Great Barrier Island

We left Whangarei in relatively calm seas with hopes to spend a night at the Mokohinau Island group.  I had heard the diving here was good, but too many weeks at a dock spoiled us for calm waters and it was way too rolly here.  We moved on and comfortably anchored inside Port Fitzroy bay before dark.  

 

We stayed here for a few lazy days.  We hiked up Old Lady trail for sweeping views of the harbor and got Emily’s new inflatable kayak blown up and in the water.  She loves it and with a small bottom-keel, it tracks OK for an inflatable.  

 

They had a nice general store there to buy essentials like fresh cream for morning coffee.  We were anchored behind some small islands that were covered with oysters.  The first day we gathered a couple dozen and put them on the grill until they poached open.  They were very good.  The next day, Emily and I took the kayaks to the island with a small hammer and an oyster knife.  She and I sat on the rocks for about an hour eating one after another.  Emily would find a big one and knock it off the rock with the hammer and Dad would shuck it.  I lost count at about 30 that slid down my throat and Emily ate more than a dozen.  They were raw, cold and delicious and I can’t imagine how they could be fresher.

 

We moved across the sheltered Port Fitzroy bay to Smokehouse bay for a few nights.  What a treat that was.  They had built a house complete with inside bath and showers fed by fresh water mountain streams.  They had a wood stove that would heat about 200 gallons of water to supply steaming baths and even had another tub under the stars.  They had wash tubs for doing laundry, hand wringers, and several clothes trees on which to hang the laundry to dry.  Clothes pins, pots and pans for cooking, racks and a smokehouse for smoking fish, picnic tables and 3 rope swings for the kids were all provided.  We met some friends that we had met in Opua and they invited Tom to go with them on SCUBA for lobsters (they call them Crayfish here).  We dove for about and hour and although Tom only saw small ones, one of the other chaps bagged one and decided that we should keep it for dinner.  The Kiwis have all been very nice to us.

 

We moved to another protected bay called Kiwiriki and there we did some more kayaking and I dragged Emily behind the dingy in our new tow toy.  She was a little nervous at first but soon she couldn’t get enough of hopping the wake.  I tried SCUBA here for lobster on my own and had no luck.

We moved out of Port Fitzroy bay and around to explore some of the southern anchorages.  Again, I stopped near some lobster pots on the way and saw no lobsters here as well.  We tucked into Whangaparapara Bay.  From here we took a 4 hour hike to hot springs where we had knee deep 110 degree water up to our knees.  There are copper mines here and many of the rocks were colored verdigris green.  There was the typical sulfur smell that Emily did not care for but seeing the bubbles rising from the vents was pretty neat to see.  They had a sign posted that warned not to put your head under the water because an amoebic meningitis could swim up your nose and kill you.  We did not linger too long there.  

 

The trails were well maintained with bridges over most of the streams and benches and picnic tables here and there.  We saw many birds along the trails, waterfalls and the sound of Cicadas in the trees was almost deafening.

 

We had a nice lunch at the Great Barrier lodge and met a local man that was to be married the next day.  He was delivering lobsters and scallops that he had gathered himself for the reception.  He told me where in another bay to look for scallops.  The next day, I followed his tip and dropped the hook in 50 feet of water in Blind bay.  It took me longer to don the SCUBA gear than it did to gather 58 scallops.  They littered the bottom and I only went about 15 feet around the anchor to bag my limit.  We loaded them aboard and moved again to Tryphena Harbor.  We tucked behind a sheltered point.  The scallops each have a small orange roe sack that was only slightly briney.  The white scallops were tender and melted in your mouth.  We sampled a few raw with some hot chutney and had a lovely scallop casserole for dinner with the rest.

They have a nice ferry dock near our anchorage, but the main town and restaurant were a good 1 ½ hour walk around several bays and over a small hill.  We enjoyed lunch in a café and then trekked home.  We will stay here a few days wanting for calmer waves to head south east toward Mercury Island.

Tom