Two day's after I arrived back from Wellington I was kindly offered a trip on the water. How I ended up on the 'Pink Cadillac' sailing boat is a bit longwinded, but put simply - my good friend Harriet has an Aunt and Uncle here (Pat and Steve), who I have met on numerous occassions. Their best friend, a Kiwi named Leith goes out sailing at every opportunity with his good friend and captain of the Pink Cadillac - Basil.
Harriet and I were asked to go along for this extended weekend away, plane the waves and help out here and there. Basil's boat is actually a racing machine, and this week was one of their races. I had no idea about anything when it came to sailing but I was willing to learn. It was also a very special weekend to go sailing in New Zealand, because it just so happened to be the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta on the Monday. Before-hand though, we had a race to win.............
The race started within Auckland's Waitemata Harbour before extending north, past Rangitoto Volcano, to a small'ish Island named Kawau. While Basil was taking control of the helm as it were, Leith was running all over the ship, pulling ropes and tying intricate knots. I decided to learn a bit while I was there - I mean it's not everyday that you get to race a sailing boat with experienced crew who are willing to explain what a boom is and how not to get in the way of it!!!
Actually, the race there was a bit of a no-show. The key ingredient to getting the boat to move is wind - and we just didn't have any. The race was far more tactical than I thought though. Some boats would sail right up to Rangitoto in the hope of catching some gusts that sail over the volcanic terrain, while others take alternate routes to try and get the sails at full stretch. The race must be completed within a certain time frame - I think it was 4-5 hours, or something similar, yet with no wind, ultimately, in a race with perhaps 15 boats, only two actually made it by sailing alone. The rest, including ourselves gave up and put our motor on.
We finally docked at Kawau Island, a stretch of circular land with just one general store and a pub of course. Boats from other races docked into the bay so by evening it was literally a sea of ships. Awaiting on the island was a big barbeque and all the alcohol you could think and drink of.
The following day was a time of rest and relaxation. We took the boat around Kawau and to other nearby Island's that scatter this stretch of water. Harriet and I went for numerous swim's and Leith had even brought along some snorkelling equipment. On one occassion - as we started to snorkel over to a tiny (you can walk around it in 3 minutes type) Island called Beehive, I spotted what I thought was an anchor chain. Taking a second look I realised it was the spikey tail connected to a stingray - but no ordinary stingray that I had seen in Australia, this thing was bigger than me. It hugged the sea floor below, unmoved. I pointed it out to Harriet and I tell you - I've never seen anybody leap out of the water so fast. At that point she would have given Michael Phelps a run for his money. She clambered onto the small dingy and Leith joined me in the Stingray watching, eventually taking off with a speed that Michael Phelps definately could not keep up with.
After more swimming, a relaxing walk around Beehive Island, watching Basil getting into his dingy which he immediately capsized with all the other captain's watching (very embarrassing, but hilarious to Harriet and Myself and everyone else who saw the incident), and a fair bit of drinking (that's what sailors do), we headed back to Kawau Island for another barbeque and further alcoholic consumption. Sailing-boat parties work like this: you get in your dingy and head over to a random boat. They will offer you alcohol and a chat and then you leave in your dingy and move onto the next boat. Before you eventually make it back to your own vessel and collapse in your bunk. Harriet and myself ended up on a sailing ship where the hosts thought it was a good idea to put a shot of tequila in every beer. I found out the next morning that this was not a good idea.
The next day, on the Monday, the second race was begining, similar to the first race but in the opposite direction and this time there was wind!!! Harriet stayed below deck, in a crumpled (still drunk) mess. I somehow found the willpower to get up and help out. This time round though, we were really sailing. Leith taught me how to lower and bring up the anchor, a few different knots so peices of rope didn't come loose from where they should be and how to tack. When you change direction and you want to catch the wind, sometimes you have to point your sail the opposite way (i.e towards Port or Starboard) to catch the wind. You swing your sail around, in a process called a tack. It generally involved me winching really fast and hard in a hungover state whilst watching out for the boom - the big beam that runs at the bottom of the sail and which gets it's name for the noise it makes when it notoriously hits someone's head during tacking - often knocking them unconcious.
We continued back south towards the finish line. Harriet and I sat up on the high side - as the boat tilts to a 45 degree angle when the winds really catch the sails. About half-way through the race Harriet shouts out that she saw a dolphin in the distance. About a second after I tell her she's still seeing drunken illusions, three dolphins sequentially leap out of the water, following our boat. I was sure things like that only happen in movies like Titanic, but obviously not!!!
As we approached the end of the race, back in the Waitemata Harbour, we were greeted by hundreds of boats of all shapes and sizes. The Auckland Anniversary Day Reagatta is one of the biggest of it's kind in the world. It was started on the 18th September (my birthday) of 1840, the day the city was founded and it has grown ever since. On this, the 169th anniversary, hundreds come out to view the boats on display and I felt like a bit of a celebrity waving at the audience as we sailed back into dock.
It had been a great weekend. I had seen and learnt so much. My sailing knowledge increased exponentially and with my new skills, just pass me the keys to the QE2 I say. The incredible stingray and dolphins will never be forgotten, nor will little Beehive and Kawau Islands or the moment we sailed in to a blanket of boats at the Regatta. How we weaved through them all is beyond me, there's no traffic lights out there you know. And finally I learnt the biggest of all lesson - and that is never to mix tequila and beer or drink with sailor's ever again, but still at least I didn't have to scrub the deck so that's a bonus!!!
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Sailing To Kawau Island & Back - The Auckland Anniversary Regatta
Working In Welly
After an hour flight, I arrived at Wellington airport on a Monday morning, where I was met by my boss Graham. He drove us out to a small town just north of the city called Lower Hutt, where GNS have an office. For the first few days I was helping out on a few, small specific jobs but eventually I was put to the task that I had come down here for.
There are many ways to date a rock, but when you have very old material and (in simple terms), that rock has the right kind of stuff in it, you can use an accurrate technique called Argon-Argon dating. The method uses isotopes and the equipment that performs such a task is only available in a few places globally. Once a year, Graham flys out to the USA where he meets the 'big boys' of geology......the United States Geological Survey (USGS). They kindly allow him to use their equipment to age the rock's he brings along and which are generally volcanic material from all over New Zealand. Before the rocks get sent across the Pacific however, they need to be prepared. There are a few stages to the preparation and I was down in Wellington to perform the first.
About 10 minutes drive away from the GNS office, is their National Isotope Centre - a place full of laboratories with hi-tech equipment, most of which will remove at least one of your limbs if your not watching them all. I was working with 2 peices of such equipment.
I was situated in what's called 'the rock crushing room' and my job....was to crush rocks. It basically involves using various machinery, that grind, crush and destroy any rock you place into it. The aim however was to then collect the samples of rock within different grain sizes. The key to the whole job was sterilisation. If so much as one grain from one sample snuck into another sample then the ages could be way off what they should be. Ultimately, a part of my job was therefore to clean a lot, generally with chemicals that really hurt if you accidentally spill them on any cuts you may have picked up from sharp volcanic rocks!!!
It was an enjoyable two weeks in the lab. Thankfully, by the time I left I still had all major extremities still attached to my body. There was one close call when I nearly took off my thumb - but overall it was a successful job - well done.
I've never hidden the fact that I like the city of Wellington and on my weekends I had further opportunities to explore it. I made a second trip to the National Museum, Te Papa, which has pretty amazing exhibits of pretty much everything NZ, especially Maori culture. I also did the very touristy activity of taking the famous red Cable Car that chugs up the steep hill from Lambton Quay to Kelburn. At the top you get spectacular views over the city and beyond. There is also a cute little museum on the cable car, it's history and workings, which would be even more interesting if you had an interest in cable cars at all. Continuing on, and you come across the Carter Observatory which also has a small musuem of which you can stroll around. I finally took a walk back down to town via the Botanic Gardens which is a pleasant way to walk back home, even if you do get lost and end up stuck in Lady Norwood's Rose Garden!!!
Wellington really is a great city, you can walk along it's streets and always find something going on. It was street dancing on this occassion. The summer had most certainly arrived too - with sunny days greeting me every morning, even if there were gale force winds pretty much 24/7......thats Wellington for you.
The other really cool thing about this trip is that for the first time in a long time I felt like a backpacker again, on my own. Since arriving in NZ, Iv'e been travelling around with Darren from home and although he's now in Queenstown, Iv'e made so many friends in Auckland that it doesn't really feel like travelling but just living - which isn't a bad thing either. I'm just saying it was nice to sort of not no anybody and just start chatting to random travellers again. Well, I say all this nonsense - but the day I arrived at my Wellington hostel and stepped into my room I was greeted by two guys who I had stayed with at the hostel in Auckland for quite a while. That's how this travelling works!!!
After two great weeks, I had a final beer with the boss, his new wife and some friends before catching my flight back to Auckland. It was Thursday night and the following Monday was a bank holiday. So a three day weekend had sprung up.........What shall I do I thought.....................?
