North Island Sailing Holiday
April 22, 2008
In the middle of April we were joined by a wonderful English couple, Nigel and Caroline. They had decided to see and experience as much as they could over an extended cruise and also to ‘test’ Caroline’s ‘sea worthiness’ for Nigel’s future plans.(?)
Weather conditions were not ideal but armed with our local chemist’s secret weapon, the famous Paihia Bombers in case of mal de mer, we set sail to cover as many remote areas as possible. Leaving the sheltered Bay of Islands we sailed down the coast exploring as we went to Tutukaka, out to Great Barrier Island via the isolated Mokohinau Islands, across to Coromandel and through the Hauraki Gulf Islands where we farmed sheep and cattle in a previous life, then finally to Auckland City and the airport.
Caroline passed Nigel’s ‘test’ with flying colours and both are keen to follow up with overnight and offshore sailing experience.
Well done Caroline !!
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Discovering that we have been mentioned on Don and Marilyn’s website made us feel as though we’d been “mentioned in dispatches” - a real honour. However skipper’s comments -with true Logan modesty- hardly do the trip justice! We’d planned a quiet week to celebrate our first granddaughter’s fourth birthday (the family had come to NZ in January, and it gave us oldies the excuse for a trip we’d otherwise never even have considered) - but things changed! A second grandchild had started life and the parents-to-be arrived back in England before we even left. So Cool Change and Don and Marilyn were ours for a week - “unrestricted”. A couple of delightfully easy days convinced Caroline that, perhaps, this really was “the life”. Wonderful food, wonderful company - and a sailboat that offered comfort, stability, space, views…none of all that heeling over and clutter of a traditionally rigged mono-hull, none of the airless cramped shared space “below” of the Bavaria 42 we’d sailed up the English Channel for a week in 2007.
So we just stayed. And stayed, And a week became two and we had still hardly set foot on North Island, let alone seen the rest of NZ. So be careful - Cool Change may seriously challenge your view of life, the universe, and all that!. She certainly did for us!