Wednesday 12^th February 2003
A truly mammoth journey today - we have to drive from Thames across Hauraki Plains then north through Auckland, past Bay of Islands and on to Whangaroa Harbour and our hostel at Kahoe Farms. We make one stop for lunch at Whangarei Falls. These are quite spectacular and located just on the edge of the large town of Whangarei. Pass through Kawakawa but later discover should have stopped for the best loo in the land - designed and built by Austrian architect!

Finally arrive at our destination and meet Stefano and Lyndsey our very friendly hosts. They live in a house adjacent to the main hostel which is by the road. However, we are staying in Lyndsey's father's villa up a track behind the other buildings. There is accommodation here for four couples. Tonight there are three - ourselves, an older Kiwi couple, and a younger Swiss couple. The villa is magnificent with lots of wooden panelling and ceilings. We have an excellent corner room with a king sized bed (two singles placed together) and very firm mattresses. There is a verandah with beautiful bougainvillea growing over. Two friendly cats.

Stefano cooks pizzas and pastas, but we feed ourselves tonight to give us an opportunity to assess the situation. After dinner we drive back to the main hostel and after seeing the food book pizza and salad for tomorrow and a trip on Snowcloud - a sailing boat operating from Whangaroa Harbour. Hunt through past visitors' books and find Mat & Helen's entry from October 1999 where they recommend Snowcloud and pizza. ("In that order?" questions Stefano!) Stefano - a human dynamo - has created a football pitch and Pete is persuaded to play. The small 5-aside pitch is floodlit and promoted as Stefano's "Field of Dreams" (cf Kevin Costner film of same name). We all play in bare feet and Pete stubs his toe early on which then bleeds for the rest of the game. After an hour or so we are all exhausted and pouring with sweat - but it has been a good game. Pete is fairly lame and heads back to the house to clean up.

Thursday 13^th February 2003
We report to the wharf at Whangaroa for 9am and meet Chris the skipper of Snowcloud. He is a gentle, quiet man - in contrast to Stefano - and we set off across the harbour towards the open sea. There is no wind so we motor. Snowcloud is 36' and built by Chris (a boatbuilder by trade). It is wooden with a glass fibre skin. As we leave the harbour we soon become aware of a swell coming in from the east. Chris is surprised but says that there is a storm, but it is supposed to be 500-1000 miles away. We put the sails up and sail eastwards to the Cavalli islands. The swell gets to Glyn who feels very sick and is only just saved by timely ingestion of Stugeron! By the time we reach our anchorage she is feeling much better, but Pete finds the motion to the anchor unsettling - hopeless aren't we! Along the way Chris points out interesting features and seabirds, including flittering & Buller's shearwaters, blue penguins, skuas and terns. Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior was resunk here as an artificial reef.

Once anchored we take the opportunity to take the dinghy ashore and as Glyn puts it, put as much distance as possible between us and the boat. It is a shame that we have felt sick as now we worry about our forthcoming Tall Ship sailing in Fiji. It was a measure of our confidence that neither of us had expected to feel unwell and were unprepared. We do some beach combing and find some interesting shells and a golf ball. Strange - the ball is labelled Floater and it obviously does! Pete keeps it for use near water hazards.

Back to the boat for lunch, but first we have a quick swim. Chris has laid out a very nice spread of fresh bread, salad, and a cheese pie. Glyn sits below but Pete stays in the cockpit and is served there. After lunch Chris asks what we would like to do next. Glyn says she doesn't mind so long as it is in the direction of port! We set off to sail back trolling a number of lines in the hope of catching something for dinner. The swell at first seems better but by the time we reach Flat Island huge rolling hills are marching out of the east, bouncing off the island and getting us from both sides. Pete is helming and manages to keep his lunch down but apparently turns very white. The wind dies and we wallow sickeningly for a while before starting the engine. As we head in towards the harbour we have the swell with us and as we rise and fall the waves seem huge - another new experience for both of us. Once back in the harbour it is perfectly flat again.

We are sad to have been unwell, not just for ourselves but Chris too. It would have been an excellent trip otherwise and Chris is clearly very competent and knowledgeable. We pay him $70 each and take our leave, after again finding Mat and Helen's entry in the visitors' book. Around the inland end of the harbour mangroves are growing in the brackish water.

Buy a bottle of wine on our way home to have with our meal which will be waiting for us - luxury. The pizza and salad are very tasty. There is no football - Pete was determined not to play anyway. Both cats curled up on bonnet of car.

Friday 14^th February 2003
Decide to veg out today. Do some washing and dry it between showers. Later drive out to Totara North looking for village store but fail. Return to hostel for directions but find that store has closed down very recently after 90 years. Stefano is running a sweepstake for tomorrow's first America's Cup race - we say we'll enter later when Pete has had a chance to think about it. Drive to Mangonui, 20km north, for shops. Glyn cooks roast dinner - first since leaving home.

Saturday 15^th February 2003
Stefano thinks we should be glued to TV for race build-up, but as race doesn't start until 1.15pm we decide to take a scenic drive south of Whangaroa harbour. Partly on unsealed road we get views out to Flat Island and the Cavalli islands where we sailed on Snow Cloud. There seems to be less swell today and winds are light. Pass some nice beaches. Pass up the opportunity to play Mini-Golf (the course doesn't look up to the high standard we have come to expect) and return to villa for lunch.

Then down to hostel to join fellow punters for Race 1 of America's Cup. Stefano has a bit of cup history. In the previous competition, NZ were defenders and Prada (Italian) were the challengers. Stefano (half Italian) was down at the waterfront waving an Italian flag and a Brazilian flag (one of the crew members was Brazilian) and was selected to go out on Prada's support boat. Prada won the race and on the next race day, Stefano got taken again for luck. He also got invited back to the post-race celebrations, but had to spend a night in an Auckland hostel because his car got locked in. Anyway, he became a fan of Cup racing - although he doesn't actually sail himself. In the last defence Prada was very popular with the locals, however this time the challenger, Alinghi, is unpopular because it is skippered by Russell Coutts, with tactician Brad Butterworth, who are the Kiwis that successfully won and defended the Cup for NZ. It is generally held that they sold out to the Swiss.

The race gets underway in strong winds and the two boats are neck and neck until it is observed that NZ have shipped a lot of water. After a while they tack and after the commercial break we discover that their boom has snapped. While they are trying to make a repair the headsail tack breaks and the sail is stripped out of its foil. After failed attempts to recover NZ are forced to withdraw and hand the first race to Alinghi who sail the rest of the course unchallenged. It is a total disaster for NZ and Stefano is gutted. Pete and Glyn have won at least two of the bets but we keep quiet and retire to our villa.

After dinner we go down to the hostel to pay our bill. Stefano is not keen to pay our winnings - he offers to pay them into a bank account. Never mind, Glyn has broken a dish and says use the winnings to replace it. Tonight we have to share our house with two other couples - whatever next?!