Tag: New Zealand

Why are New Zealanders called Kiwis?

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure

The locals living in New Zealand are proudly known as Kiwis. It is a nickname spoken with warmth, confidence, and belonging. The name comes from nature, yay, my favorite topic. A Kiwi bird is a nocturnal, small, flightless bird found nowhere else on Earth. This is our second season here, trekking across many islands, and we have yet to see one.

The kiwi bird has lived here for millions of years, long before humans arrived. With no natural land predators, it evolved without the need to fly, and developed strong legs. When Māori arrived, they named the kiwi a taonga, this treasured creature was woven into stories, cloaks, and spiritual beliefs. Later, when Europeans settled in New Zealand, the bird became a symbol, since it was so unique. World War I New Zealand soldiers wore military badges featuring the kiwi bird. Over time, soldiers began referring to themselves as Kiwis. They do like using nicknames!

The word also seems to connect people across backgrounds, uniting Māori and non-Māori, which is so important. The kiwi explains a people known for traveling the world while never losing sight of where they come from. Funny, Scott and I will have lived here a year this May, can I call ourselves Kiwis?

Hanging out with a dozen Kiwis is always fun, spirited and full of much storytelling.

Auckland, New Zealand

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure

Our home for the month.

Docking in downtown Auckland, crazy tricky.

Merry Christmas to all! We had a quiet, fun Xmas on the boat with our besties, Jason and Candice. We later met some local Kiwi’s and invited them out for a sail in the bay. New experience for them.

And, Happy New Year to all! Since we had such a fun New Years last year downtown Auckland with numerous cruiser friends, we thought we could repeat it on Kalea. We threw a crazy loud and silly costume Disco party, with music, lights and all. Take a look at these silly videos.

What else have we been up to? Plenty of big city activities downtown Auckland, we even found a gym for the month! We just hop on a little pink scooter and zip around town. Plus our normal boat life, shopping, marine projects, hikes, exploring, bussing it, nightlife, sewing, friends, restaurants, and yoga. Life is good and very full, just the way we like it, for now.

What’s next? We will continue exploring this area till mid February, then haul out Kalea as she is due for a bottom paint called antifouling. We really are keen to explore Australia, so instead of sailing there, we will hop on the plane. Need to do a visa run anyway, as we only get a 3 months visit at a time. A flight will be much quicker than sailing there, plus Australia is so huge. We will spend 5 weeks exploring and visiting some cruising friends there. Transitioning from sailboat to a camper van should be pretty simple, NOT! Stay tuned for that story.

New Zealand, Islington Bay

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure

Ahhhh, New Zealand. Good people, good food, beautiful scenery and amazing sites. It’s good to be back and reconnect with friends we made last year. Although we won’t be in the states for the holidays, we will be spending Christmas and New Years with many of our cruising family members and a New Year’s party hosted on Kalea in the downtown Auckland (Viaduct Marina). 

Today’s post is about the hike and anchorage across the bay from Auckland. It’s a rather large set of islands called Rangitoto and Motutapu. In the 1920s locals would sail and row themselves across the bay to these beautiful islands and build little holiday homes/structures that they called Baches. About 140 structures. This island was government owned but it didn’t deter people from carving out a piece of the island and calling at their own. The government gave the tenets leases and used the residents to build walkways and roads around the island. They were modest cabins by any stretch, but these people put a lot of time into getting materials across the bay and moved lots of lava stone to create foundations and boat ramps. 

In 1937 conservationists convinced the government that the Baches were detrimental to the efforts to conserve the island and the courts agreed. The courts gave the residents 20 years to remove themselves and everything associated with their structures. A smart attorney continued to haunt the conservationists and finally in 1957 got the New Zealand Supreme Court to agree that the Baches were part of the environment that should be protected and kept preserved as long as the family has survivors. After the 20 years of required eviction, only 30 Baches were left and to this day many have been handed down in families and still are in use. 

As we walked around, it was fun to see the ruins as well as some of the Baches still occupied by some of the original families. 

As for us, we have decided not to sail to Australia, so will fly there for a few weeks. We want more time in the tropics before we move onto Indonesia. As always……plans are ever changing to adapt to our whimsical lives. 🙂 

Maiden Offshore Passage on Kalea, Outremer 49! New Zealand to Fiji.

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in Sailing

Sailing to Fiji from Opua, New Zealand! I know, I know, it was supposed to be Tonga, but… oh well, life sucks, lol. Winds were not in our favor. We are blessed though, as always, we spent 6 weeks in Tonga last year. It will be a sporty, swift 6 day sail to Savusavu, Fiji. A country we barely explored last year due to selling Sea Bella. By the way she is there waiting her new family. We may just see her out there on the water somewhere. Bittersweet, but mainly thrilled with the new family moving aboard soon.

Scott, Dave, Mark, Kathy

There are about 6 boats headed out together in just about an hour or so. But by noon we may not even see them till Fiji. We decided to have 2 crew join us in our maiden passage on Kalea. Dave LaRue from CA and a local Kiwi sailor friend, Mike Clough. We are all leaving NZ right as a Low pressure system passes by will slingshot us northeast off the top of it. Lows are typically pushed out of the way by a following High pressure system. These High pressures or anticyclones are massive. They can stretch thousands of miles high and wide. Typically they have mostly settled weather with sun and little rain or squall activity. That will get us maybe 200 miles a day without pushing the boat too hard. You can watch our track live on the link below, even see the weather etc for us as well. I will post updates there as well as here. Thanks all for your support, interest, encouragement and likes. ❤️

Exploring the Bay of Islands, New Zealand-2025

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in adventure, Sailing, Travel

We are so glad to be sailing back to these beautiful islands next November, as we have never seen such an amazing cruising grounds as the Bay of Islands (BOI). Take a look at our video, such beauty! What makes BOI so unique is there are so many places to tuck into and most of the islands are uninhabited, nature reserves. If I was planning a trip to the northlands of New Zealand, I would book an Airbnb in the darling town of Russell for a week, then take daily ferry trips out to these islands for hikes, beach walks, kayaking, swimming, paddle boarding and maybe even camping out on our favorite island; Urupukapuka. The views from all the well manicured hiking trails are spectacular. You can wander through the fields of sheep and signing birds, right down into a charming outdoor cafe for lunch and some live music. Since we are on a boat, this island gave us 6 beautiful anchorages to choose from, as the winds change directions nearly every week! The video says it all.

Urupukapuka Island

The last few boat projects on the dock in Auckland are done! We finally set sail, New Zealand.

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in Sailing

Getting a boat is kind of like your first date, so exciting but it takes months to get to know them. Well, same here on SV Kalea. We were sure busy in Auckland, New Zealand, both on and off the dock. She came equipped with everything needed for sailing, and some of the basics and extras like scuba tanks, paddle boards, compressor, an extra portable freezer, and this and that. However, like any boat, things break or need to be replaced, just like a house. Scott spent time trouble shooting our main power winch. This is a must have, as the mainsail is very heavy and our shoulders are starting to feel it. The gear box had seized up and needed to be replaced. Luckily, we were docked and just a stones throw away from a Marine store that luckily had our replacement. Then, our house stereo and our portable freezer (backup) both needed to be replaced, under warranty still thankfully! A quick uber ride across town, a bit of labor and all is well. Other items repaired including the water heater, diesel heater, head sail tac and obviously getting all the fishing gear prepared.

We got off the dock a few times to explore the neighboring favorite tourist island of Waiheke. Fun, but a bit high priced. We toured around, learning our sails and systems and as always meeting fun new people. We even met some friends who all wanted to go for a day sail to a favorite beach for a picnic and yoga. 12 of us in all had a good day.

Monthly scrubbing
Boat polish
Filling up
New power winch
Roland inspects
Chain regalvenized

Kathy searched high and low for a Heavy duty sewing machine for her various canvas projects for Kalea. The Sailrite LZ1 machine is most cruisers favorite. New machines flown in from the states would be too pricey for our budget. Used ones are hard to find and nearly the same price. Placing many adds on social media groups lead us to a great connection with a past cruiser needing to part with her LZ1. Hurray! Back in action. BBQ and Jerry can covers, helm seat cover, side shade screens pillows just to name a few.

Loading chain
Counters every 25’
New/used Sailrite
Sewing notions
Grommets are tricky
Shower curtain
Fun pillows
Shade screens

AC Panel
Drones come in handy to view the mast top

Now, back to cruising, it’s been nearly 8 months to switch boats and countries, but we did it! The first few remote islands were blissful and so rewarding. Our favorite was Motutara island with its huge sunken ship, see our reel below.

Travel the South Island, New Zealand. Round trip in 7 days: Christchurch, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Wānaka, Manipouri, Te Anu, Dunedin and back to Christchurch.

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in Travel
Queenstown Church

After spending a great, action packed, few weeks with my folks from California, and driving a rental car 1089 miles (length of California) here’s a few fun facts of our own South Island, New Zealand experience. (Turn up the sound in the videos for the full effect)

The inquisitive Kea

The most lush and loudest forest was seen/heard was near Lake Te Anue, biggest waterfall seen; in the Milford Sound, tallest building and best views: Sky tower (1076 feet) best town: Wanaka, best beach: Palm Beach, Waiheke. The funniest bird: The Kea, most common house: common white painted with pickets, prettiest flower: Hydranga, most interesting building: Ponsonby Hotel/Post office (built in 1911, was robbed and the postmaster was murdered). Best lamb served: Mudbrick Winery, on Waiheke island. We took two sailing adventures here on Kalea. The wind and weather was perfect, great to share this experience with my folks.

The most evasive wildlife: Kiwi bird, most fun activity: 1,000 sheep crossing the highway, cutest couple: my parents, largest tree seen: bottle brush in Auckland. Fun Trip for sure!

A little fun fact, Kathy has family heritage from New Zealand! The below book was written by her great, great grandmother on her father’s side. It is the endearing story of Esther’s parents from Scotland, who sailed for 3 months to Dunedin, in 1875. While traveling the South Island, Kathy and her own Mother, Sue Krevitt read aloud this story, recounting the steps the ancestors took, the places they lived, the gardens they walked through, the farmlands they planted and the old little towns they lived in. Going to settlers museums, cemeteries, churches and libraries. Searching the names and facts of Kathy’s heritage was a highlight!

Another book was written by Esther’s husband, soon to be read. Both books will soon be electronically scanned and preserved.

Sail GP 2025, Foiling Catamarans preparing to race in Auckland New Zealand, Feb 2025

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in Sailing

Nice front row seats (from our dinghy) for the practice runs for the Sail GP races in Auckland New Zealand. We got to hang at the leeward gates to see these magnificent sailboats practice speedy maneuvers. Auckland was buzzing and helicopters wereflying. These people love their sailing.

Sail GP foiling race boats are so spectacular! What a privilege it is to be here this week. 12 countries practiced all week. Imagine the work in taking down and putting up their entire rig daily.

The next day, we went out for a dingy ride in Westhaven near Auckland and the small, colorful sailing dinghies were out racing around. Much slower than SailGP of course! turns out, the skippers were all people who were paraplegics with wheelchairs back at the dock.

KALEA video tour-Outremer 49, we love her so far!

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in Travel

Hi folks! This is the tour we promised everyone. We are sitting in an Auckland Marina, enjoying the lively city. We are busy fitting the boat for our needs. We had to learn to drive on the left side of the road, with our rental car, 😵‍💫. New Zealand is beautiful so far.

We have been doing a few boat jobs, have some bits of fun in the big city, and a ton of shopping. Kalea had some basics, but not the full Monty. Thank goodness Amazon Australia has most of what we need, they ship to NZ too.

So we were walking around Westhaven marina yesterday and dropped in a local Yacht Club for glass of wine. I looked up and said Holy Moley,
I looked around again searching for the name of the Club and it was the “Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron”. LOL


Right above our heads on the balcony was the Americas Cup!!!! Too fun and so random. The club walls were covered in hundreds of years of sailing history and trophies. The New Zealand folk take sailing very seriously and we were amazed how open the club was and how much the community is involved.
We had a very welcoming visit with a few of the members and one invited us back to see the Sail GP races here next month from the club restaurant.
Yup, gunna do that, after the holidays!

Outremer 49, our new home!

by Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World, posted in Sailing, Uncategorized

WE DID IT! 🤪😳😃😂. We are again boat owners!!!!
SV Kalea is officially ours! We had a few stops and starts but the deal finally went through today.
This boat we have drooled over for 4 months, 2011 Outremer 49.
A big thank you to Grant and Sam that are helping make the transition smooth. They are local New Zealanders, from South Africa. They sail from NZ to Fiji every sailing season to surf and live the life, in the fast lane!

Now to explore New Zealand in style…

Kalea means “happy” or “joy” in Hawaiian. Well, we sure are that! Keep pinching ourselves. We actually got lucky and found our great cruising friends who sailed all the way from Mexico with us on our last boat, Sea Bella. They were out here in Auckland for the day! They helped us celebrate our day and new life in NZ for the season.

From left, Kathy, Addicus, Adam, Scott, Jason, Candice, Ingrid.

Now, back to the new boat to finish off our contract, hand over the keys and discuss boat systems, processes, survey… all good! Better yet, all done and official.