Months in a Leaky Boat".  It describes hunting down and fixing several leaks during our 2024 North Atlantic circuit.

Front Page

First page of article

We'll be staying here for several days to do some "big town" shopping and to catch up with various cruising friends.

Trust all's well where you are!

Tutukaka to Marsden Cove

Hi everyone,

On Monday we sailed from Tutukaka to Marsden Cove Marina.  Yes, at last we had wind to sail!  Twas a great day despite a cloudy and drizzly start.

Marsden Cove Marina channel

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

As we rounded Bream Head a pod of dolphins appeared.  They were big - similar to those in WA - and seemed very excited.  Then we sailed past what we think was a sunfish with several dolphins close around it.  Perhaps the dolphins were trying to encourage us to turn away.

Tutukaka departure

Dolphins

Sunfish?

Once around Bream Head and in its lee we motored to Marsden Cove.  The tide was ebbing since we'd arrived sooner than anticipated.  We had about 1.5 knots against us and by the time we reached the marina channel it was low tide.  We got into the marina with a minimum depth in/near the channel of 2.5m.

Entering Whangarei Harbour

Marsden Cove channel

In the marina

We spent four nights in the marina.  As usual it was nice to do the laundry and have hot showers.  And there's a pretty good supermarket nearby.  We had dinner and a sundowner aboard with Tim of OCC sv Thestral who we sailed through Tonga with last year.

Next we'll be moving up the harbour to Whangarei Town Basin marina.  We'll stay there for a few days to explore the town and do some 'big town' shopping.

Trust all's well where you are!