great escape

Ann was signed up for another day of diving, but at a cost of $110/dive compared to the $25 I was used to in Utila (Bay Islands, Honduras), I decided to just do one day! Ann had to get up early again for the dive, so I did laundry and took down the tent before heading up to the Bay of Islands to research sailing schools – I want to do a week-long course up there before heading down to Wellington to work for the rest of my time here.

I wasn’t really sure where to start my search, so I just drove in the direction of the islands, stopping along the way in Kawakawa to visit the Hundertwasser Toilets, the ‘most famous public toilets in the world’ – they were designed by an eccentric architect by the name of Hundertwasser, and are a colorful mosaic of glass and tiles.

Next stop was Paihia, where I stopped in at the info center and picked up some sailing brochures before heading to an internet café to do some more research online. I wanted to do a course with internationally recognized certification, so was originally looking at the RYA ones, but at $1500+ per week decided maybe NZ certification would be enough. I took down some phone numbers from my google search, noting with some disappointment that Nelson had the cheapest courses, and started calling around. I didn’t get an answer from the first couple places, and decided to stop by one in nearby Opua to figure out what all the brochure rhetoric meant.

The road to Opua has a unique layout, with the far left lane reserved for vehicles going on the ferry across to nearby Russell. The ferry is off to the right, though, so when you want to keep going straight past the ferry, the ferry cars cut across your lane to board – without any road signs explaining right of way. The ferry cars seem to think they have it even though it goes against all road rules or common sense, but I wasn’t about to argue, so I waited until they’d all boarded to drive up Richardson Street, following the bright yellow AA signs pointing to ‘Yacht Charters.’ At the boatyard, I followed some more signs to Great Escape Yacht Charters and Sailing Schools, reached the office, and found no one home. I walked back up through the boat yard to where I’d seen someone working, and was met by Terry, one of the owners, and Toby, a 19-year old German working for the company. Terry came back down to the office with me and went through the various courses, but told me that I needed to have another person to sign up with. I couldn’t think of anyone who would want to do it and who’d be able to (Ann leaves in under two days), and told Terry, so after we’d talked for a bit he asked if I might like to work there for a month to fill in for Toby, who’d be delivering a boat to Tonga, and whenever someone called up to do a course on their own, I could do it with them. I’d also get to sail for free whenever work was light.

I was hesitant at first because I’d been planning to go straight to Wellington to work after a week of sailing when Ann left, and had been budgeting accordingly, but then remembered that most of the really cool stuff I’ve done here has been stuff that I haven’t planned, just opportunities I’ve decided to take at the spur of the moment. Soo…I decided to take the leap. I know I won’t make nearly as much money, and it’ll be a lot tougher to get a flat and a job when I’ll only have 2.5 months left on my work visa, but I think I’d regret it if I didn’t take this chance. Terry introduced me to his wife Cindy – they just live across the road from the boatyard, in a house on a steep hill surrounded by native vegetation.

I drove back to Tutukaka in a bit of a daze from the unexpected turn of events, stopping along the way to check out a couple of horse trekking places to find one for tomorrow. I picked Ann up from the dive center, and we booked a horse trek near Pakiri Beach, and a room at a hostel right by the Auckland airport for tomorrow night, as Ann has a 7am flight! We stopped for an Indian dinner in Whangarei, then set up camp at the very easy-to-find Uretiti Recreational Reserve near Waipu, a 500-site DOC campground which, fortunately, was nowhere near full capacity.