Windy Wellington

 We arrived in Wellington May 2 after crossing the notorious Cook Straights from the Tory Channel on the South Island.  We had picked an excellent weather window and the crossing was exciting but uneventful.  Upon arrival we sailed around the harbour a bit looking for a good sheltered anchorage that would provide protection in the current southerly winds and the forecast northerlies over the next few days.  We settled on an anchorage in Evans Bay just off of the yacht club.  There were a lot of moorings but still some room available to drop the hook.

True North from the boat ramp dock Evans Bay, Wellington Harbour 

The next day we left the dinghy on the nearby boat ramp dock and took a bus into town.  We first visited a chandlery looking for a replacement foot switch for my anchor winch (windless).  The old switch had become difficult to find a spot to press to make the winch pull up the anchor chain.  Unfortunately the chandlery did not stock the part.  Next we went to the national museum Te Papa Tongarewa. We spent most of our time in the natural history area and the Gallipoli exhibit.  The Gallipoli area had a number of very large and detailed models of real life soldiers at key points of the battle.  The models were at least 5 times life size.  The story of the moment was told and how it fit into the overall combat.  The exhibit was very sobering but well worth a visit.  After leaving the museum we went grocery shopping before returning by bus and dinghy to True North.  The temperature dropped to about 8 degrees and I ran the reverse cycle air conditioning to warm up the cabin for the evening.

The next day Saturday we spent on True North doing some chores and having a quiet day.  I took apart the windless foot switch, cleaned it and with Andrew’s help reinstalled it.  It seems to work now but we will have to use it for a bot to confirm it is back to normal.

Yesterday, Sunday we headed out for a fenced off nature reserve Zealandia which Andrew had found o line and suggested we visit.  We got a day pass for the bus and went to Zealandia but when we arrived found out that there was a $24 per person charge to enter.  We thought the price was a bit extreme for access to some walking trails so we walked about a kilometre to the Wellington Botanical Garden instead.  The garden was very large and varied and we spent most of the day there.  We both decided that the Hobart Botanical Garden although smaller was more enjoyable.  Before departing we shared an excellent pizza at the restaurant at the top of the cable car which has a great view over the city and harbour.  Some Botanical Gardens pictures are below.

After walking town the hill to the bottom of the gardens we caught a bus to the grocery store to pickup a few more items and the took another bus back to the dinghy and True North.

Today we are headed about 200 miles up the east coast to Napier.  After reaching the Wellington harbour heads we found winds a bit brisk blowing from the north at 33 knots gusting to 43.  Luckily they were off our port aft quarter and we headed around the bottom of the North Island at 9 to 10 knots with a reefed mainsail and staysail.  As forecast, the winds have shifted to Northwest and dropped to the low 20 knot range.  The forecast is for the wind to continue to shift to the southwest and drop to about 15 knots so we should have a good sail up the coast arriving midday to late afternoon tomorrow.

Departing from Wellington Harbour at 06:45