Cruising Notes – New Zealand 

Weather:

The weather is variable along any route to New Zealand, whether you are leaving from Tonga, Fiji or New Caledonia. In the northern part, the dominant factor is the South East trades. In the middle part are the lack of winds associated with the High pressure systems coming off Australia. In the southern part are the westerlies with their associated fronts.

Des, the weather guru for this area, is there to help you twice a day via the SSB radio. He is a saint, really, and is so dedicated to all the boats helps, running the weather faxes and interpreting them for us (mostly a matter of experience for him, being a former racing sailor in the roaring 40's. We got to meet him in person and it was a real thrill, finally meeting him after speaking on the radio since we were in Tahiti!

In general, though, the weather is unpredictable and it is mostly a matter of being lucky if you don't get 'whacked' along the way. The Kiwis advise to sail south till you get to 30 degrees latitude. Run you weather faxes. If there are no fronts coming, go for it. If there are fronts, or especially a LOW, hang out north of 30 till it goes by. 

There is a lot of shipping traffic within a couple hundred miles of the coast of NZ. Big ships and lots of them. Be very careful, they move fast! Watch out. There are also a couple of real hazards of the natural kind. Every year, one boat hits a rock known by several names. It is in all the paper charts but NOT in the electronic ones. It is at exactly 21 deg 43.773S and 174 deg 37.978E according to the boat that hit it and sank this year. It is called Cev-i-Ra rock on the DMA charts and is about 60 miles off the rhumb line from Musket Cove  Fiji to NZ. You can get blown over it pretty easily, as the boat that sank found out! The other hazard is the 3 King's Rise, north of the North Cape of NZ. It runs north almost up to 30S latitude, along the 2000 meter contour. Sounds deep huh? Well, according to Des, more masts are broken there than anywhere else in the Pacific. The Kiwis say don't sail over it in anything over 30 knots of wind, as there is a nasty short steep chop then.

Customs/Immigration:

Beware strong currents at Opua customs dock and at marina. This coupled with high gusty winds made us put a huge scratch in our boat as we were trying to leave the customs dock.

They are picky about the yellow flag and will come out to you in an inflatable if you are in the Bay without it and tell you to put it up.

The officials were delightful. Friendly and courteous. There is a lot of information at all the major cruising ports as far east at Tahiti, so there is no excuse for you not to know the rules. They are conscious of not bringing any pests or diseases into the country. So certain things are not allowed to be brought in and will be taken off your boat for disposal. These include the following items if not of NZ origin and in original packaging – meat, dairy products, eggs, fresh fruits & veggies, dried seeds such as barley,  nuts in the shell. Wood carvings and straw products will be inspected for insects. Camping and tramping gear, bicycles will be inspected for mud.

We showed them all that we had. We had our souvenir wood carvings in a bag for them to see, and they were ever so nice. We had absolutely no problems. They even took our trash away! 

Goods & Services:

This is the land of stuff! Best to take your credit card and cut it up. You can get everything here from food and booze, to anything at all done to your boat. This is a real seafaring nation and everyone is very friendly and helpful.

It is not in all cases, however, the land of cheap stuff. Most boat things are more expensive here than in Canada. Anchor chain is about the same as in Canada, paints and varnishes are US prices. The quality is excellent though, and if the chandeleries don't have what you need in stock they can get it within a day if it's in New Zealand, or will order it from offshore.

Grocery prices are comparable to Canada and the selection and freshness of food is the best we have seen since North America. In New Zealand they grow most everything - from oranges and macadamia nuts in the north to all the 'northern' fruits and veggies we are familiar with such as romaine, iceberg, corn, green peppers, radishes, apples, pears, beets and asparagus etc etc etc. The meat and dairy are top notch.

Buying a car here is a real possibility for us budget minded (cheap) cruisers! You can buy a road-certified car for an incredible $1000-2000 Kiwi dollars (right now the Kiwi dollar is .51 cents US). I'm not talking about a rusty old wreck either. AND when you are finished with it and ready to sail away, you can sell it easily for what you paid for it. We have not done this and may not - we can't really think of what we would do with a car, and it would keep us in one spot for too long. But maybe a camper van....

On the other hand, we got a real shock at the price of eyeglasses. They want 400-600 Kiwi just for the FRAMES! And then the lenses (for my admittedly coke-bottle strength and bifocals) of another 350 Kiwi. I could get a car for that. It seems somehow out of whack. Instead, I am going to take an old pair of frames in and just get the lenses done. When I get back to Fiji I will buy a bunch of frames and keep them on the boat for future lenses.

TV's and electronics like that are twice the price as in North America. Books are very expensive too. We have not found yet a place to buy cruising guides or charts for anywhere other than New Zealand. But they probably exist in Auckland.