WR is still in New Zealand
Dear Friends of Wind River,
Many months have passed since we last wrote, and much has happened since we arrived in Opua Nov. 11. First we spent nearly a month working on the boat. This work included having a kink removed from the stern pulpit, the result of a small collision while we were at a mooring in Bora Bora, and having some chafe problems in the mainsail resolved.
In early Dec. we flew home to do taxes and get married. We left WR on a mooring, and when we returned in early Feb, all was well. We returned to a slip and spent the next month working on the boat including sanding and varnishing teak, scrubbing and waxing the topsides, and polishing the stainless steel. One reason for doing all this is that we are putting the boat up for sale.(You can visit the website at <http://windriversailboat.com.>).
We didnt make this decision lightly. WR has served us well. We have never had anything major fail. We know other boats that have had steering, engines, or sails fail. We met a fellow from Tasmania, who nearly purchased WR, who four weeks before had lost his steering, autopilot, and engine in seas driven by 50 knot winds which then rolled the boat twice. He broke four ribs and was rescued by helicopter. He thinks his boat is still out there somewhere on the Tasman Sea. I feel that at this point I am too old for this sort of adventure. I am tired of the level of anxiety associated with this sort of sailing. There were two boats that sailed from Mexico when we did: one was Redwood Coast and their mainsail split on the way north from here to Fiji and the other was Calliope who was heading for Seattle via the Austral Isles and got hammered by rough seas and wound up in Rarotonga very much off their desired route. So we are selling.
During part of March and April we took a trip to the South Island. We drove to Wellington, took the ferry across to Picton, and proceeded down the west coast. We visited the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers but clouds hid Mt. Cook above. We took a wonderful overnight boat trip on Milford Sound and another on Doubtful Sound. Both of these sounds are really fjords. We drove through Invercargill to Bluff, at the southern tip of the island, and took the ferry across to Stewart Island. Here we hiked for three days spending the nights in huts. We had been much taken by the birds in NZ and here we became more familiar with them. Many have the most melodious calls; just listening to them is wonderful.
After Stewart I. We returned to the South Island and headed up the east coast. At Dunedin we took the Talieri Gorge railway to Middlemarch, where we rented bikes. We continued up the old railroad grade, once the site of the Otago Central Railway, over bridges and through tunnels. We spent the first night in country inns. On the third day we were to return downhill to Middlemarch where we would take the train back to Dunedin. However, the winds began to blow. We found that not only could we not ride but that we couldnt even walk, especially on fills and bridges. At one point I was crouched down holding the bike almost horizontally and upwind of me. A gust came and the next thing I knew I and the bike had been turned 180 deg. and with great difficulty I kept it from being torn from my grasp. Ultimately, we made it to a road where we were picked up and returned to Middlemarch in time to catch the train.
Further north along the west coast we came to Christchurch. Here we boarded the train that crosses to the west coast over the Southern Alps, a spectacular trip. After visiting some wineries in the Marleborough region we took the ferry back to the North Island and returned home to Opua. The above are just some highlights of the trip, which lasted well over 30 days. Two days ago we returned from a one week trip here on the North Island. We visited the Coromandel Peninsula and the Mt. Egmont area (one more mountain hidden by clouds; it is nearly winter here) and we rode on a steamboat on the Whanganui River. This boat spent 40 years sunk to the bottom of the river. In the early 90s it was raised then restored and fitted with a new boiler then in 2000 it began operating once more. I was able to spend a lot of time in the engine room and the chief engineer explained both the operation and the restoration. He was also very interested in my own steam launch.
Speaking of steam, between these two trips we have visited four places, two north of Wellington and two in Auckland, where vintage steam locomotives and other rolling stock are restored and cared for. In each case the people have been very friendly, showing me their whole operation, taking me into locomotive cabs, and explaining all kinds of things.
Which brings us to the people of NZ. They have been, without exception, warm, friendly, and helpful. People, including young kids, speak to you when passing. Perhaps this is so striking because it is in such contrast to the way things are at home.
We must also comment on the landscape. Aside from various mountains much of the country is hilly; sometimes the hills are small and sharp. Much of this hill country as well as much of the plains country is covered with grass, very green grass. So there are many sheep and some cattle. At this time of year the sun is low in the northern sky (that takes getting used to) and as a result the grass, sheep, poplars, and pines are suffused with an exquisite light that you would only expect to encounter in a storybook.
We fly to Australia this coming weekend for a trip that may last two months, depending on how selling the boat goes. This can be considered a lengthy honeymoon.
If the boat sells, this could be our final installment to the Friends of Wind River.
Fair Winds, Kit and Susan
