Great Barrier Island is stunning and we had always planned to revisit and explore further.
We dropped anchor in Smokehouse bay which is a favourite with the sailing community as it has fresh water, wood fired hot water, laundry facilities and a pizza oven. it is beautiful little bay and a nice spot to socialise with other yachties .
doing a bit of bushwhacking and exploring of the walking and farm tracks behind the peninsula is hugely rewarding. There are tracks to suit everyone, with spectacular views across the ridge taking in man’o war passage and little barrier island. There is a lot of native trees and bushes, particularly the Manuka and Kanuka which give off a wonderful aroma.
It was on one of these walks that we met Sven the owner of ‘Barrier gold’ which produces Manuka and Kanuka oils creams and potions.
He is a local legend in these parts and he offered to give us a tour of his workshop.
We had been chatting with Rachel and Ellis who also have a Lipari 41 catamaran. They had to replace their windlass due to some corrosion issues. So we though it would be prudent to give ours a service and checkup. Taking it apart is fairly straight forward and it was not long before we saw a couple things that needed further attention and maintenance.
We also discovered that the clutch cones on the winch were damaged. Until we could organise a replacement the best we could do was give the unit a good clean, grease and service. We ordered a replacement unit for delivery to the boatyard so we Ould pick it up the following week.
Next job on the list – the trampoline attachment points. Our old setup used four seperate lines to connect the net. We replaced the lines with a thinner but stronger dyneema cored line. Then doubled up the connections and only ‘picked up’ two connection points in the corners and four connection points along the leading edges. This reduced single points of failure and now if one line had an issue we would have a much smaller gap to contend with.
Hauling out Double Trouble always causes a certain amount of apprehension
After all, we are placing our home and its contents onto a hydraulic trailer where it is then pulled up a ramp and then driven across the boatyard before being placed on blocks.
It turned out we had nothing to worry about as in what seemed no time at all Kevin, David and the team at Norsand had Double trouble safely up the slip way. Then it was time for a quick fresh water rinse before heading to our hardstand berth.
This was just the beginning of our stay and it meant that we would be doing boat jobs for at least the next month as we got Double Trouble ready for her next trip to the Pacific.
Our time in Barrier was coming to a close. We made one last trip into port Fitzroy where we came across what we believe is the finest sign we have ever seen.