New Zealand or Australia For Pacific Bound Sailors

[Jim Cate]

Re denial of "cool and damp" wx in NZed:

I have noticed that folks tend to adapt to whatever local climate they live in. Thus, when a Kiwi tells me that it is "stinking hot" I have to factor in that the Kiwi has not spent the last X years in the tropics like Rebel has. For instance, just last week here in Hobart it reached around 85 degrees F. The locals were gasping and falling about with heat stroke. I put on shorts for the first time since returning...

For the record, Ann and I spent three summers cruising in NZed, all sailing done around the North Island (car trips southward). And yes, we had a few pleasantly warm days each year... but in general, we (tropically acclimatized) found it cool and damp. We're currently in Tasmania, which is well south of the latitude of the popular Bay of Islands Kiwi cruising grounds, and as usual, we find it pretty cool and damp here as well. But, we can sail north and get as warm as we wish without making a major ocean passage or leaving the country... if that is what we want to do.

YMMV, of course, and as noted, NZed is beautiful, friendly (only place we've ever been where being a live-aboard is not considered weird) and safe. Oz has a much wider range of climate and of cruising areas, some beautiful, some not so much, the people are friendly, and it is safe. We've chosen to base ourselves out of Oz for 20 out of the past 23 years, the other three being our stays in NZ. Works for us!

Cheers,

Jim

[LBW399]

HI Jim and merry xmas,

You said: "Unfortunately NZ stays cool and damp all summer",

That is just not true.

Sure it isn't the tropics, but (using the old scale) 75-80F is not 'cool' in my book, I'd say it is 'pleasantly warm', and to me the 90F days we get a number of times in during summer here up north are stinking hot.

However - I am not such a one eyed Kiwi that I won't disagree that our weather can be 'variable' -- I mean after all we are a temperate climate, a little island stuck in the vast expanses on the Pacific Ocean, so there are going to be some summers that are cooler and damper than others. I will give you that.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Kiwi399

HI Jim and merry xmas,

You said: "Unfortunately NZ stays cool and damp all summer",

That is just not true.

Sure it isn't the tropics, but (using the old scale) 75-80F is not 'cool' in my book, I'd say it is 'pleasantly warm', and to me the 90F days we get a number of times in during summer here up north are stinking hot.

And that, my friend, is exactly the point! Your "pleasantly warm" days are "cool" to me, and I suspect to RH as well. After all, he lived in San Diego before cruising off to Mexico, and both places have temperatures greater than 90 F on a regular basis... thus it takes >100 F to be rated as "stinking hot" (also humidity rears its ugly head, for Baja and SD both enjoy a fairly dry heat... if you add in high humidity the experience changes for the worse).

Anyhow, we did enjoy our stays in NZ, cool or not, and have been vaguely considering a return visit in the near future.

Cheers,

Jim

[Steve Pope]

NZ is a temperate climate, A hot day for an Eskimo would probably be a bloody cold day for me! I have a Daughter who moved from Northland to Dunedin (45' South) Within a year they had adapted to the climate and were swimming mid summer just in togs (swimmers or budgie smugglers) earlier or later they use wet suits. They love the distinct difference in the seasons, Quite different from Northland where it is permanent Autumn.
I guess I should have used Cairns or Townsville as a reference point rather than Gladstone.There are lots of places to stop on the coast but you do have the tyranny of distance that is noticeable to Kiwis cruising the Queensland coast. Aussies don't notice it as they live with from day 1. The NZ Northland coast from Tauranga to North cape is a much more compact area where the anchoring choices are many, often only anywhere from an hours to 1/2 a day sail between them.
My experiences with military exclusion zones hark back to the 1970 when sailing down the Adriatic we sailed into a Italian Army shooting range without realising it, we were 1/2 way across it when we noticed spouts from something (shells?) landing between us and the shore. We checked the chart and the zone was shown, we had missed it. Only thing to do was to keep plugging on. My reference to the exclusion zone on the Queensland coast was from info I had read on the Coastal Passage where some folk had been caught in the area and not realised that it was active at that time.
Re sheep no's in NZ we are down to 35 million from 70million so our intellect should improving. ):

[LBW399]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

And that, my friend, is exactly the point! Your "pleasantly warm" days are "cool" to me, and I suspect to RH as well. After all, he lived in San Diego before cruising off to Mexico, and both places have temperatures greater than 90 F on a regular basis... thus it takes >100 F to be rated as "stinking hot" (also humidity rears its ugly head, for Baja and SD both enjoy a fairly dry heat... if you add in high humidity the experience changes for the worse).

Anyhow, we did enjoy our stays in NZ, cool or not, and have been vaguely considering a return visit in the near future.

Cheers,

Jim

PM me if you ever do come down here again, and I'll crack open a couple beers while we discuss the weather, and rugby and cricket!. My boat, by contrast is exactly half the size of yours and I'll be making a semi permanent move to the Bay of Islands next year.

Cheers.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Kiwi399

HI Jim and merry xmas,

You said: "Unfortunately NZ stays cool and damp all summer",

That is just not true.

Sure it isn't the tropics, but (using the old scale) 75-80F is not 'cool' in my book, I'd say it is 'pleasantly warm', and to me the 90F days we get a number of times in during summer here up north are stinking hot.

However - I am not such a one eyed Kiwi that I won't disagree that our weather can be 'variable' -- I mean after all we are a temperate climate, a little island stuck in the vast expanses on the Pacific Ocean, so there are going to be some summers that are cooler and damper than others. I will give you that.

Must admit that little island is closer to Antartica than the Equator.

[StuM]

> Re sheep no's in NZ we are down to 35 million from 70million so our intellect should improving.

And they've kept the good looking ones, got rid of the ugly ones

[LBW399]

Originally Posted by StuM

> Re sheep no's in NZ we are down to 35 million from 70million so our intellect should improving.

And they've kept the good looking ones, got rid of the ugly ones

Theyre on a first name basis too.

Someone ask me once do I shear sheep? I told him to get his own, I'm not sharing.

[svseachange]

Australia has always had more sheep than New Zealand. Last time I checked we had 70 milion down from 170 million.

[44'cruisingcat]

Hmm sheep numbers.... something I've just never kept tabs on.....