Dingo prepares to leave Dunedin

Port Chalmers

We are sitting in the Port Chalmers Yacht Club (established 1862) in Otago harbour, watching Dingo dancing on a mooring as a summer gale rips down the harbour churning its surface to a white frenzy.

Captain Les MacBean

Les MacBean owns the mooring and has moved his 1930s fishing boat 'Julia' (the boat that took Knox-Johnston's mail out to him during the Golden Globe race), so we can hang here. Les, an accomplished sailor and shipwright, has been helpful in many ways, a mine of local information, wise words on local conditions and the next leg of of our trip. He fixed up our dinghy last April when a gale flipped it and a davit arm punched a hole through the floor. 


Deciding not to rush, we left Dingo moored on the piles at the Otago Yacht Club from April 2011 till we returned last month. She broke free once in a 70knotter and Les re-moored her.

When we pulled her up the slip three days before Christmas we discovered the prop had corroded badly and after having it brazed by old Bob Watt (of 'Charlie Noble' fame) Les epoxied, filled, two packed and anti-fouled it. He then conjured up a wee spring loaded copper brush to earth the prop shaft to prevent it happening again.

All part of the warm blanket of hospitality visiting yachties can expect in these cold and windy waters. Mind you the weather over the last two weeks has been bright, sunny and warm while the rest of New Zealand has been rained out.

We hired a Rent a Dent car ('Rint a Dint') for two day look around the Otago harbour environs, walking the Spit at Aromoana, Tairoa Head, Lovers Leap and the Organ pipes. Of course we went to the pictures, one of them being The Iron Lady, a stunning bit of acting by Meryl Streep. We made the acquaintance of restaurants and numerous visits to Bunnings hardware mega store. Jimbo bought a bike for 20$ that packed up after a couple of rides but then found one for ten which is stowed away on board.

Dingo coming out of the water

Rejane doing the antifouling

We spent Christmas on the hard anti-fouling the hull (Rejane and local youngster Josh) and doing those underwater jobs like the propellor, zinc anodes, through hulls etc (Jimbo). Rejane made a picnic and we walked to the botanical gardens for a lovely sunny Christmas day dinner, surrounded by flowers, birds and bees. We exchanged presents, Rejane got a cheap electronic keyboard and is warming up for a recital, while she gave me a new Lumix camera with more pixels than my old Olympus. As is our tradition we went to bed at nine on new year's eve and watched a film (The Great Gatsby), falling asleep well before midnight.

Christmas dinner

Home for disabled penguins

So now we are poised to recommence sailing. After a lay off it is always a bit of a leap to cast off and go forth on the briny, a leap needing an awful lot of preparation and a few deep breaths. Our destination is the flooded volcanic valley of Akaroa 150 nm up the coast as the Albatross soars. It is on the south aspect of Banks Peninsula (that's Sir Joseph Banks of Captain Cook's voyage fame), a massive complex of a dozen ancient volcanoes and a dozen bays large and small to explore. The peninsula's basalt roots are firmly planted and, as South Island moves north east past it, you get earthquakes. Christchurch is at the neck of the peninsula.

Port Chalmers