Whangarei

Because of some unforeseen medical issues we are heading to Whangarei to leave the boat for a while. Had a nice evening and hike at this anchorage while waiting for the tide to change and head up river to Whangarei the next day

Just downriver from Whangarei we had to have a bridge open for us so we could get through to town

We came to the marina in Whangarei a few days early to take care of a few things and wait out this storm that was heading our way

SV Azurite was already in Whangarei and we got together at a very nice Greek restaurant our first night

Illimité was full of fuel but my jerry cans were empty so when Julie got a van she gave me a ride to get them filled. The price was about 70% higher than a month prior. Also got a new propane tank filled. We don’t know what the fuel situation will be when we get back as they were saying New Zealand only had about 1 1/2 months of fuel left. So at least we are as prepared as we can be.

After a nice spell in town we went back through the bridge downriver about 3nm to Port Whangarei and had Illimité hauled out of the water. Since she has only been in the water for about 2 months we didn’t even have to power wash the bottom!

While Illimité is out of the water I am having a ding in my rudder repaired. We hit some small logs at night during our South Island attempt in February and one of them I think did this

Once Illimité was set on her blocks I hurried and got the rudder dropped out and then we drove to Aukland to catch our flight.

I plan to return to New Zealand in June, Noelle maybe later. With this change of plans we are putting off Tasmania until next year and may do a Tonga-Fiji loop this southern winter instead.