Kiera’s blog

Kiera’s blog

THE following are abridged extracts from Kiera Sleeman’s blog. Kiera was brought up in Probus and has been working on Kawau Island in New Zealand for the past three years. It’s winter down south, and Kiera has a few months to spare...

Mid-June 2020

We have been anchored in Kawau Island for a week now waiting for strong winds to pass.

My mates Santi (chef/South African), Mikey and I went fishing. We did very well catching five kahawais in our secret spot. Then we went hunting for oysters in south cove and then to north cove for some huge mussels. So that night the crew had a massive treat with fresh fish and shellfish, as fresh as can be, all caught and cooked within a few hours. I gutted and filleted all the fish and shucked all the oysters for everyone, so we had raw oysters and steamed mussels and fish and chips with the kahawai. I also made some sashimi with the kahawai, fine slices with wasabi and soy dip - yummy.

It’s 27th June and our moving day has arrived. We are currently in Bostaquet Bay, south side of Kawau. I get woken up at 2 am to do anchor watch. It wasn’t too bad just a little chilly out, I could hear a nearby dolphin swimming along through the night sea, the stars were shining so bright, and you could see the milky way right above the masts, dark patches with bright silver shining all over it. My favourite part of anchor watch is when I’m able to look up at the stars beaming through the night sky, it’s not always the same, but it’s always spectacular.

After 45 minutes, it was time to get the coffee going, and then I had to wake up each crew member. It is always funny watching how each person wakes up from their deep sleep and dreams; each different expression makes me chuckle a little. Once everyone was up and ready, we went straight to the windlass to haul up the anchor, it was only the small anchor, so it wasn’t too hard to pull up, not like the big anchor.

We set off towards Auckland. It was pitch black, and all you could see were the outlines of the oncoming islands. We left early in the morning as we prefer to arrive in a place we’ve never been before whilst it is light. Unfortunately, I felt a bit seasick. It started to happen on my watch, but I just ignored it and carried on, so I had to throw up leaning over the bow - it wasn’t a lot of fun. We had to put the sails up, and I was still feeling crook every time I pulled the ropes. I then went and laid in bed for a few hours, curled up in a ball trying to feel better.

Several hours later, I felt heaps better. We motor right past Rangitoto Island, and it’s so beautiful. I was last here about eight years ago with my mum when we visited family. To our left we

see the Auckland Sky Tower outshining all of the mountains and the little sky scrappers of Auckland. Passing round the point, we head straight towards the Harbour Bridge. Auckland looks different from this angle, very industrial right on the water edge with the giant container vessels and the shipyard. The big city stands tall and is very noisy with all the working life. Ferries whizz past, two, three, four at a time, it’s crazy busy all around the waterfront.

We approach Auckland Harbour Bridge. It’s 37.7m above the water, and the crew are all excited to go under on Alvei. The top of our main mast appears very close, so it’s nerve-racking, even though we know we have 7.7m clearance. It just doesn’t look like that from this angle. Once through, we prepare to drop the big anchor. We find our spot and release the anchor. The massive 1500-pound anchor drops into the dark water, plummeting down so very fast. We let out two shots on the chain, and here we are, at last, anchored in the City of Sails.

This week I’ve been helping Thompson (First Mate/American) build a sliding hatch for our saloon. It was good fun as I was able to try out lots of different power tools: the grinder, the sander, the electric cutting blade. I learned how to use them properly and safely without them kicking back and injuring me haha! It took us a few days because of the bad weather. Auckland has about four seasons in one day, one minute it’s sunny and lovely with blue sky, then suddenly the horizon turns jet black, and it’s hammering it down. That did slow our progress, but the end product looks pretty bloody good even if I do say so myself.

I’m not too sure what our plan is next. We have found out that French Polynesia is opening from 15th July so we are in contact with immigration over there to try and figure out what visas we need and how long we could visit for. So, fingers crossed our next stop could be Tahiti, which will be amazing as I’ve always wanted to go. I reckon we may stay here for another week to get the last of what we need in Auckland. I’m hoping we leave NZ soon because it’s starting to get bloody cold here now!

To be continued...