Great Barrier Island sailing trip

Michelle was staying in a really nice little hostel surrounded by trees and 5 minutes walk from a little beach called Little Oneroa. I got off the bus and headed straight to the beach for a couple of hours before heading back to the hostel for the evening. The hostel had a deep pool for you to jump in to cool yourselves off - it was fab!

We went to met the family on the sailboat we were going to go to Great barrier island with the evening before we set sail, Jamie, Lisa and their 2 month old baby, Tane on the Wild Goose. They're a lovely family from Australia who have been sailing round the world for the past few years. The Wild Goose is a 45 ft sail boat that can sleep about 8 people but there was just the 5 of us.

We got up early the next day to head down to the boat as it was expected to be an 8 hour sail to Great Barrier Island from Waiheke. There was a great big flock of seabirds on the water just as we left Waiheke, there were thousands of them. Some kind of tern we thought. There was no wind on the way over so we motored for most of the time, but it was fun to steer and we learnt how to take sails up and down and tie a couple of knots etc. We saw a huge navy ship in the distance and a helicopter landing on it and taking off again, then it flew over our heads (the helicopter, not the ship... just in case you were wondering) - we gave it a wave. We got to Great barrier around 7.30pm and moored in a place called Whangaparapara harbour.

The next day we went for a hike onto the island to some hot springs. at the harbour we met a bloke called Steve to was very helpful and gave us directions to the springs as we had no map! The walk was great to get there, there are some really dramatic jagged mountains and the trees are really lush and green and the soil is pretty colours as there are loads of minerals in the ground. The hot springs were ace, in all my time in new Zealand, that's the first time I've sat in the hot springs so I'm glad I got the chance. The rocks at the bottom of the pools were covered in really green green mossy stuff that was really slippery. There were springs of different temperatures down the stream, we found a nice one to plop ourselves in.

We headed out of the springs down the more popular track that most people drive to. This went through some marsh land. We were hoping to hitch a lift back to the harbour, but there were no cars so we walked. Half way there, one car came and took Jamie, Tane and Michelle, and me and Lisa walked back.

It was a shame we really only had the one day to spend on the island, there's much more of it to discover. But the next day, before we set sail back to Waiheke, we took the row boat out round Whangaparapara harbour. There was an old whaling station and timber milling remains and a really well preserved black steam engine randomly hidden in the bush.

The wind for the return journey was much better and we got some really good speed up. It still makes me a bit nervous when a sail boat tips so much in the water, I'm always convinced its going to capsize... but it never does! I guess if Jamie's sailed twice round the world, he knows what he's doing!

Near Waiheke the wind died again and we motored and came across 15-20 hectares dolphins. They came and swam with the boat for about 5 minutes, jumping ahead of us in the water, it was brilliant to see! There were baby dolphins as well. They were so close, we could hear their sonar through the water, calling to each other, it was amazing!

When we got back on land, I still felt like I was swaying, but it was someone at the hostel's birthday that evening and there was lots of pizza and sangria which helped rectify the swaying feeling!