A Winter Down Under (NOT for low bandwidth connection, MANY pics!)

[MapisM]

As some of you folks already know, myself and Ms.MM had the privilege of spending most of last winter in Tasmania and New Zealand.
For those who missed my couple of previous posts on this subject, here they are, focused on the Australian Wooden Boat Festival and on the hospitality of local fellow boaters respectively:

"AWBF (Hobart, 6-9 Feb 2015), anyone?"
www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?420502

"Thank you Summer Wine, thank you forum"
www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?426758

But what I already promised back then, and didn’t deliver so far, is a report+pics on the overall trip.
Apologies for the delay, I was hoping to post this in time to brighten the last days of the European winter, but I’ve been a bit busy after coming back home.
Otoh, if you are now sipping G&T under the sunshine on your boats, you might as well put a link to this thread in your agenda for next January, and look at it as a sort of “one year ago” story, if you prefer...

Apologies in advance also for the length/number of pics – believe it or not, I did make an effort to keep it short, while re–organizing the almost 4 thousands pics I had on my PC (I kid you not!), but among other things, I found out that those islands down there are much bigger than we usually think when looking at them on a map!

Ok, enough of apologizing.
I’ll let the pics tell the story now, with just a very few comments in between.

Starting from Hobart, Tasmania...

...with its beautiful museum of modern art, imho the most interesting anywhere in Aus (Sydney MCA included!)...

...the Salamanca market, with truly yours reflected in the mirror...

...and a proper Anctartic vessel (much more about boats spotted in Hobart in the AWBF thread linked at the beginning).

During our stay, there was also the yearly Festivale in Launceston, so we headed north from Hobart to join AndieMac and his family, who introduced us to the very friendly and relaxed Tassie lifestyle...

...completed by a great day of cruising on the Tamar, a 40+ miles tidal river large enough for shipping, going all the way up to Bass Strait:

Ok, now I’ll post a pic taken right in the middle of nowhere, just to see if anyone has a clue of wtf are those things in the background...?

Anyway, aside from the previous weird installation, natural landscapes are the essence of Tasmania – just about anywhere...

...to be continued...

 

[MapisM]

Last but not least, another highlight of our stay in Tas was the time we spent boating/fishing (and towing inflatables!) in the Norfolk Bay (NW of the Tasmanian Peninsula).
A memorable time indeed, many thanks again C&A!

 

[MapisM]

After Tasmania, we moved on to Christchurch, in the S Island of NZ.
A beautiful and lively town, though still heavily marked by the consequences of the bad 2011 earthquake.
Incidentally, we were there during the anniversary of the tragedy: the following pic shows all the white chairs arranged for those who lost their life that day, in an open space not far from the new Transitional Cathedral (aka “Cardboard” among the locals), for the anniversary ceremony. Very touching.

But as I said, it’s actually a lively town, and surrounded by a beautiful natural scenario!

From Christchurch, we drove further South to Queenstown, before heading back North along the Western Coast.
Yer again, some breathtaking landscapes, just about everywhere.
If that’s something you can easily get enough of, well, do NOT go to NZ!

...to be continued...

 

[MapisM]

What, and no boats, I hear you saying!? Ok, here’s a small appetizer (more later).
These were spotted in a small harbour of the Golden Bay, in the northern tip of the South Island.
Any idea of their (very specific) purpose?

Anyway, also in that region (aside from the very tasty food delivered daily by the above boats!) the endless, unspoilt landscapes are what impressed us most...

You might wonder what’s special in the following pic, I suppose.
The answer is not much, aside from the fact that anything (and I mean it!) you can see there was completely under the water – at least a couple of feet of it, in a spring lake used as a drinking water reserve.
It’s easy to see why...

The place is called Pupu Springs btw, and those who speak Italian can imagine why we found the name a bit funny...
Anyway, the following pic, taken in the same lake, shows a spot where the u/w spring moved the water just enough to break the surface tension, without spoiling the crystal – like transparency.

The following two pics show the Rawhiti Caves. It takes a rather demanding walk to reach them, but well worth the effort – pics don’t do them justice!
Btw, walking/trekking is another thing that you’d better be prepared to deal with, in NZ.
I’m not saying that it’s not worth going if you don’t like walking, but for sure you would miss a lot of what the place has to offer.

The following pics show some other spots around the northern coast of the S Island...

The following one is peculiar, because aside from SWMBO proudly smiling for having survived the walk from the coast visible in the distance, it shows... Guess what? A landing strip!
Reminded me of Air America, when Mel Gibson landed a Pilatus Porter in the forest. The movie strip was probably even steeper, but at least it was straight!
Not sure if this one is still used, but it was well marked and also maintained, sort of...

Oh, and this is for the few yatties among us: taken in the narrowish channel leading to Nelson Harbour.
Those Kiwis are definitely keen on using sails as much as they can, rather than turning the engine on!
Quite the opposite of the typical sailboat attitudes that I’m used to see among Med boaters, I must say...

And lastly, onboard the ferry to Wellington in the very early morning, for more of the same on the N Island.
Stay tuned...

 

[MapisM]

Below we were instructing our crew p) to prepare for mooring while approaching Wellington, the political capital of NZ, at the very bottom of N Island:

From there, on the road again (we drove 6+ thousands of Kms overall, in NZ alone).
We realised that the Japs managed to sell a few cars also down there – look carefully below, in between other proper cars...

Just for you, Lord of the Rings lovers: here’s a pic of Mount Doom, aka Tongariro...

...around which there’s a proper alpine ski resort – one possible alternative for those who can’t survive without air conditioning in the Med summer!

Thermal pools are yet another peculiarity of the place...

...not to mention the Waitomo glowworm caves, a spectacular sight indeed.
Not the only one in NZ, though: we also went to the less known Kawiti caves, much further North (near Kawakawa), and even if smaller, they are similar, also beautiful, and much less crowded.

And eventually, we reached the City of Sails...

This is for jfm – I’m sure you can spot the tower where I suppose you are used to held your business meetings down there... A spectacular location indeed!

And among other things, also in Auckland we found – as well as in Hobart – a beautiful modern Art Gallery.
Mind, the army camouflage thing was NOT part of it, phew!

This is an artist suggestion we sympathized with...

...to be continued...

 

[MapisM]

Now, I mentioned earlier that I was going to post also some boat pics, didn’t I? It’s a boating forum, after all...
First of all, a couple of the most elegant vessels which we spotted – needless to say, they are NOT mobos:

Following with some pics worth of a STB (albeit an easy one, actually):
A pretty substantial gin palace (built by Fincantieri btw – she obviously had to cruise for a while, to reach the antipodes of her shipyard!)...

A lovely explorer small ship that I’m almost sure to have spotted in Croatia several years ago...

One that Nautical surely won’t struggle to recognize...

A somewhat smaller boat, but which is up there among the top 5 vessels of my personal ranking – and I mean on this planet, not just in Auckland!
Chapeau to her owner, obviously a true connoisseur.

And something for game fishing lovers who don’t mind the idea of a luxury toy built in the People’s Republic.
‘Fiuaskme, when I’ll win the lottery, I’d rather fly to Seattle for speccing a boat similar to the previous one, but to each their own...

Now, I must make a short digression: all this trip was arranged with home exchanges (10 in total). Since swmbo discovered that a few years ago, it became by far our favourite way of travelling.
But while planning the trip, she realized that NZ is not that far from several Pacific Islands destinations, so she had the idea to use the time of our stay in Auckland for flying also to one of them, spending a few nights in a nice hotel and enjoying a bit of beach/resort lifestyle, for a change.
Trouble is, she picked the wrong destination: we went to Tonga, somewhere between Fiji and Cook Islands, and to cut a long story short, my suggestion to anyone who ever considered going there on holiday is, in brief, don’t.
Just have a look at the pics and the short clip below, instead.
There’s pretty much everything that is worth seeing, and you could as well pretend to have visited the place without the hassle of actually going there...
The only pic worth commenting is the first one, taken while leaving Auckland, because it shows some of the beautiful spots that we had the pleasure to cruise with Summer Wine (as already briefly mentioned in the second of the threads linked at the beginning): the SE coast of Waiheke Island in the bottom right, not far from the Man O’war Bay where we overnighted at anchor, with the Chamberlins Island right in front of it, and the mainland coast in the background.

...to be continued...

 

[MapisM]

Now, back to civilization: these pics were taken during the cruise around Waiheke Island that I previously mentioned.
Many thanks again D, looking forward to showing you and S some of our own Med cruising grounds – just say when!

After Auckland, we spent some time further north, in Omaha Beach, Russell (Bay of Islands), and Whangaroa Bay.
The latter is considered as one of the world capitals of game fishing – in fact, it’s hard to spot boats around there that don’t have something to see with fishing, one way or another...

But from there, we reached also the northern tip of NZ, along the 90 miles beach of Top Gear fame, up to Cape Reinga...

Did I already mention that postcard landscapes are all over the place?

This is something that those concerned about the Med fouling might find interesting, because it seems that Mother Nature already found a solution that works for the whales, and I see no reason why it shouldn’t work for boats.
Any volunteer willing to bring his boat to Cape Reinga and give the scratching rock a try?

Coming to the Bay of Islands, I must say that jfm had good reasons to recommend the place, that is indeed beautiful.

Btw, AndieMac and his wife joined us during our stay there, which was indeed a pleasure, also because the common passion for the sea meant that we couldn’t miss the opportunity to make another bit of cruising...

...to be continued...

 

[MapisM]

Worth mentioning the Otehei Bay, also recommended by jfm – see panoramic view below...

...as well as the close encounters with the very friendly local residents of the bay.
The water temperature wasn’t warm enough for us to wish to join the snorkelers, but it was nice to see plenty of those lovely creatures also above the surface, anyway!

The following are a few other spots in the area between the Bay of Islands and Omaha Beach
Gosh, I can’t believe that I’m posting, among others, a pic of a loo.
Well, at least is much more artistic than the onboard stuff that we usually debate...!

The last pic is nowhere near as impressive as the live view actually was.
In fact, we spotted a pod of orcas from a beach in the Tawharanui Peninsula, in front of the Kawau Island.
The short video gives a better idea of the number (and size!) of those animals, that occasionally went as close as 10/15 metres from the kayaker – that actually didn’t seem too worried.
Now, I’m also aware that orcas are not known for attacking humans normally, but if one of the bigger among those beasts would have fancied to taste that guy for breakfast, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.
For once, we were definitely happier to be on land, rather than afloat...!

Ok, that’s all folks, with special thanks to those who managed to reach the end of what is probably my longest post ever…!

 

[alt]

P & S,
You guys are really living the dream. Well done on showing us what life is all about!

 

[rustybarge]

Fantastic photos, gives a real feel of the places you visited. Wow!

I was just wondering if you have any more snaps of the pretty explorer yacht or its designer or other info: gorgeous design!

 

[Hurricane]

Wow - thats a huge number of pics.
I know how long threads like this take to post.

Thanks for posting - some of those "postcard pics" were fabulous.
BTW - internet bandwidth here in CF was OK to load the pics and video - at mid day anyway - evenings it grinds to a halt.

 

[BigBlue]

Fantastic photos, gives a real feel of the places you visited. Wow!

I was just wondering if you have any more snaps of the pretty explorer yacht or its designer or other info: gorgeous design!

Looks to me like an Inace explorer yacht... google it, design is very similar

 

[jfm]

Wow, what a fantastic post MapisM. Thank you loads. Your photographs are wonderful - bravo on the technical photography department.

I loved seeing the Tasmania pictures - I've never been there but it looks beautiful. I've been to most of the places you photographed in NZ and the pictures bring back happy memories. Yes Otehei bay is beautiful - glad you got there - I rented the bach on the beach that is at the far left of the cluster of houses on the right hand side of your picture, partly obscured by a stubby tree. Zane Grey cottage - highly recommended. And thanks for the picture of the late Mr Hundertwasser's glorious toilets! I've, er, been there! (Yes, "been" is another EN word with multiple meanings )

The STB is obviously Serene, owned by Russian Mr Schefler who built the spirits/vodka businesses that includes Stoli vodka

I'll look at all the pics again later - might have some more comments/questions please!

 

[BartW]

what a Epic thread P !
it defo gives a impressive overvieuw of your stay down there,
and most pics are pro quality, impressive stuff,
it 'll take me much time to have a close look at this number of pics this evening ;-) chapeau for the massive work of putting this together !
absolutely fantastic !

good to see that S is doing well, and looking good as ever
it shows that you had a wonderfull time there, well done !

 

[MapisM]

Glad that you liked the contribution, folks - as well as to answer any further Qs, of course.
Meanwhile, yes, Serene she is of course. All 134 metres of her!
And @RB: I do have a few other pics of Dardanella, the boat you asked about, but none are better than the one I posted (she was moored in a restricted access dock).
Otoh, google is your friend if you wish to know more about her - this is just one of several websites describing her:
http://pendennis.com/yachts/dardanella/

 

[Lloydroberts]

Epic.
Wonderful photo quality.

As for the Bentley, horrendous.
The only one I've seen like that belonged to a certain Mario Balotelli who is obviously lacking the famous Italian style and good taste.

 

[scubaman]

Only now have i had time to sit down and properly go through this. Very very nice pictures, P, well done if I may say so! The picture quality is very impressive too, you must be pleased with the cam. Those lowish light concert pics look especially nice.

Interesting composition in the "turn your life around", did I detect use of the same in some of your pics? I've always struggled with it.

I've only ever heard nice things about NZ, but until now haven't had any idea just how beautiful the place is. It seems to have it all. Thank you for taking the time to post.

 

[MYAG]

Simply stunning photo's MapisM, perfectly posted too. I'm pleased it took me a while to get through them..... Thank you!

 

[Pinnacle]

FAB series of posts P. Thanks for posting. I don't want to show them to SWMBO coz she will want to go!

 

[Summer. Wine]

MapisM thanks for posting and showing our little country in such an excellent light. I loved the Tasmania part. What was AndieMac singing? Hopefully not "Show me the way to go home." Best wishes for a great summer to you and S.