Author: sailawaysarantium

Tuapiro Point, North Island, NZ

I decided to pull in to a private campsite this evening, as I was getting tired of driving.

25nz dollars for a night includes showers, bathrooms, full kitchen and living room and bbq under the roof! The surroundings are spectacular with rolling hills, sheep and cattle.

And of course, they sort and recycle everything!

Some photos of my drive from the most northern tip of NZ…

Van, groceries and full tank of gas… Corby and I will set the steering North! You got to love New Zealand… in addition to previous posts about how wonderful New Zealand is, I’m now adding their commitment to sharing the land with everyone. Camplify is an organization that allows people to list their recreation vehicle and rent them out to tourists. It’s just like Airbnb but for vans! I did not pick up a dog or a man named Corby. The owners of the van named their van Corby! So it’s Corby and I! Once on the road I search for campsites and “Freedom Camping” pops up! These camp spots are all over the place and free of charge for one night! After one night you got to move on to the next one! And of course, they provide clean bathrooms, beautiful park benches and picnic tables! These are often water front. Many of them are only open low season which is all year except for December 18 to February 6, as they are protecting their eco system, during warm weather.

The world has so much to offer and often places I visit, are more beautiful than the last one visited.

I know many folks believe they live in “the most beautiful place on earth”…I disagree, because the further I travel and the longer I stay in places I realize that there are so many beautiful places, that has so much more to offer. And the bottom line is, we have so much to learn from other countries that are more progressive. We can always do better… we just need to climb out of the box we live in and set the bar high for ourselves and the community we live in.

Infrastructure seems to be catering to community building. Office buildings have coffee shops on ground floor and buzzing with business people who are attending meetings. When looking up, office spaces are open and inviting.

Very few streets allow cars. People are cycling, walking and on scooters! Rain or shine!

Community Gardens and Restaurants are plentiful and diverse!

When talking to people, seems for the most part, satisfied with how the government distribute tax money. The minimum hourly wage is 23.50 NZ$ and cost of living seems to be lower than what it is in Canada for example. Restaurants are pricey since it’s not a basic need. While walking around one notices public meeting places and tasteful urban parks everywhere. The streets are clean and public toilets are plentiful.

I looked into post secondary education and their fees, and here is what i found out: Up until 2025 first year of studies were free of tuition and fees.

• First-Year Fees Free (ended in 2024):The government previously covered the cost of one year’s worth of study or training for eligible first-time tertiary students. 
• Final-Year Fees Free (starting 2025):The scheme now applies to the final year of study or training for eligible students. 

In addition, similarly to the European model, “In New Zealand, healthcare is largely publicly funded and available free or at a reduced cost to citizens and permanent residents. This means that New Zealanders and those with resident visas who live in the country can access many health services without direct charges. While there may be small costs associated with some primary care like GP visits, these are generally subsidized”.

What a nice surprise Auckland is… a stunning harbourfront, amazing diverse restaurants, boutique shops, warm people, playgrounds galore, an interesting maritime museums, free and clean toilets on every street… sunny and crisp! The urban planning is outstanding! And… it’s not just in certain areas, the whole city is like this😀

Benches and playgrounds are plentiful!

Cleaning, organizing and tossing odds and ends, and I’m packed and Tony will take me to the airport by boat! My journey home begins!

Last night, I had the pleasure of getting to know SV Ora and its owner Pascal from New Caledonia! Ora is a catamaran, bought in Martinique in the Caribbean. We shared some French Polynesian Rum and exchanged life stories. His story is similar to mine! Different countries, different people, different years, but similar journeys, past, present and future plans! This is what sailing is all about: meeting interesting people in beautiful places!

Today, I’m packed for 6-7 months of traveling; hiking boots, backcountry ski boots and flipflops!

First stop is Rangiroa for one night!

Quick flight to ….

Well signed little town!

Since I was starving I decided to return to the airport as I saw that they had a snack bar and all the other restaurants in town didn’t open until 18.00 and check in was still hours away!

As soon as I sat down, one of the employees came over to enquire about my flight. I said “oh it’s not until tomorrow and I just needed something to eat!”. He said “do you want to go to Tahiti today? Heck yeah! When does it leave?”… “in 45 min”… so now I’m in a pretty nice resort in Papeete with swim up bar, infinity pool and a bottle of wine!!! Nothing Not Nice was not available. Touché!

Best part…

The things I missed.. a bathtub with fresh water!

I was hanging on the beach, when the owner of the boat yard, Alfred, yelled “go fishing?”! I jumped to the opportunity and off we went!

Later on I figured he just wanted someone to do the fishing while he drove the boat in between the reefs! I learnt a few things! They trawl in between the corral reefs to lure the fish out and when they bite, you got to reel in fast, otherwise they go back into the reef and it’s hard to get the fish out with the line caught in the corral. That was lesson number one…

Lesson number two: only catch certain fish in the atoll. The bass here in Apataki has Ciguatera. “Ciguatera Poisoning (CP) is a seafood poisoning highly prevalent in French Polynesia. This illness results from the consumption of seafood contaminated with ciguatoxins (CTXs) produced by Gambierdiscus, a benthic dinoflagellate.” From What I understand is that fish get it from eating food from the corral. We threw two Bass back into the water, as they are “no good” here in Apataki. Alfred also told me that in Tahiti the bass is ok to eat!

I ended up catching ten snappers while Alfred navigated the boat!

In my poor French and Alfred’s poor English, we managed to have a few conversations! Alfred and Pauline came here in the early 2000. This used to be a pearl farm, but Alfred and Pauline turned it into a bit of a agricultural farm. They grow a ton of veggies and fruit to go along with their pigs and chickens.

In 2009 a British sailboat arrived and asked if they could haul their boat up, as they needed to fix their hull, and refuge from cyclone season. Alfred kind of laughed and said no… but there was a seed planted… a boat yard!!! Why not! Now they haul out 50-60 boats a year, many of which are regulars…

This must be a very lucrative business. They also offer a ton of services, plumbing, fiberglassing, painting, just to mention a few. As I’ve mentioned before, their son, Tony, runs the boat yard with 4 workers and Pauline the office. Alfred mostly run the farm!

Anyhow, my time here in the boatyard is almost over. Tony will shuttle me to the airport on Friday to start the journey to Portsmouth and London, via Papeete, Auckland and LA!

Can’t wait to see my daughter and her partner, who just got engaged! Looks like there will be a wedding next August in England💕

…. getting shit done. My bilge pump needed some TLC as it would turn on (great) when needed, but wouldn’t shut off. So i have been manually having to pull the fuse to turn it off. Today I decided to pull up the float switch and the bilge pump to see what the problem was… a real shitty job, as it is far down into the bilge and the metal bar attached to it was fasten behind the raw water strainer. When I finally got it out (with some online help from Kevin, who knows EVERYTHING about Island Packets), I discovered that the float switch (black) was so full of dirt and sludge which was why the float switch was getting stuck and bilge pump not turning off. Another first for me🍾

While poking around in the bilge, I also discovered that the strainer from both showers were completely rusted out, so I detached it and will order a new one.

I also wrapped the bottom of my mast to protect blocks, winches, etc. I am not sure if this is good or bad. I am afraid that water might collect in there instead of just running down and out… I need to think on this some more.

I have been sanding and adding some more coats of Cetol on all the wood, including the cockpit sole. Boat is not looking so tired anymore.