A Mauri Farewell

New Zealand is not cheap.  Even though it has only cost us about 73 cents to buy a Kiwi dollar, we have found the cost of most things to be at least as expensive as in the old US of A.  But it remains a value based on the friendliness of the people, the beauty of its landscape and the quality of its parks and nature trails.  The Kiwi children played freely with Emily and many of the children romped around the parks and play areas without parental supervision; much like Americans may have acted back in the 1950s.

The community put on a farewell dinner for the cruisers and brought in some Mauri singers and dancers to entertain us.  We hope you enjoy my video as much as we did the performance.  The lighting could have been better, but you should still feel the love. 

As you watch, there are certain distinctive traits that mark this as Mauri.  The shaking hands on both the men and women (that I explained on an earlier blog), the use of Poi (soft white balls) that are used in one of the numbers, and the Haka (originally performed by warriors before a battle) are all unique to these special people. 

Turn your heat up to about 80 degrees, wiggle your bare toes in hot sand, sit back and enjoy…

Tom

Understanding Kiwi

As a public service to all those wayward Americans who may stumble into New Zealand, I offer some assistance in understanding the Kiwi language.  “What?” you say.  Don’t they speak English?  Well… not really.  

After almost 5 months of listening, we think we understand what they are saying and have actually started to speak Kiwi without thinking about it.  Certain phrases like ‘No worries’ and “sweet as’ easily roll off the tongue and fit well with the laid back cruiser lifestyle that we’ve grown into.  While other terms like ordering a “flat white” or deciding whether ‘petrol’ or ‘gas’ go into the rental car can be life or death matters.

In any event, we do like this country and offer the following in hopes that your first few days here will be less confusing than ours were.  Just remember if in a restaurant, don’t ask for a nappy…

Tom

American English           Kiwi

Round Trip Ticket             Return ticket

Gas                                  Petrol

Propane                            Gas

Dinner                              Tea (sometimes used when dining at a person’s home)

Tea                                  A cuppa

Fillet Mignon                     Eye Fillet (pronounce the final t)

Lobster                            Crayfish

Local clams                       Pipis

French Fries                     Chips

Chips                                CrispsCookies Biscuits or bickies

Candy                               Lollies

Catsup                              Tomato sauce (the New Zealand variety is watery and sweet… yuck!)                                                                 

Bell pepper                        Capsicum

Sweet potato                     Kumara

Romaine lettuce                  Cos

Café au lait (more or less)   Flat white

Black coffee                      Long black

Appetizer or starter           Entrée

Entrée                               Main

Flip flops                           Jandels

Girls basketball                  Netball

American Football              Grid Iron

Lots                                  Heaps

Good for you                     Good on ya

Sweet, or great                 Sweet as

No problem                        Good as or no worries

No sweat                           Easy As

Cooler                               Chilly bin

The letter Z                      Zed

Parking lot                         Car park

Thanks                              Ta

Hood                                Bonnet

Trunk                               Boot

Flashlight                         Torch

Pharmacist                       Chemist

Mini-mart                         Dairy

To go or take out (food)           Takeaway

Bangs (referencing a haircut)    Fringe

Napkin                               Serviette

Diaper                               Nappy

Two consecutive weeks       Fortnight

Sweater                            Jumper

Freeway                            Motorway

Auto body shop                  Panel Beater

Slip (in the marina)             Berth

The Kauri Museum

We had worked pretty hard on the boat and the entire crew felt like we needed a break and to enjoy some of the local area.  We hopped into our trusty rental car and drove an hour or so south to visit a museum all about the massive Kauri trees that were a large industry in early New Zealand history.

 

The Kauri Museum, Matakohe tells the story of the pioneering days through the use of kauri timber and kauri gum. There were many exceptional displays and galleries inside the museum, from a magnificent collection of antique kauri furniture and the largest collection of kauri gum in the world, to restored machinery, including NZ’s earliest tractor, a 1929 Cat 60, and a turning steam sawmill. We saw a two story life-sized replica Boarding House, a Pioneer School and the historic Matakohe Post Office with a fantastic collection of telephones.

 

The size and age of the trees was impressive.  The photo below of one 860 year old tree was cut down when Kim and I were 3 years old.
  

Back in the states making furniture as a hobby, I was thrilled to get my hands on a old cherry board that was 16 inches wide.  They had a board on display that was 6 ½ feet wide and over 19 feet long.  The photos showed how the men were dwarfed by the large heavy log pieces and told how many had lost their lives as an errant log tumbled down a slope crushing several men.

 

Kauri gum is a resin which bleeds from the kauri tree. If the bark is damaged or a branch is broken by the wind, the resin bleeds out and seals the wound. This prevents rot or water getting into the tree. Kauri gum can build up into a lump which goes hard. As the tree grows, the bark is continually shed and the kauri gum is forced off and falls onto the ground around the tree. This process has been happening for millions of years, long before mankind began to use kauri gum. Many years ago, there were vast quantities of gum in the ground.

Kauri gum was used commercially in varnish.  Kauri gum was exported to London and America from the mid 1840's.  It was used to a limited extent in paints during the late nineteenth century, and from 1910 was used extensively in the manufacture of linoleum.  Kauri gum was Auckland's main export in the second half of the nineteenth century.

New Zealand has fossil kauri gum in coal dated 43 million years old. More recent kauri gum from 10,000 to 30,000 years old is known as kauri copal (or resinite). Kauri gum was collected from the ground by picking up the exposed pieces on the surface. As this disappeared, gum diggers probed in the ground with gum spears to find the gum, then dug it up with spades.

Trees were also a source of gum. Kauri gum collectors would chip pieces of old hard gum from the branches and heads of trees where it had collected for many years. They also cut the trees to bleed fresh gum. This was collected later after it had developed into a hard lump.

Examples of exquisitely beautiful polished kauri gum were on display.  Special pieces were polished and carved to make extremely beautiful collection pieces. 

We had a nice lunch and took a circuitous route back to Whargarei to enjoy the country and saw several sweeping vistas.  It was a nice day but we were happy to climb the ladder to our “home on the hard” and rest up for the last of the boat work to get back into the water.

Tom

Whangarei Spa Treatment for Emily Grace

We hauled out in Whangarei for the first time in almost two years.  The last haul was in Trinidad in August 2009.  She was in need of some attention and we decided to try Norsands Shipyard based on some quotes from other yards, talking with other boaters and the cleanliness of their bathrooms. 

The haul out went smoothly enough despite not using a travel lift and slings that we were used to.  They pre-measured the boat before we arrived and had the key dimensions and location of the Naiad fins all recorded.  They pre-configured a cradle specifically for Emily Grace and were waiting when we arrived.  I came along side a small dock and passed four lines ashore and with engine and man power, moved her in between the cradle arms.  

Once positioned and tied tightly, we were pulled up the ramp with chain and rolled on massive steel and rubber wheels.  Once pushed into a nice spot in the shipyard, the boat is blocked up level and the rolling cart is lowered and removed.  The cradle will stay with the boat until we are re-launched.

This boatyard is quite clean and they even have us collect all our grey water (sinks and showers) into 5 gallon drums; which seems a little silly.  When anchored in the river right off the shipyard, it is legal and commonplace to dump grey water directly overboard.

  

 

For the first time we did not sand and re-paint the bottom ourselves and hired out that work.  We had several other jobs to do and frankly that is one of the worst jobs to do.  The captain removed and re-sealed two portholes that had slow leaks underway and changed engine, Naiad and transmission oils and all the drive belts.  We dropped and cleaned the keel cooler and treated the main engine with fresh long-life coolant to keep her happy.

 

 

Rebuilding heads (toilets) and replacing sewage hoses also were done with much grumbling from captain and crew.  We removed the 400 feet of anchor chain, remarked our 25 foot markers and rotated the chain so that we will use the relatively unused section for the next several years.  Most anchorages require less than 200 feet of chain.  Kim did most of the work re-bedding all of the pilothouse windows that had been showing some minor leakage.

I threw a few more parts at the watermaker to keep it working and did a few minor repairs to the air conditioning units.  We have enjoyed the cool temperatures here and the A/Cs will be needed in Fiji as we move closer to the equator again.

Kim did a few sewing projects; remade an integrated weight belt for my SCUBA (that dropped off when pulling the rig into the dingy), a cover for the outboard to protect it from the sun and even made a bug screen for our friends on Leu Cat.  There is Malaria in Vanuatu and everyone is buttoning up screens and buying repellant here.  We have the medication aboard, but the side effects can be as bad as the illness.

We had the paint crew here fix a poorly done waterline and Kim picked a nice red replacement color.  With fresh new zincs, special paint on the props and navy blue bottom paint, she looks pretty good again.  The Captain waxed the old blue paint above the waterline and she really looks good again.  We are trying a special paint (Prop Speed) for the first time on the main and get-home props to reduce growth and improve efficiency underway.  It looks gold and almost cost the same!

 

We rented a car for the entire haulout period since the yard is remote from the main town and we expected to need it for getting parts and re-provisioning the freezer with food.  One day we drove 100 Km to the south and visited the Kauri Museum, but that will have to be a future post.  We need to get back in the water.

Tom

Tiritiri Matangi Island

We met a few local cruising boats in Kawau and they told us about an island loaded with birds that should not be missed.  Although it meant we had to backtrack a couple of hours south, we had the time and decided to check it out.  We were glad we did.

New Zealand Pigeon

Juvenile Tui

Tiritiri Matangi Island (commonly referred to as "Tiri") is a wildlife sanctuary, and one of New Zealand's most important conservation projects. It is located 30 km north east of central Auckland and just 4 km from the end of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. 120 years of farming had seen this island stripped of 94% of its native bush but between 1984 and 1994, volunteers planted between 250,000 and 300,000 trees. The island is now 60% forested with the remaining 40% left as grassland for species preferring open habitat.

North Island Saddleback

North Island Saddleback

In conjunction with this planting programme, all mammalian predators were eradicated and a number of threatened and endangered bird and reptilian species have been successfully introduced including the flightless takahe, one of the world’s rarest species, and the tuatara. Nowhere else in New Zealand can you readily see and walk amongst so many rare species.

Whitehead

The Little spotted kiwi, Brown teal, Takahe, Red-crowned parakeet, Whitehead, North Island robin, Stitchbird, North Island kokako, North Island saddleback, Fernbird, and the North Island tomtit are all endemic to New Zealand and were translocated to Tiritiri Matangi.

Fantail

Most years Tiritiri Matangi is visited by a pair of Paradise Shelduck who nest and raise their young then disappear again for another year and we were lucky to see them. 

A Takahe was wondering around the lighthouse and has brown eyes, a scarlet red bill and shield massive, with red legs and feet. The plumage ranges from an iridescent dark blue head, neck and breast and peacock blue shoulders to olive green and blue back and wings. They do have wings despite being flightless. The white undertail flicked with every step.  The bill and shield are scarlet, the eye red and the legs and feet are orange – red.,

The Takahe was thought to be extinct until the rediscovery of  250 birds in the Murchison Mountains of Fiordland in 1948. Since then their numbers surviving in the wild have declined, fluctuating between 110 and 160 birds. The low success rate in breeding is due partly to the high rate of egg infertility, about 40%. Breeding is closely monitored and 'extra' eggs beyond one per clutch are removed and given to another takahe to incubate. Surplus eggs go a Rearing Unit where the chicks are fed by puppets and raised for return to the wild.

New Zealand Bellbird

 

There were miles of elaborate wooden walkways winding through the forest and several spots with feeding or bathing stations where long, comfortable benches were constructed to sit quietly and watch the action.  All along the paths, the native trees and ferns were identified and plaques were placed with information about them and the types of birds that are normally seen nearby.  It was really well done and all for free for those of us with boats to get there.  The “dirt dwellers” had to come by ferry.

Red Crowned Parakeet

My Uncle Joe would have loved it here.  He volunteers at a similar sanctuary on Cape Cod back in the states and would appreciate the wildlife and all the efforts taken to make it accessible to the public.  Only one night here and off in the morning to Whangarei where we are scheduled to be hauled out for periodic bottom paint.  They will haul us out of the water and up a ramp on a cradle which will be new to us.  Normally we are lifted with slings.  We shall see how that goes…

 

Tom