Opua, New Zealand
We made it here, finally over with for awhile. Arrived in the morning at day break, was really a very nice sight. New Zealand is very pretty, a little like home. Made it to customs dock at about 9 am, that was about a 2 hour procedure, but they were very nice & everything went well. It's really cold here, at least for what we have been used to. We are wearing coats, full length pants, shoes socks etc. Haven't had shoes or pants on in over a year, what a strange feeling. We are very tired & in a marina now, so will get to sleep now, love from Dan & Sandy
October 29, 2000
Dear friends, we arrived Friday about 5:00 and started motoring - in took about two hours. It was so good to see land, what a relief. It smelled good too. Astrolade went to the customs dock first and we took a morning buoy. Boy was the boat a mess, wet bedding and clothes everywhere. I kind of picked up to make it better to receive the customs and immigration. Everything went very well. They didn't really take much food either, I was really surprised. The next chore was to dock this big tub. The wind and current were blowing too. With help, we made it safe and sound. What a relief. We all got congratulation hugs and were invited to Siri's for dinner. We took showers and cleaned up and had a hamburger at the take out cafe. Took a really hard nap and off to potluck.
Next day Dan and I started cleaning and it started to rain. I did laundry, 8 loads, and then the girls decided to go to town so off we went to look and see in Pieaa. Not spelled right. Came back, fixed dinner and went to sleep early. We have decided this is our last port. The boat is up for sale and we will be coming home for good. We had a great experience and now look forward to doing some land cruising maybe. We are cleaning the boat up and we hope to have some time to tour New Zealand. We will get a round trip ticket to come back either to finishing selling or tour some more. Dennis and Patsy knew people from California who bought a boat here and they wanted some of our stuff. So all day Sunday they came over and we made deals. Lightened our load a lot. Sunday evening we went to Flying Cloud's motel and had potluck dinner with Fantom and Astrolade. On Monday, back to cleaning - we have to take some photos and video for selling. John Neil is going to advertise at the seminar and West Coast Yachts is going to list it. They said they have 4 people interested in buying a Hall Burg so hope it doesn't take too long. It cost about $20 or so to ship home. So hope we don't have to do that. So the Cruising episode of The Elkins and Arahine is over. Hope you have enjoyed the adventure with us. Love all Dan & Sandy Thanks for all the prayers.
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Over four hundred cruising sailing yachts visit Opua, New Zealand each year. It is the country's most northern "Port of Entry" which makes it an ideal stop-over point on the way to or from the romantic "South Seas." The basin also hosts an occasional cruise |
| ship, but on average, less than one a month finds this hideaway port cherished by the cruising sailor. | |