Letter from Atlantia. May 2010. We missed the weather window to leave about a week ago and it has rained ever since. There have been numerous storm warnings around New Zealand and gale warnings in our area in force until yesterday. It was not quite the same when we visited South Island for a camping trip since we had no rain for the first eight days of our fourteen day motoring spree, but it was still very windy.

Our trip began in Opua when John and Nicole kindly took us and our baggage up the very steep hill to catch the bus, Atlantia being safely tucked up on the breakwater of the marina.

The journey was very pleasant through the low hills of Northland and past all the sheep and cows munching contentedly in the fields. We passed a sheep museum where all the sheep were dyed a bright pink. Good advertising, but the bus didn't stop. We were picked up by the rental company from the bus station in Auckland and taken to collect our camper van. We were more than a little put out to be charged another 30% of the rental cost for a proper insurance (something not advertised on their website when we booked on line) but after a small tantrum we hoisted ourselves into the van and motored away slightly lighter in the pocket. The van was quite a large beast to drive after the smaller rental cars we had been used to, but it handled quite well despite drinking petrol with its v6 engine. It did boast a double bed in the back though. On the first night we slept in the van in Hugo and Gislayne's driveway at their Auckland house. Hugo kindly wiped the virus from our computer whilst we helped Gislayne to write her CV as a specialist painter. Hopefully it assisted her in gaining the employment she wishes for.

The following day was the first full day of campervanning for us. Still in North Island we went down the highway south of Auckland and onto the quieter more scenic roads leading to Hobbitland where they filmed the hobbit village scenes for the Lord of the Rings. The fireworks were added afterwards. We passed on the outrageously expensive tour of the hobbitholes and made our way sedately to the pretty but rather touristy area of Rotorua. This area is on a south west/ north east rift in the land surface which provides hot springs and powers two electricity generating stations with its hot rocks. The land gently steams through many fissures and we were privileged to visit the champagne pool and mud baths at Waiotapa.

We were rewarded with the sight of mud bubbles bursting into the air and the smell of sulphur pervading the nostrils.

We camped that night at an official but privately owned camp site. These are dotted all over New Zealand and cater very well for the happy campers. Most sites even have small cabins where you can stay if you can't be bothered to put up the tent. They are not particularly cheap and our van cost $30NZ (about £15) to park for the night. On this particular occasion the facilities offered were very reasonable and included in the camping fee. There was a shower, a barbecue stove, and, the main reason for stopping there, a bath in the hot stream running only a few yards from our rear bumper. Very comfortable.

This is more than could be said of the bed in the back of the van, which was a little cramped with rather a thin mattress.

Onwards down to Wellington the destination we had not achieved in Atlantia. We were actually quite pleased we had not sailed there because it is indeed a 'windy city' and the anchorages are shallow and the marinas a little small. There is a preponderance of trailer sailors here, all with short masts.

Mike and Lexie, who live here and who we had met in Scotland at Christmas with Gordon and Maureen, very kindly gave us a bed for the night. The excellent dinner and rest were very welcome after a hard afternoons sight seeing in the city centre. There is a very large, brand new, Anglican Cathedral in the centre, which is most impressive. Similarly the adjacent government buildings are handsome, although of very varying styles. Of the cities visited here in New Zealand there is no doubt that Wellington and our last visited city, Christchurch, can certainly boast of decent architecture.

Crossing the Cook straight the following day proved windy but not rough. Sometimes even the interislander ferry is unable to sail. It is not surprising that Captain Cook was blown offshore during his charting of the coastline of the Islands in the eighteenth century.

The north east coast of South Island is hilly and beautiful, as indeed is the west coast. The entrance to the northern port of Picton takes the ferry several hours to traverse up the fjord and past scenic hills and bays. The high road out of Picton west to Nelson reminded us of travelling along some of the roads in Norway high above the deep indentations in the coastline. We passed through the grape growing area of Marlborough and were not surprised that there were many windbreaks growing there to shelter the vines and the other fruit trees in this fertile area.

Down the west coast and into the Southern Alps. During the nineteenth century there were a number of gold rushes in South Island. On the west coast there are many small towns where at one time gold nuggets could be plucked from the nearby stream as it ran down from the steep mountains. There are still areas where 'recreational' panning for gold is allowed, and we did a little searching next to a well known gold river. We think we found the tiniest amount attached to a piece of quartz.

At one time the extraction of gold from the area was big business, with whole hillsides being washed away by water jets to see if there was gold bearing gravel under the earth there.

There is no obvious advertising by modern gold mining companies but only a few years ago an enormous bucket dredger landlocked in a gravel lake was excavating over 1500 tons of ore bearing stone an hour in its search for gold. The area of its operation is now a nicely landscaped pond.

Old gold rush era buildings dot the local town, including a genuine bank that would not have looked out of place in a picture show about the wild west of America. The gold diggers sold their gold to the local bank who then shipped it away to the cities including those in Britain, who was busy colonising the Islands at the time. Sometimes gangs robbed the bank's agent who often travelled with an armed guard party of up to ten riflemen. It seems however that the most common infringement of the law was drunkenness and brawling. In one gold town we visited apparently every other building was a bar at that time. Many towns we visited had pictures and tales of brawls and bars and bordellos, and prospectors with long beards. There are some very nice small museums down this coast, all of them telling their tales of the gold, or about the coal mining which came a little later. There is little or no access to the black sand beaches on this coast, most probably because at one time gold was actually successfully panned from the beach sand! (and they wish to keep the sand for themselves).

The coast does however abound with other natural beauties. The fur seals at cape Foulwind ( named by Captain Cook for the contrary winds there) were one,

The pancake rocks were also most impressive with their depiction of faces in the cliffs and with adjacent blowholes.

Since there are only three passes across the South Island Alps we decided that all three had to be traversed.

Thus we travelled backwards and forwards across the island. We travelled south east through the Waka pass and then through the northern part of the Canterbury plains.

We swung away from Christchurch to climb back up into the mountains and through Arthur's pass to Hokotika back on the west coast. The night in the mountains was spent by a small loch where Maoris used to collect ducks for eating. The ducks were so tame that they allowed themselves to be driven to the end of the lake where they were just picked up!

We saw the rare southern grebe. This bird can fly but it can also swim and dive. In fact it looks very similar to our great crested grebe in Scotland.

Arthur's pass was created by the worthies of Christchurch so that they could share in some of the wealth created by the gold on the west coast. Regrettably, although a great feat of engineering the gold ran out before the road was completed. There is a railway running alongside the road in many places but through a long tunnel under some very unstable rocks. This is another civil engineering success. Both road and rail are now used predominantly by tourists.

The Franz Joseph glacier runs down from mount Tasman to the Tasman sea bordering the west coast again. The mountain is just next to mount Cook and nearly as high. The walk to the glacier base was fairly gentle but we had to keep well back from its face, in case of ice falls. Groups of people were being guided onto the ice by experienced guides and helicopters and ski planes were landing on upper parts of the glacier.

Down to Queenstown in the heart of the mountains. We were surrounded by areas where the Lord of the Rings was filmed, although there was so much computer enhancement in the films that we may not recognize all the places.

Queenstown is a thriving, bustling little town, full of tourists like us. There is plenty of kayaking, mountain climbing and walking from here in the summer, and skiing in the winter. The loch has a steam powered ship plying back and forth and the town is full of modern shops selling outdoor gear. Regrettably we didn't go on the ship but it is evidently very popular. The same unfortunately cannot be said for the steam train at Kingston at the other end of lake Wokatipu where the ship can also dock. It had a for sale sign hanging from one of its carriages. A great shame it is not still running, but a great project for someone to restore it to its former glory. All in good running order complete with 16 kilometres of rail line.

We entered the wettest and windiest part of our journey as we travelled into the Fjordland district park on the south east corner of the South Island . There is only one road here and it skirts an area about 120 miles long by 30 miles wide. The rest can only be approached by boat. The road goes to Milford Sound in the north end of Fjordland and which is a marine reserve. The radio told us yesterday that about 30% of the land in New Zealand is protected.

The Kea is a parrot that is found nowhere but South Island New Zealand. We saw a pair close to the roadside next to the Homer tunnel that leads to Milford Sound. They are quite tame but can pick out the rubber on the windscreen. We thought that excuse might be a bit far fetched for the windscreen insurance people, who obviously have no sense of humour. We did get a good look at the birds plumage however, which can withstand the harshest weather.

The other side of the unlined single lane tunnel there was a myriad of waterfalls cascading down the bare rock face. A full time squad of road menders with a digger and a large dumper truck manage to keep the road clear of landslides and rockfalls. They do sterling work, come rain or shine. Mostly rain!

Since we had dawdled down the west coat and meandered through all the alpine passes we only found ourselves with four days before we had to return the campervan to Christchurch airport. We made a hasty visit to the most southern part of mainland New Zealand and discovered we had travelled 5140 km from the equator, and that it only required another 4803km to reach the South Pole. No wonder it was cold and windy.

The south coast is known for its icy blasts, and the trees are similar to those in Scotland in some places where they have a distinct lean away from the prevailing wind.

We visited the Albatross Centre on the Otago peninsular, just east of Dunedin on the south east coast. The royal albatross chicks,, which were about four months old, were spectacular.

The guide gave us a model albatross chick to hold and its heaviness really surprised us. It was about the size of a small sheep and weighed about 10 kg. Apparently they weigh about 8 kg when fully grown. We could see the royal albatrosses and their chicks through the window of the hide. They are the largest seabird in the world with a three metre wingspan.

There was a most interesting gun on the same headland placed there in the 1890s. It was called the Armstrong Disappearing Gun (from Britain), and it did just that. Due to an ingenious recoil system utilising compressed air and water the gun lowers itself back into its housing in the ground after firing so the recipient of the shell cannot see where the shot was fired from. It had been beautifully restored and the models in the small museum were very lifelike. Scientists think that the albatross breeding on this headland has something to do with the restricted area caused by the gun emplacement and the resultant lack of humans. It would be nice to think so.

We had a quick look at Dunedin which is supposed to be the Edinburgh of the south. It looked more like South Gyle which is a modern housing and commercial estate just outside Edinburgh than the City of Edinburgh itself. The only architectural redeeming feature in Dunedin was the railway station which had granite columns shipped in from Aberdeen and some very attractive stained glass windows.

Further up the east coast before the delightful small town of Oamaru, we were very fortunate to spy some hectors dolphins, gambling in Curio bay.

At Oamaru we saw the yellow eyed penguins, indigenous to New Zealand. They are wary of the big fur seals lying on the beach as they come ashore, but they climb very steep cliffs to their nesting burrows high up above the sea. The fur seals can't climb cliffs.

Travelling once more inland we passed the enormous hydroelectric dams at Loch Aviemore and Loch Benmore named by a Scotsman wud you believe. They produce an impressive 30% of New Zealand's electricity in this valley.

On the eastern edge of the high mountains and at the very centre of the south island lies Twizel, this is the home of the very rare black stilt which lives near the man made reservoirs. You will be surprised to hear that we didn't actually see one despite a good look at a stream high in the hills where they are supposed to live. They can fly. Twizel was the original township built as a camp for the constructors of the hydroelectric dams and it has now morphed into a tourist town. Since it was very late in the tourist season and well before the skiing season, the town was deserted. It was raining as well.

With the exception of a delightful visit to Christchurch where we went on a tram, admired the architecture, and had an excellent indian dinner, that was the end of our holiday, well down under. Christchurch is half way down the east coast of South Island and is a little like the original Cambridge in England.

It is built beside a series of small rivers. It was originally the site of a Maori township which rested on a swamp. It now boasts some pretty college buildings and an extensive park at its centre. One of the trams was over a hundred years old and except for the lack of cigarette smoke reminded us of the wooden carriages they used to use on the Glasgow underground. (now in the transport museum).

Back at Opua we have sailed once more around the bay of islands with Mike and Lexie, showing them an itinerants way of life. We have also had some great times with our friends from Gannet, Ishka and Beduina as well as those from Son of the Sun, Zulu, Happy Monster and Balu. (all on land we should add).

The weather window looks like it will open next week for the trip north but don't be surprised if you get a letter in two weeks saying we are still in Opua!!! Hope you like the pics.

love ATLANTIA

Letter from Atlantia April 2010

In mid January we flew back to New Zealand on Emirates Airlines, via Dubai. Margaret's sister, Alison and her husband , Andy, entertained us once more, this time with a rather unique party in the desert. A Christmas tree burning ceremony. We think this is unique to Sharja. The trees were given points for looks and burnability as well as some points by the judges which nobody really understood. It didn't seem to be a particularly religious ceremony but seemed quite fitting to mark the end of a Christian occasion in a Muslim country. Burning seems to have been quite common in times gone past to cleanse the spirit as well as the body. Fortunately it is only bonfires of boats and palettes that seem to be burned nowadays, rather than heretics! Although the Chinese burn paper prayers to watch them rise to the gods in the heavens, and the Cardinals burn white or black smoke when they are deliberating about a new Pope. The fire safety officer would certainly have been pleased with Alison and Andy's friends, the bonfires were miles away from anywhere, in a really arid desert.

We followed a scorpion about the sand trying to capture its picture. It would have given a particularly nasty sting had any of the barefooted children inadvertently stepped on it. Luckily it didn't leave its mark on anybody.

We were given a gruelling time at Dubai airport because we only had one way tickets to New Zealand. It took over an hour to book in after many phone calls to New Zealand immigration. We realise and are grateful that some rules are necessary to exclude terrorists from planes, but we were not aware that plane hijackers and terrorists only bought one way tickets to save on the fares. The very nice booking clerk gave us the best seats he could to make up for the fuss that NZ immigration seemed to have made. Will was very grateful for the extra legroom.

Having been let back into New Zealand we had a quick look at the sights of Auckland. It truly is the City of Sails. Most of the boats did not have their sails up though, and about 250,000 of them were in marinas close to the city. There were Americas cup class yachts that one could charter for match racing

and Michael Faye's 'big boat', an America's cup challenger in the 1990's, dominates the top of the wharf outside the maritime museum. It looks a bit like a stranded whale on a stilt. It was beaten by Dennis Conner of the USA after a little rule bending. Rule bending seems to have been a trait of the America's Cup and a number of challenges have been fought out in the courtrooms of America rather than on the water. Of course the latest America's cup has just been won by an American trimaran, which beat a Swiss catamaran in two races, after extensive try ons in a Swiss courtroom and try outs in the wind tunnels. Both syndicate heads were New Zealanders who seem to make a great deal of money out of the whole scenario. It seems a pity that the British are too sensible (or too poor) to compete any more, although gold medallist Ben Ainslee is leading a British consortium in the Louis Viton cup. This is a formula one circuit on water,occurring in various parts of the world and sailed in Americas cup class boats. The Kiwis won the last one in Auckland a few weeks ago. In New Zealand they take their yacht racing very seriously , and they are very good at it, especially match racing. We have seen this practised at many local clubs around the Bay of Islands.

Except for the marine side of life the rest of Auckland is a bit dull. A few hills, a park and a university, and a Queen Street, where the fashionable used to parade and is now just a hotchpotch of differing building designs and gap sites. The most modern buildings are about 18 stories high and every one of them has the name of one of the big five accountancy firms written in glaring letters on the top. There is also the sky tower, which is a London GPO tower lookalike. The central part is called Sky City but only about twenty blocks rise over ten stories whilst it quickly peters down to about three stories within a mile. The old Victorian Post Office and Customs houses are very impressive though. Regrettably they have been converted to shopping centres. Altogether we felt disappointed that the economy, which is starting to revive here, was not showing beyond the tourist waterfront cafés and bars. New Zealand is trying to catch up with the Australian economy, which has just exploited a considerable number of new mineral resources. It seems a slightly forlorn hope at present when there is much debate going on as to whether even unobtrusive mining should be allowed in one of the very many conservation areas. It seems that most of the land in New Zealand is 'conserved'. This is fine if the political and economic ambitions do not lie elsewhere.

Back on the boat we were soon down to hard work again. We hauled out to antifoul and to change the propeller. The old propeller had given sterling service but was really falling apart at its tips. We were fortunate that Koos, of Opua Engineering, found us a second hand propeller almost the same as our old one, and it was installed with all the correct nuts and pins. It has worked extremely well since its installation.. Atlantia is very happy.

The local painters were good, if a little pricey. Paul, the local rigger, and his British team were very efficient, replacing bits of rigging, spreaders and fittings. Atlantia feels as safe now from falling masts as she ever has done. We were befriended and helped by our neighbour in the yard, Hylton. He owns a tug which was standing in the yard in front of us and he was painting it a very striking red. He is an avid Scotiaphile and has books on puffers, crofts and lochs in his library. We were fortunate enough to be invited for drinks at his lovely house, which overlooks the Opua marina and the river generally. A great position.

After we relaunched we invited John and Nicole from Gannet, and Jim and Marion from Balu to join us on Atlantia for the national (Waitangi) day celebrations. There were Polynesian migration catamarans in evidence as well as the largest Waka, or war canoe, in the world. There was a little rubber safety boat running around getting in the way of photographs. Why it was there is anybodies guess,since it was already full with four officials and had the Waka capsized there would have been more than a hundred people in the water to save. We heard the Maori war chants as they floated quickly by, flashing their paddles and changing sides every six strokes to keep their canoe on an even course. There are no outriggers on the southern Polynesian canoes. They are kept afloat by balance, brute size and power. The chief stands at the stern with his steering oar shouting his commands and leading the chants. A bit like Atlantia . There was a 21 gun salute and we saw the smoke. The breeze was regrettably away from us and it was very difficult to hear the guns, let alone the brass bands and other many shoreside celebrations. We all had a very relaxing day and Will and Marion discovered that they had both frequented Leigh on Sea Sailing club at the same time in the late 1960s. The world is indeed small. Marion's maiden name was Day and apparently her family still live in Leigh.

We set off soon after for a cruise to South Island. Just the three of us, Atlantia, Margaret and Will. We tried to buy a pilot book that would take us around the whole of both Islands, but to no avail. The only book that seemed to cover most aspects was Clay's book about South Pacific anchorages which we had used for the last 4000 miles. Obviously a good buy in the UK. We were told that if we wanted to go to South Island we should go north around the top and down the west coast of North Island for four days until we reached Cook Straight. We fancied exploring the east coast so we thought we would sail that way instead. Regrettably we chose incorrectly.

We had a wonderful voyage out of the Bay of Islands and through the Huraki Gulf where Auckland is situated, and thence on down to the Bay of Plenty. It certainly looked like the bay of plenty since the small fishing boats always seemed to have at least one fishing line taught when we passed them. We reached as far South as Tauranga and mount Manganui. We were making for East Cape, about half way down the east coast of North Island, when the wind turned against us and went light with a lumpy cross sea. At the same time severe storms were forecast for the area about 100 miles south of us , and where we were going. Since we really hadn't properly explored the Huraki gulf, or the adjacent Coromandel peninsula, we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and that we should turn around and head north again. We didn't want to sail into gale force headwinds for a week when there are better things to do. Instead, at a much later date, we took a camper van around South Island. Of which more in the next blog.

We were woken at three in the morning after we had turned north to our first anchorage at Mayor Island. A sport fishing boat was shouting that there was a tsunami warning, and the coastguard had radioed to tell him so. If he had listened to the VHF he would have learned that the wave was predicted to be one foot high (300mm) and wasn't due into our area until 0930. Another six and a half hours. We went back to bed whilst the anchorage cleared of local motor boats. At the civilised hour of 0730 we had a telephone call from Stephen in Glasgow telling us a tsunami warning had been issued by the powers that be. It is nice to know that our family still look out for us, and we were pleased to allay his fears on the matter and gave him some details. At 0930 when the wave was due we were on the high seas. The tsunami wave of 150 mm swept majestically below us. The swell was over 1500 mm high at the time so it was a bit hard to tell if it was really there. Fortunately there was no damage on shore either. Apparently this was the third time that a warning had been issued recently without any real effect. Hopefully the warning won't be issued once too often.

We visited Great Mercury island with its beautiful white cliffs and sandy beach. We dredged for scallops and actually found one of the right size. It was very tasty.

We rode out a near gale at Great Barrier Island in the completely smooth inlet of Port Fitzroy Harbour and had a very relaxing time exploring this inland water wonderland. Great for sailing Dipper around, even in the strongest wind. We walked for eight and a half hours along tracks and dirt roads on Great Barrier Island to see three pieces of wood that used to be part of a Kaurie dam. In the nineteenth century the loggers used to fell the huge Kaurie trees and then roll and push them to a position in the nearby stream. They then built a Kaurie dam in front of the logs, and when they were floating they pulled the plug (released the dam). The Kaurie logs tumbled down the water course on the flood, until they grounded again. Another Kaurie dam was constructed and the plug pulled again. And so on until the logs reached the sea and they could be floated to the saw mill to be processed. The planks proved to be some of the most durable and stable in the world and were much prized in New Zealand for building boats and houses. The trees are now protected since they can take 1000 years to grow to a decent size, and there are naturally only a few left. (the pictures were taken during a visit to a fully reconstructed Kaurie dam when Stephen and Susan visited).

We sailed to Coromandel harbour, a large sheltered bay on the west side of the Coromandel peninsular. It was a pretty village reached up a very muddy creek. We saw black swans at the entrance to the creek. It was low tide so we didn't think the black was caused entirely by their natural feather colouring, but they were very graceful as they took off.

The population of the village of Coromandel increases from about 2000 in normal times to about 20000 during March, when they have a local arts and food festival. Fortunately we just missed the festival. We had a lovely sail in plenty of wind to Man o War bay on Waiheke island and caught a blue fish on the way. Very good eating for two days. We walked to Stony Batter, up a long road and past various vineyards. Stony Batter was the site of gun emplacements during the second world war. Fortunately the guns were never used in anger. The museum was small but concise and the tunnels were expensive and therefore unvisited. The lady in charge was the first person in New Zealand we had found who appeared taciturn. Her sheep said more when it came to join us for lunch at the picnic table. It had a leather collar on though and appeared quite tame. They were harvesting grapes when we walked back down the hill and it looked like hard backbreaking work. We were passed on a few occasions by lorries carrying large bins of grapes to the presses.

When we thankfully reached the beach at Man o War bay we made straight for the waterside bench to have a good rest. We never made it. We were very kindly invited invited to join the double seventieth birthday party that we had to pass through to the bench. Eight delightful New Zealanders, who had all been to university together 50 years ago, were using the public barbecue area for their lunch. We were fed and wined and cannot thank them enough for their wonderful hospitality. One of them lived in Auckland. He said Aucklanders were known to other Kiwis as Jafas ( just another f---- Aucklander). After lunch we were taken along the beach to where an old Victorian house had once stood. The house had been visited in the late nineteenth century by the then Prince of Wales who had arrived in a man o war, hence the name of the bay. Regrettably the house had been demolished.

It has been obvious in our travels in New Zealand, that by far the majority of New Zealanders are open honest friendly and intelligent. We have been very impressed. Mind you, most of them, or their forebears came from either Britain or Polynesia, so perhaps it is hardly surprising! We visited one or two other places on our cruise to see if they would be suitable places for Stephen and Susan to visit when they came to visit us, during their all too short visit to us in March.

Hugo and Gislayne from Beduina who now live in Auckland kindly helped to pick up Stephen and Susan at Auckland airport and we were able to show them the waterfront at Auckland and the environs of the Viaduct Marina where we had moored the boat for a few days. On the one day of their holiday when it poured with rain we managed to find ourselves visiting the Maritime museum. It is well worth visiting. Not only does it demonstrate the history of dugout canoes and catamarans from the northern Polynesian islands but it also gives very good examples of the newer history of dinghy sailing and Sir Peter Blake's triumphs in the round the world races and the Americas cups of the 1980's and 90's and into this century. The modern technology displayed was impressive and we even designed a 'cupper' on the computer and beat a stalking horse on a race simulation. This is the land of the water jet engine designed by Mr. Hamilton in the South Island in the mid 1940's and there is an excellent exhibit of them in the museum. There are many good local examples of the engine, which is used by small power boats as well as well as medium sized ferries. Of course the engine is also used in jet skis, which are not really our favourites, perhaps more because of the inexperienced users who know little about sea safety, than the machines themselves.

Mind you, we have found that safety from sharks is perhaps more difficult on land than in the water. We only just managed to escape some financial sharks in Scotland with the help of Scottish legal and financial lifesavers, to whom many thanks. Regrettably we have fallen foul of some very shallow water sharks on the internet in Auckland who hijacked our email contacts and tried to send a bulk mailing to everybody on our email list encouraging them to buy I phones. Please accept our sincere apologies if you received an email that was headed 'hey', it was not from us. You probably noticed that anyway, since their English was far from grammatically correct. We now have a new email address which is wrudd@hotmail.co.uk (not underlined) which we would be grateful if you could use in future. Our original address has been shut by hotmail and at present we are unable to access our addresses, although hopefully we will persuade them to give us our contacts back again. Perhaps you could email to our new address so we can have you on record again. Sorry for the trouble! We look forward to hearing from you though.

As a family we sailed all around the Huraki gulf and had a following wind wherever we went. The wind in New Zealand really does go round in circles. On this occasion the wind blew between 10 and 35 knots making for some exhilarating passages. Stephen or Susan steered most of the time, keeping a straight wake where it was not swept away by the waves. We visited Great Barrier Island where Stephen, Susan and Margaret climbed mount Hobson, at a mere 2000 feet.

They walked another 9 hours to the hot springs and then collected 1000 cockles. Will made a rather good appetizer with some of the cockles together with shrimps, avocados and a sweet chilli sauce. The rest of the cockles were pickled in white and wine vinegar for use in the future.

We visited the the Mansion House on Kawau Island,which had been created by Sir Charles Gray in the late 19th century. He was a a governor of New Zealand twice in the 19th century. He brought in many Australian species of fauna and flora. The wallabies seen on the lawns are descended from the collection he made.

The Weka which thrives here is a native bird however. Like the Kiwi it has no wings for flight but is quite an attractive bird running around the the grounds of the house.

The house itself is quite grand with some interesting local features. Much of the general architecture is of traditional British type, whether large or small, but has a tin roof and a balcony, or usually a covered terrace tacked onto the front elevation. There is often some attractive fretwork adorning the beams between the columns, which are about eight feet apart (appx 2.5 metres). Some of the single storey buildings, and especially the older ones, are very pretty.

Having sailed to Tiritiri Matangi island we were really pleased to see the Takahe bird. This is another flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand. There are only about 400 of them left in the world. We saw six of them including a fledgling and felt very privileged.

The reason that there are so many unique flightless birds in New Zealand is that originally in the country there were no ground predators. With the arrival of the Maori about two thousand years ago, and the British nearly two hundred years ago, the dog, cat, rat, stoat, weasel and Australian possum have all been introduced. These, and the humans, have reduced the number of the flightless birds almost to extinction. In the case of the moa, they were all eaten by the Maoris! There is presently a very conscious effort to eradicate the introduced species in their wild form and to limit the areas and numbers of domestic dogs and cats. Hopefully this will save the indigenous birds for future generations. The bell birds were singing on Tiritiri with resonant sounds,

and the Tui who look like a large blackbird but with two white bibs under their chins were also making a lovely call, and the stitchbirds were flitting from flower to flower.

We sailed up from the Huraki gulf to the Bay of Islands, the scene of our original landfall. On the way we stopped of at the old whaling station at Wangamumu,which had been shut down in the 1930's. It is a very isolated place, and was closed when New Zealanders realised they were biting off the hand that fed them. There are now a number of whale and dolphin watching boats that operate out of the Bay of Islands and are far more profitable now than they would have been killing whales. 'Home again' in the Bay of Islands we were surprised to see a myriad of small craft on waters that had been virtually deserted during October and November. There seemed to be nearly enough room for all though, including a wonderful school of dusky dolphins. They seemed to be unphased by some unruly driving by some of the small private fishing boats, which were going too fast despite the rules that govern behaviour of boats near wildlife. We had thought that New Zealand was rather draconian in some of its rules and regulations concerning wildlife, but can now fully endorse the authorities common sense solutions put into law. If only all 'Kiwis' would adhere to them!

. We hired a car to take Susan and Stephen to Auckland airport after a last, very enjoyable, supper with John and Nicole. It was sad to see them go despite the fact that we had given them a very good look at the wild life and the outdoor life of North Island New Zealand and its hospitable people. We have just travelled around South Island in a camper van and hope to show you some of our adventures around there in our next blog. Coming Soon to a Computer near You. In the meantime we hope you like the pics

Love Atlantia

Seasons greetings to you.

We seem to have taken all of 2009 in crossing the Pacific. Mind you it is about 7000 miles from Colon in Panama to Opua in New Zealand, or at least it is the way we sailed! We traversed the Panama canal in February and arrived in new Zealand in mid October. Most of the time the crew was just Will and Margaret although Stephen and Susan helped us through the Canal and came for a holiday in Tahiti, and Kevin Ballantyne (our Atlantic crew) came with us for the difficult passage between Tonga and New Zealand.

Atlantia performed well during the year although the genoa/forestay fitting parted in the middle of the night in the middle of the Pacific, the propeller nearly fell off, and some of the rigging, including three spreaders, has been required to be replaced in Opua. The wiring was also upgraded in Opua and we are pleased to say that we now have an AIS on board which shows all the commercial vessels where we are and visa versa. It is a great innovation in deepwater cruising which will certainly improve our safety. Many thanks to Kevin who donated most of the system and to Ian of Ishka who did a sterling job running up the masts to install the system for us. We found New Zealand remarkably cold when we arrived there in October since it was only just coming into spring time there. Snow reports told us of snow at 400 metres in the South Island, although Opua which is in the north island has never seen snow. After five years of non use, and with the help of the local Seapower technician we managed to re-engage the glowplug Webasto heater which took the chill off the boat before we retired at night.

Before Kevin left us we had a great cruise around the Bay of Islands in Atlantia. We took Kerry with us as well. A talented man who speaks mandarin, cooks, climbs masts, fixes lights and rigging (on Atlantia) and crews with Frans on 'Son of the Sun' on his way around the world. He also walks and climbs a bit faster than us, but then he is quite a lot younger!

We had a great deal of fun and nearly ended up towing a seaplane to safety off Paradise beach. As it was, we lent our jump-leads to them, but they still couldn't manage to start the engine. They were towed by another boat to safety and repair.

We hired a car for three days and drove on the correct side ( the left hand side) of the road up to the very north of New Zealand, to Rainga Point. This is the area that the Maoris believe their dead souls depart from to travel back to their Valhalla on the island of Raiatia where their ancestors came from, and where we visited the sacred Marae with alters to the ancestors. The area is much respected.

We passed through the most beautiful scenery, very reminiscent of that of the border country between England and Scotland. Rolling, grassy hills, dotted with sheep and dairy farms and some very interesting trees native to New Zealand.

Ghost trees, which live up to their ethereal name in the spring, reaching their bare white limbs hauntingly to the sky; and New Zealand pines which could have been pine trees as drawn by a child, with easily identifiable individual branches reducing in size as the trunk climbs gracefully to the sky, like one tutu wearing ballerina standing on top of a slightly larger one, and so on down to the earth. We saw one of these trees all on its own, perched at the very top of an almost perfectly conical hill. It was quite an alarming sight to see a child's colouring book spring to life. Not that New Zealand is childish in any sense. It is a country where men are men, and sheep are afraid. Or so they said on New Zealand radio. They also have an excellent classical music station there. It plays some very unusual classics that don't appear on radio 3 or classic f m. It is nice to listen to some alternative pieces from ones favourite composers for a change.

We passed by 90 mile beach, a very long hard stretch of sand which substituted for a road north until recently, and is still used by uninsured vehicles that don't mind being bogged down and covered by the rising tide. We met some exuberant Maoris jumping in the air for joy of life. They asked us to take a photograph of them in the air which wasn't too hard since they jumped quite high. The problem came when they asked us to jump in the air whilst they took a photo of us. We may have managed two inches, but it probably doesn't show in the pictures.

We visited a forest which was the preserve for Kauri trees. Kauris have a very smooth bark and a very thick trunk and they terminate a long way from the ground much the same as a telegraph pole. Thereafter some wispy branches straggle from the top upwards and outwards. Your son or daughter may have drawn such a tree in their colouring book. You might have laughed then but such trees actually exist.

There was a Maori wedding being performed under the biggest Kauri tree in the world whilst we were there, complete with priest and music from the boom box. Two vintage ford cars took the bride and groom away and Margaret practised her Maori language on the bride's grandfather . Kiaora, means hello or greetings in Maori. He looked quite fierce with his long white beard and his tinnie in hand, before Margaret said hello.

Kiaora kiaora means thank you when the same two words are strung together. A number of Maori words are doubled up, such as Keri Keri, the local market town, and Wiki Wiki head, which you pass on your starboard hand as you pass into the Bay of Islands from Tonga. We learned that the population of New Zealand is about 4 million people. Perhaps ten percent of these are Maoris who originally came from the Society Islands about 2000 years ago. We tried to find out how many Maoris lived in New Zealand before the British arrived in the mid nineteenth century, but have yet to find out. It was probably many more than the present 400,000 since it is well known that their population was ravaged by the European diseases of measles and flu. Most places in the world that we have been to so far have been ravaged by these or similar diseases. Russel in the Bay of Islands used to be the European capital of New Zealand in the mid eighteen hundreds. In the early 1830s Darwin, during his voyage round the world on the Beagle, visited Russel. He was appalled that the British and American whalers and sealers appeared just to be a drunken rabble. He gave money to the local parson to help form a temperance society. There is no doubt that the recruiting drive was successful, since Russel is now one of the calmest and sleepiest towns we have ever seen with the oldest purpose built church in New Zealand.

Regrettably over half of the houses are for sale, summer home victims of the recession, but the museum is most interesting with a substantially sized model of the Endeavour, Captain Cook's ship. Over the bay and about a mile away lies the home of the first representatives of the Kings and Queens of Britain. It is next to the House of the Ancestors, which is the Maoris sacred meeting place. A bit like church and church hall rolled into one. The houses are on the grounds of the area where the signing of the treaty of Waitanga took place in 1836. this was a treaty between the British and the Maori chiefs where it was agreed that the Europeans would not disrupt the Maori way of life and that the British could settle amongst the Maoris and help repel any boarders. This was ostensibly to keep out the French who had designs to annex New Zealand to France, much as she succeeded later in doing to the rest of South Seas Polynesia. The Maoris did not trust the French. The Maoris welcomed British technology, organisation religion and guns. Some Maoris found out that although the foreign religion helped pacify the warring clans and prevented slavery, nevertheless the British philosophy of land ownership was very different to their own. The British delineated land ownership for individuals, whereas, in Maori custom land was common, to be looked after by everyone. This basic difference in philosophy led to the Maori Wars, which only finished in 1876. New Zealand became a protectorate of Great Britain rather than a colony, although it was initially ruled by the Governor of Australia. Perhaps needless to say the Maoris have had to acquiesce to the British notion of land ownership although there is no doubt that the two nations try hard to live in some harmony, especially at the grass routes level; although there is also evidence of racialism at political level.

We were given an exhibition of the Maori Hakka by the junior school boys and girls at the yacht club in Opua in honour of all the boats reaching there from abroad. They appeared to be well integrated and performed the songs of welcome admirably. We were also entertained at the 'House of the Ancestors' at the Waitanga treaty grounds on flagstaff hill, this time by Maoris who were all descended from the local tribes and chiefs. They gave a very good performance of the Maori dances and story of the local tribes both before the British Missionaries arrival and afterwards. The major difference we noted between the New Zealand Polynesian, or Maori dances, and those of French Polynesia, further north and east was the airing of the tongue by the southern men and the shaking of the hands and rolling of the eyes by the southern women. Otherwise the dances are similar and equally graceful.

We tried to ask why the difference occurred but did not receive an appropriate or sensible answer. The only reason we can think of is that they emulate some royal family of the past who perhaps did not have all their reason. Perhaps they think it is dignified, such as the Spaniards do, who now pronounce their c with a lisp simply because their king in the nineteenth century was unable to pronounce his cs properly. We will keep asking and will let you know if we find a credible answer.

After losing all the crew in the direction of the 'States and Australia, Will and Margaret cruised north for a day to Whangeroa Harbour, past little blue penguins, wild islands and rocks.

The Harbour is a marvellous natural stretch of water accessed between two high and rugged headlands and comprising three very different types of landscape. The first to the north, resembles a Norwegian fjord towards its head. There are steep rocks at the edges. We anchored close to the Dukes Nose which was supposed to be reminiscent of the facial silhouette of the Duke of Edinburgh, it is! The area was beautiful and very quiet.

We rowed around the head of the loch and saw a number of summer shacks nestling at the foot of the cliffs. We left Atlantia at the anchorage and sailed Dipper up to Whangeroa. A five hour sail against the current up the harbour. We were rewarded with a very tasty fish and chip lunch at the local gamefish club, run by Sally. We had 'bluenose' as our fish in a light batter. It was similar to cod but much less dense.

The next day we motored Atlantia up to Whangeroa. This time it took half an hour rather than the five hours of the day before. Whangeroa is surrounded by flat farmland and oyster farms abound in the shallow estuaries around. We anchored in six metres of water and rowed ashore. It was surprising how much like an English country lane in spring time the road appeared to be.

We passed an old boat building yard, which had been famous in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for its Kauri wood motor launches. One had passed us whilst we were at anchor. The ladies had all been muffled up in scarves and hats to keep out the cold. The third type of landscape to be found at the harbour is similar to that found in the estuaries of Devon and |Cornwall. Deciduous wooded slopes surround calm areas of water with the occasional field full of cows ambling down towards the water. Oyster catchers should abound, the oysters certainly do. On every rock surrounding the water, but the birds are comparatively scarce, and quite a lot smaller than the British variety. The native kingfisher has a vibrant blue back and is quite common around the harbour.

On our return to the Bay of Islands we anchored in the shallow and very sheltered estuary of Keri Keri. We explored the inlet in Dipper, this time rowing the five miles up to the town basin at the Old Stone Store, and past a splendid, if small, steamboat.

The stone store is the oldest stone building in New Zealand and dates from the 1840s. As well as being a secure store for farm implements and grain, it was also used to store the local Bishops books at one time, so could almost have been termed a library. It was a barracks at the end of the Maori wars in the 1870s but is now a shop on the lower floor and an excellent museum on the first floor. (or second floor if you use the American English version!).

It is also the base for the traditionally dressed local ladies who give an excellent history of the area and tell tales of the positive interaction between the Maoris and the British colonists, in addition to the tale of the local Maoris returning to the area from raiding the neighbouring Maori tribes for slaves and potatoes. The town of Keri Keri is about a mile from there up quite a steep hill. We just made it without collapsing and were rewarded by buying a leg of lamb from Churchill's, the first stand alone butchers shop that we had seen since Ireland! The meat was the best we had tasted since Scotland!

We sailed Dipper around the estuaries of Opua a few miles away, where we anchored Atlantia. On one occasion, in the wilds of almost nowhere, we were waved at vigorously by some people building a house high up on a bluff. We thought they were being very friendly but they may just have been warning us that the water was very shallow where we were. We didn't go aground however and were swept back to Atlantia on a two knot current.

The week prior to leaving for Scotland was spent enhancing the electronics and painting cetol on the covering boards to the main saloon deck. The cetol has lasted for a year, which is acceptable for any varnish in a tropical climate, and it managed to keep Atlantia looking smart the whole way across the Pacific.

We flew Emirate Airlines from Auckland via Melbourne , Australia, to Dubai. It was an 18 hour flight but we were looked after very well by the stewardesses and arrived very refreshed to be met by Margaret's sister Alison at 0530 in the morning. Since we tend to have a watch system for two of us of three hours on watch and three hours off, we don't seem to have much trouble with long haul flights and sleep very well. This doesn't always work afterwards however when there are so many exciting things to see, such as in Sharja. One tends to think of the desert as being flat sand, like a vast beach, but this doesn't seem to be the case around Sharja and Dubai where there are many small trees and shrubs overlying the arid ground. Arid that is except for the roundabouts, which are a luscious green, watered with fresh water produced from seawater by the reverse osmosis method. Similar to the process we use on Atlantia for our fresh water, but on a much larger scale. Whilst we were there it was the 38th year of independence from Britain, and National Day. We saw some interesting holiday pursuits such as picnicking on the roundabouts

or getting bogged down driving over the sand dunes.

They also go skiing on proper snow in Dubai, but inside, and the new outing is to travel on the driverless, ultra modern, clean, efficient, metro. Since there is no driver everybody crowds around the front window to take photographs. We were no exception.

The buildings in Dubai are spectacular and the Burg Dubai is the tallest building in the world at about 830 metres. It is truly 'awesome ' as they say in New Zealand. The other buildings are on a grand scale as well, although there has been a slow down in construction recently due to the world recession. Last year a third of the worlds tower cranes could be found in Dubai, feeding its insatiable appetite for building. This year regrettably it is noticeable how many tower cranes and jack up oil rigs are lying idle. We visited the world famous artificial islands, The Palms. Although impressed by the uniformity of buildings along the palm 'trunk' we could not quite see the necessity for the crowded building out into the sea when there is so much land available in the desert closer to the centre of Dubai and Sharja. It seemed to be an extravagance.

Alison and Andy were most hospitable, even providing the entertainment of the Dubai seven aside rugby tournament, which was very exciting. The fact that it was dominated by New Zealand and the Polynesians, who we had just met, made it doubly so. We were treated to an Arabian feast cooked by Andy and had a very tasty lunch overlooking Dubai creek

with the newly weds, cousin Jonathan and Lynsey, from Scotland, on their honeymoon.

We have spent Christmas at Margaret's mother and Father's cottage at Lochgair in Argyllshire. We think it is the thirty third Christmas we have spent here and are very pleased Stephen and Susan have joined us in this white winter wonderland. Once again the hospitality has been exemplary and we have very much enjoyed ourselves.

We were pleased to be able to visit Adrian and Lynn in Norfolk and John and Barbara in Sussex before Christmas. It was good to see everybody and we were followed around the country by the snow as we drove from place to place. Thank you to everyone who has given us such a generous welcome on our visit. We hope to be able to visit more friends soon but are very sorry not to see everybody before we leave in early January.

Hopefully our travellers tales have helped to take your mind away from the dire straits that the New Labour government seem to have plunged Britain into. Perhaps the self aggrandising, selfish, people will have been voted out of office before too long and your life may become a little better. May 2010 be good to you. For us? It will see us across to Australia and over to Indonesia and Singapore and perhaps a little further before the years end. That's the plan anyway, but a cruising sailors plans are apparently set in aspic. Mmmm hope you like the pics,

Love Atlantia

Letter From Atlantia October 2009

It was with great reluctance that we waved goodbye to our offspring and Tahiti. We had had a wonderful time on Tahiti with it's magnificent scenery and helpful people. Everyone had been very friendly although prices were very expensive, caused almost exclusively by the French administration.

We sailed overnight to the adjacent Society island group of Huahini. The scenery was again on the grand scale with soaring volcanic peaks and a surround of coral reefs, leaving a small channel between the two. We anchored in a deep bay unfrequented by other yachts because of the deep water. When we arrived a cruise liner was just raising its anchor to leave. Thus we were left in splendid isolation with only the internet for company. We received this from the only house on the shore for miles around!

We sailed Dipper around Huahini Iti (the smaller of the two islands). It took us ten hours and we eventually arrived back at Atlantia in the dark having slid above numerous coral patches and only just managing to row beneath the small bridge that joins Huahini Iti to Huahini Nui. The mast scraped under the span with a touch of heel to the dinghy.

We had been greeted on the way in to Huahini by two very large humpback whales who seemed to be enjoying playing in the pass through the coral reefs. They were only a representation of the considerable number of whales we saw in the western Pacific. It was exciting to see these huge animals at close quarters. How the Japanese and Norwegians are willing to hunt and kill them is almost beyond belief since modern synthetic materials have replaced all the useful parts whaling used to supply, such as oil, corset stays and collar stiffeners. This excludes the blubber which apparently the Japanese eat. Everyone we have spoken to who has tried this delicacy describes it as 'inedible'. Being an intelligent race perhaps the Japanese will one day see sense.

Fare, on Huahini Nui, was only a small village but had an extremely well stocked supermarket. Many of the shops in the Pacific are run by the Chinese or descendants of Polynesian Chinese mix. This shop was very well run.

Our next island was Raiatia, some ten miles away. A larger island than Huahini it is the cultural centre for this area, with an airport and the base for two charter fleets. It is also the ancient religious and cultural centre of the Polynesians. It was from here, 2000 years ago, that they were blessed and set sail in their large migration catamarans, up to 100 feet long, for Tonga and New Zealand. Some also believe they went to Easter Island and the western American coastline as well.

The Maraes, or gathering places here belong to the very high born nobles from all Polynesia, and soon after we left a new chief was crowned as King of Tahiti on the most important Marae. He is the first king of Tahiti in over a hundred years. This is just another move towards independence from France. Although the Marae are gathering places all over Polynesia and New Zealand, in Raiatia they are very formalised with cobble stones for the gathering, and upright stones for head rests. There are also stones for the ancestors spirits to look from whilst ceremonies are in progress.

Before the missionaries arrived the religion in the islands was that of Ancestor Worship. To a small degree it still, is with the graveyards being in prominent places with well decorated graves.

In Bora Bora we also saw graves with much adornment in the front gardens. The religion now is staunch Christian, and the Sunday singing in the churches, which are sometimes open to the air, is very sweet and plaintive.

Captain Cook witnessed a human sacrifice at a Marae on one of his visits in the 1770's. No doubt the Polynesian chiefs eat the poor chap afterwards as well. They did this when they respected some one! They were apparently fortified by his spirit!! Later Captains' Bligh and Vancouver were officers of Cooks ship on that voyage as well, and there are some interesting reproductions of the young Bligh's excellent paintings showing the sculls that were left out on the stones. Whether they were the skulls of ancestors or of sacrificial victims we never found out.

We sailed up one of the many inlets in Raiatia on the east side. At the head of the loch we anchored and took the dinghy up the river. We rowed as well as motored about two miles beneath beautiful and strange trees and grasses. On two occasions a local man hopped out from behind a bush to speak to us from the bank. On the first occasion he gave us a wild ginger flower and urged us to visit the Botanical Gardens half way up the river. Until then we had been ignorant that these existed. On the second occasion he again urged us to visit the gardens, which we duly did on our return from the river's source. It surprised us somewhat to find that it was the same man who was our guide around the gardens. He spoke three languages and knew all the latin names of the plants as well. James was his name and a very pleasant and intelligent person he turned out to be. He even gave us a huge bunch of bananas as we left. It is the first time we have ever been paid, even in kind, for visiting a botanic garden. There was no charge for entry and the trees fruits and flowers were many and varied.

We visited three more anchorages around Raiatia, all deserted, before sailing on to Bora Bora fifteen miles away for a party. The weather was poor in Bora Bora and the wind blew hard for a week. It also rained steadily for twelve hours on the day previous to the beach barbecue. The party was to honour a Finnish lady's fortieth birthday and Also Derek's 60th.(Derek is English). There were over ten nationalities represented, all yachtsmen on their way across the Pacific.

We met the crew of Giselle, another Scottish boat, who were particularly helpful with issuing weather patterns and forecasts during our trip to Tonga. David had worked for BP Oil designing new plant for Grangemouth oil refinery on the river Forth. His wife Mary came from Ardrishig in Argyll and their daughter Kirsty had been to University in Glasgow, so there were many connections.

We anchored off the restaurant called Bloody Mary's. It was a very traditional Polynesian building with sand on the floor and wooden furniture everywhere.

We left to sail to Suwarrow, or Sumarov, in the Cook Islands. Regrettably we had to return after only a few hours to Bora Bora since the propeller had started to knock against the rudder again. The previous repair had lasted over 1000 miles but since there was still 2000 miles to voyage to New Zealand something better than three jubilee clips was required. Derek from Kalida was very helpful once more and provided additional assistance to Will's vandalising of our redundant stainless steel cover supports to make them into new washers to be inserted between the propeller and the securing nuts. Will and Derek managed the underwater part using nearly empty dive tanks. A race against air. As we write (from New Zealand) the propeller is still firmly in place and has worked well for the last 2000 miles. We set off again for the Cook Islands but due to some particularly nasty weather that we passed through, and also the fact that the weather then became advantageous to go to Tonga, we changed our minds and pointed the bow for Vau Vau, the 2nd most northerly islands in the Tongan group 600 miles away. We changed course a day later than the yacht Mainly which had also been going to Suwarrow, but decided to go to Western Samoa instead. We heard this on Giselle's Pacific High Rise net over the SSB radio. We were very saddened to hear later that Danny from Mainly was drowned during the tsunami in Samoa. One never knows what is around the corner.

Our voyage from Bora Bora took a total of nine days and , although fairly hard with just the two of us, was successfully completed with no damage. We arrived at Vau Vau at the same time as Gannet with John and Nicole on board. They had set out from Bora Bora at the same time as we had on our first attempt.

We spent two days at anchor near the main town during which time we sailed around one of the many islands in Dipper. Not so dramatic as the last time we sailed around Huahini Iti since we arrived back in daylight, just.

We thought we had arrived in Tonga on a Thursday, but discovered that having crossed the dateline we actually arrived late on Friday afternoon. Since the customs, immigration and the man from the ministry of agriculture and fisheries do not work at weekends we had to wait until Monday morning to book in. They were all very pleasant however. One wanted $100 tonga (about £30 ) for the hospital and another wanted a free medical consultation for his son's condition. Margaret ably diagnosed migraine. We heard later that sometimes the odd bottle of rum is requested from visitors but fortunately not from ourselves. Since there was no other entry fee we thought the costs for cruising such beautiful waters were quite reasonable, although port dues are required on the way out, another $100 for when we booked out of southern Tonga.

Tonga is almost 400 miles long from the Nius islands in the north to Tongatapu in the south. There is much ocean in between the four island groups. There are 171 islands which only comprise 688 square kilometres of land, with 102,000 inhabitants. When we arrived we discovered that 74 people had been drowned three weeks earlier when a ferry from Tongatapu on its way north, had capsized. Almost all the dead were women and children who had been sent below for 'safety'. There is presently a Royal enquiry into this very tragic matter. The whole of Tonga is governed by the King who is the grandson of Queen Salote. Queen Salote, who was was 6 foot four inches tall and weighed 20 stone (2metres and 130 kg) endeared herself to the British public in London during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth 2nd. She is remembered for being shown on television being pulled by horses in an open landau during the pouring rain that marked the occasion. She commented that the British public wished to see her, and see her they would, rain or no. Will says he remembers it well.

We were greeted at Vau Vau by a breaching whale and in total saw about twenty of them during our time in Tonga. They come to Tonga to calve and mothers can be seen playing with their youngsters all round the islands. There is a well regulated tourist industry 'swimming with whales'.. 'You see a whale or you get your money back'.

The main town in Vau Vau is called Neiafu, and was the temporary home to about 30 seagoing yachts, all on moorings provided, at reasonable cost, by the local boatyards and cafés. This is a safe harbour and a meeting point for yachts coming from New Zealand and travelling to the islands and also the yachts travelling across the Pacific. The 'islands' are generally, Figi, Samoa, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and the Kiribati islands. Neiafu itself is an old whaling port and has a number of restaurants. They find supplies a bit sparse from the capital in Tongatapu 160 miles south however, and this makes for considerable shortages at times. Last month it was paper, of all kinds! The tsunami, which killed 7 people in northern Tonga, and the ferry tragedy, have also had an affect on the regular supply ships and whilst we were there they ran out of white wine. Some local produce such as water melons, lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, zuccini, squash, tarrow and kava are available at the colourful and usually well stocked market.

Also at the market are many locally produced artifacts from whalebone carvings (illegal almost everywhere) to large wooden statues of mermaids swimming with whales.

There are also many baskets and containers of wicker and pantaneus. Margaret went to basket weaving classes and now has two Tongan type baskets to her name. She was taught by Primrose, a gentle giant. In Polynesian society the first born is supposed to take on the role of guardian for the rest of his or her siblings. Consequently, whether male or female, they tend to look and act like mother hens. To meet a chap called Primrose, or similar, is not unusual in Polynesia. They almost always have outgoing personalities and Primrose was no exception, being good at basket weaving as well as teaching and selling. The Tongans have a name for men who act as women, they are called Fakaleiti.

We would like to have spent more time in Vau Vau, with its beautiful islands and happy inhabitants, and its pigs roaming around the beaches,

but the insurance company said we had to be away from the cyclone area, which includes Tonga, by the end of October, and Kevin, who had sailed with us across the Atlantic, was flying in from the USA to Tongatapu to help us take Atlantia down to New Zealand. Thus at the end of September we set sail again to pass through the Ha'apai islands to Nukualofa in Tongatapu.

It took three day sails through some of the most delightful atolls and volcanic islands (one still active and blowing smoke) to reach our destination.

In the 1770's Captain Cook christened the islands 'The Friendly Islands ' and the name has survived. The Kingdom of Tonga is indeed friendly nowadays. The name was given after a considerable exchange of hospitality and gifts to the Captain from the local chiefs. The true story emerged some time later when it became understood that the local chiefs had actually planned to kill and eat all of Captain Cooks crew including himself, but the chiefs couldn't agree whether to attack the ship by day or by night, so they let the matter drop! The name stays however

The coral islands of the Ha'apai group are mostly uninhabited and some villages still have no electricity, although they sometimes have solar power for the sparse number of street lamps. The passages through the reefs are quite difficult as well, especially when the electronic plotter shows a chart deviation of over 50 metres from the actual position. On one occasion Margaret noticed breaking water ahead of us on a reef. The reef swam off, it had been a basking whale. The chart was correct that time with 150 metres of water beneath the keel.

The Kingdom of Tonga was pronounced a British Protectorate in 1900, the same as New Zealand, but in Tonga the only notice of British presence is a broken fountain, and the relief that most people speak reasonable English. The government of Tonga is appointed by the King, and at present there is considerable discontent with the prime minister and various petitions to the King ask to have him removed. Some Tongan ladies are even on hunger strike about it. There are occasional flare-ups between the police and the populace, but during our time there everything was calm and docile and the people very friendly. Regrettably the Tonga yacht club has been a victim of the recession, and their building is up for sale. We hope that the yacht clubs we belong to in Scotland are not so mismanaged.

We took an expensive taxi ride around Tongatapu as tourists. We saw Captain Cooks landing place, the previous Kings tomb and the present ones palace. This was imported from New Zealand in the nineteenth century and had been prefabricated. It is an elegant building. We toured the water spouts and saw the fruit bats hanging upside down in the trees. Although they are nocturnal we saw one or two flying. They appear like large crows with leathery wings and bat like faces. They call them flying foxes in Tonga but they are just very large and interesting bats that are sacred.

We took Atlantia to Big Mamas yacht club about a mile from Nukualofa on the Royal Island of Pangaimotu. There to prepare the boat for our trip to New Zealand. Big Mama was very chatty and she was also collecting for the victims of the Tsunami in the Tongan Nuis islands. We were glad to donate a considerable amount of food together with ground sheets and fishing hooks as well as masks and snorkels for hunting lobsters. They are apparently much in demand there. Atlantia was much lighter going south!

The tsunami occurred whilst we were in Nukualofa. We were the only visiting yacht in the harbour at Faua at the time since the American boat next door had departed after dragging her anchor in the first currents. We were quite safe although the tide went out very quickly with a strong ebb current. It also receded more than usual. It was regrettable that due to the closure of the schools and businesses, because of the tsunami warning, that all the people and children went down to the waterfront to see if there was a big wave coming! It was fortunate it did not materialise. For us as well.

We went to the culture centre to see the museum and to watch them making tapa cloth. This is carried out by stripping the bark off mulberry trees and soaking and beating it so that it becomes soft and pliable. It is then stuck to another cloth, with the fibres at 90 degrees, with a tapioca glue, and finally painted. Large tapa cloths are given as wedding and christening presents and can be used as wall hangings, blankets, ceremonial carpets and table coverings. They were originally also used as clothing, although this is now only for ceremonial use. Tattooing is not so prevalent in Tongatapu as elsewhere in Polynesia, although it can be seen on both men and women there but over a much smaller area of the body.

We went to a Tongan feast at the cultural centre. Actors and actresses wore traditional clothing and performed ancient war dances and love dances. They have a kava ceremony where the elaborately prepared mildly intoxicating but non alcoholic drink made from the kava root is drunk in a special ceremony to all who wish to partake. They require a noble to head the ceremony and to take the first drink. Will was chosen and has thus joined the nobility of Tonga. He will be treated to deference of just below Royal status should he ever return to Tonga. It's tempting! The kava drink? It tastes a bit like milk with mud in it.

It was a most enjoyable evening and the 'feast' included suckling pig, cockles, octopus, chicken, squash, spinach, sweet potato, shrimps and crab. The finale in the dancing was the fire dance. There seemed to be a number of people off-stage brandishing fire extinguishers whilst the two young dancers jumped and whirled with their brands of fire, terrifying the audience in the front row; us.

If you know the Flanders and Swan songs, the word in 'Tongan' for 'no' is actually 'Ikai' sometimes pronounced 'K'. It doesn't seem to be the long word for 'no' used in the song . Confusing if you take K to mean OK! The Tongan maidens from the song are indeed 'lovely' but are generally very large and broad in the beam. They have beautiful smiles though.

It took us eight and a half days to reach New Zealand and the voyage was made much better by the presence of Kevin who took a third watch. He also caught a tuna on the voyage, which added to our fresh food supply for two days.

We also landed a flying fish in the scuppers one night, delicious for breakfast.

We hardly ever kept to the rhum line, sometimes having 30 knots of wind behind us and then 20 knots on the nose with a large and confused sea. As the wind dropped we had to use the motor to sail uphill. The waves were no more than 3 metres high but the wavelength was short at times, We were delighted to be joined by Albert the Royal Albatross who seemed to float effortlessly across the waves.

More of his friends, together with innumerable petrels and shearwaters joined him as we approached New Zealand. A strange fixed wing bird called us on the radio as we crossed the twelve mile limit. It was the coastguard. They were very pleasant and asked our arrival time and required various other details. It was a nice welcome to New Zealand. The various official bodies on shore were pleasant too. There was only one minor issue with our flamboyant tree pods, or shakers, as they are known in the Caribbean. Regrettably we had to part with them although we took the seeds out of one of them which had been painted and given to us as a gift. We were then allowed to keep it, minus the rattle.

The officials were charming and efficient, although we did hear one story about a boat that was required to be hauled out of the water to be x rayed. Apparently they have a new machine to go with the underwater camera they use to make sure we hadn't brought any nasties in from abroad on the hull. Generally the process of booking in was quite painless although there was a lot of writing involved. Our wrists are still sore a week later from the effort. We will write again to you about the wonders of New Zealand. Suffice it to say that it is just like the west coast and lowlands of Scotland in its scenery. It is also cold and rains a lot. 'Summer is a comin in' as they say, and apparently it is much nicer. We hope so although the people are delightful.

The South Seas with its warmth and hospitality was a wonderful place to visit. As time moves on it seems possible that the Polynesians will become a more coherent group, especially in the north as the French move away. It is to be hoped that they will maintain their traditional links with the Maoris in New Zealand. Unlike the French though the British seem to have been more influential on the Polynesian (Maori) way of life. In Tahiti the French are visitors, in Tonga there are really no visitors except for the transitory kind and just a few settlers who have brought more tourism to Vau Vau. So the people are very much Polynesian. Our first impressions of New Zealand however are that the British have had a substantial influence on the previous Polynesian way of life and especially with regard to property ownership. It must be said however that New Zealand appears far richer than the other areas in both material terms as well as culture, having two joined cultures to draw on. We hope to probe further into that as we tour the islands (when it gets warmer!!) We are returning to GB over Christmas and New Year so look forward to seeing you then. Hope you like the pics. ( There may be some of Kevin's in there as well)

Love Atlantia

Letter from Atlantia August 2009

Tahiti lives up to its reputation as being a friendly, lively (during the week) and expensive island. Fortunately it is also a beautiful island. Most buildings do not rise above six stories and these are dwarfed by the central volcano. Papeete, the capital, has one building of nine stories on the waterfront but they are all shorter in the streets behind. Most of the architecture is French 1960's to 19990's but with more taste than found in France from the same era.

Some of the trees are enormous and must have been here for centuries at the time of thatched buildings , cannibalism, and captain Cook. He first found his way here in the 1770's to chart the path of venus for the Royal Society.

Our anchorage at the start of our visit was on the west side, sheltered from the prevailing easterlies, although sometimes the wind would swing and strengthen. There is talk of 2009 being an El Nino year when the currents in the Pacific reverse and hurricanes in the Atlantic reduce. We certainly didn't find a current reversal in the early part of the year but there is no doubt that the winds recently have been variable, both in strength and direction. As we write the wind is blowing about 30 knots from the south east. Nearly a strong trade wind. Fortunately we are no longer at anchor but tied to yet another metal pontoon that constitutes part of the marina in the centre of Papeete.

We have had some interesting experiences here, mostly on the buses. Half of the bus fleet is known as Le Truck. The reason is obvious. They are trucks. Flat bed with a timber and perspex erection behind the cab. They really are very colourful and ethnic, but are slowly all being replaced with modern, comfortable, air conditioned auto buses. A shame in some ways, as long as you don't have to travel too far in Le Truck. Since the maximum distance Le truck goes out of Papeete is about six miles it is a shame they are being replaced.

We visited the museum. A bus ride, and a longish walk, from the Marina Taina to the south. It had a bower anchor belonging to Captain Cook there, lost when one of his ships nearly drifted onto the surrounding reef. There was a picture of another, half buried in coral, which is now solid stone. About five feet in 350 years.

The early communications with Europe were in the eighteenth century, but the King of Tahiti gave France the Government of his land, and title to a considerable area of it, in about 1880. This century sees France still governing the country, but there is much talk of increased independence. This is extremely unlikely in the near future since France injects a huge amount of cash into the area, and all for the sake of calling it part of France! (and testing bombs in the late 20th century). We were assured by a lovely Frenchman, Alain and his wife Claudie that E.U. money was not involved. If only the French tax payer knew what he was paying for! A refined and happy society who have not yet reaped the benefits of the world banking crisis or credit crunch. They know it is coming though by the considerable loss of yacht business and tourism this year.

The local fishing boats have the helmsman in his own seat up near the bow in splendid isolation. It is said that this is due to the dorado (mahi mahi / dolphin fish) that swim in the bow wave and are speared by the helmsman who has his harpoon handy next to him. This may be the case but it is also a good place to view the up coming reefs and coral heads which abound.

The local canoes are either the single man proas or the 6,8, or 10 man catamarans. They really enjoy their racing and one can see them at almost any time paddling inside and, sometimes during a serious race, outside, the surrounding reefs.

Another of our bus adventures was to the adjacent volcano of Tahiti Iti.

Tahiti Iti is separated from Tahiti Nui (the big place!) by an isthmus populated by a small town with a large cathedral and two supermarkets. The bus staging post is opposite the suspended electrical supply wire where the noddies of the island seem to congregate.

Just like swallows although they do not seem to be congregating to fly south. Just to laugh at all the poor would-be travellers waiting for the buses that nearly never come. We discovered that the last bus from the south of Tahiti Iti, which is where Robert Louis Stevenson stayed, leaves at midday. If you get stranded you have to hitch a ride. One of our friends actually hitched a ride in a police car due to the lack of timeous bus transport about 9 o'clock in the evening. A very weird system. Our companions on that trip were Colin and Milin from their Scottish Beneteau 56 called 'Nae Hassle' Not a completely true name since they had a bit of hassle with their rigger here replacing some rigging. A beautiful and comfortable boat though. They too are off to New Zealand.

One of the benefits of the anchorage at Marina Taina is the floating bar. A wonderful boat with a thatched roof that cruises around inviting other boats to tie up to it. The sand bar on the reef, where it sometimes anchors, provides a number of customers when they cease playing volleyball in two feet of water. No doubt they all take an early bath when they fall off their stools.

Also at the anchorage is the warren catamaran 'Taraipo', owned by John Jamieson who is on his second circumnavigation, this time with Nicole from Switzerland. John used to work at RYA Scotland as the racing coach, and took the Dragons at the Royal Forth Yacht Club for race training on a number of occasions in the 1990,s. We have had a number of very sociable encounters with them and hope to see them again on our travels.

One of the wonderful aspects of French Polynesia is that almost all the women wear flowers in their hair.

Margaret was given some flowers for her hair for her birthday which also surrounded her hat in the evening. They were very attractive but didn't last long even though we kept them in the fridge overnight.

We have been fortunate enough to be visited by Stephen and Susan for the last two weeks, and we have completed a whistle stop tour of some of the other Society Islands. In Moorea we saw the back drop of the mountains which feature in the film of 'South Pacific',

and watched the dancing and music making of the Polynesians at the Club Balihai.

In Tahaa we visited a turtle refuge,

a pearl farm,

and a vanilla farm,

all through the courtesy of the owner of the Hibiscus Hotel with its free moorings outside. Leo, for he is the owner, has purchased over 6000 turtles for his cure and release turtle refuge over the last ten years . They are all Pacific green turtles and are caught in fishing traps or nets around the islands. We gave him a donation and had an expensive meal at his hotel, which seemed the least we could do to assist his altruism.

We swam in a coral river which was only a few feet deep, next to the only hotel in Tahaa. Almost all the very expensive hotels in French Polynesia have their 'apartments' over the water. They consist of small self contained bedrooms with a swimming platform leading to the lagoon so the guests can have their early morning swim without straying away from their rooms. The bar and restaurant are sometimes in the open air although the majority of the communal areas are of large beautifully thatched structures whose frames are timber and whose chandeliers are composed of hanging droplets and circlets of fabulous shells.

Stephen was not startled this time when he saw the octopus. Apparently it was quite tame sitting amongst the vary coloured corals and sponges whilst the small and brightly coloured fish swam blithely around.

The sharks of course that were swimming around the outside of Bora Bora were a different matter. A number were about six feet long and only some were known man eaters. Fortunately the sharks and fish they feed on had just been fed by the tourist boats so fodder was plentiful without attacking humans.

We caught up with Keith and Ann in their sloop Ketchup 2 in Bora Bora. They are heading back to Australia after a nine year circumnavigation together with Brian and Margaret on Gipsy Days who have been on their boat for 14 years. Margaret even ran into a sleeping whale in the Indian Ocean some years ago in the middle of the night. They both got a shock, although no damage was done. Keith controls a radio net of about 15 boats every morning, broadcasting on the SSB radio their positions and weather conditions as they make their way to Tonga. Some are already there.

The whirlwind tour of the islands was great fun, although we intend to revisit two of them on our own on the way to Tonga, which we will reach by the end of September. We hope to see hump back whales again. We saw six on the penultimate day of our offsprings stay.

The last day of Stephen and Susan's voyage was a bit bumpy as we had 50 knots of wind and steep 3 metre waves for the 12 miles between Moorea and Tahiti, when we were sailing them back to catch their plane. We all arrived safely however and the plane was duly caught.

Our next voyage is via Bora Bora to the North Cook Islands, to American Western Samoa and then down to Tonga. From Tonga to New Zealand with our friend Kevin from New Jersey, and then to Scotland for Christmas. The last part will be by plane for the crew but Atlantia is booked into the Riverside Marina in Whangarei, so she should have lots of company there. Hope you enjoy the pics. The whole family had a hand in them this time.

Love Atlantia.