We arrived safely to Tonga after two very challenging passages. We have broken and lost a few things due to the crappy weather and huge seas, but nothing that can’t be fixed. It’s just time and money.
Our blogs will pick up where we left off on 25 July so please stay tuned!
This is a photo at Minerva Reef South.
Please remember that our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.
We have left New Zealand after spending just over 8 months in Whangarei, Town Basin Marina! Technically, we took a 2-week trip to Great Barrier Island so Sugar Shack didn’t spend “all of that time” in the marina! After many, many projects we are finally ready for the next passage!
This trip will begin on Tuesday, 4 July 2023 where we will depart Marsden Cove Marina and head toward Minerva Reef. This passage should take us between 6-8 days.
We hope to spend between 4-6 days at Minerva Reef which are two submerged atolls in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! During high tide, the reef disappears and we will be anchored in the middle of nowhere. More on this to come in a future blog.
Minerva in the middle of the Pacific
The next passage will take us from Minerva Reef to Nuku’alofa, Tonga. This should take us betwen 2-3 days at sea.
During this passage time we will do “live blogs.” So, I have suspended all previously scheduled blogs.
We left Oamaru early in the morning and drove 3hrs and 15 minutes to Christchurch. This is a beautiful town and it is a shame that we did not have more time to spend here.
We headed straight for the punting down the Avon river and to my dismay they were completely sold out for the day (it was a Saturday). So, we decided to take the tram around Christchurch to see the city. The tram sells all day passes so you can hop on and off as you please.
Funny little trams that give commentary along the way. Not sure if the ad is a relic and up for fun or if they really do need conductors 🙂
The first stop we make is to Quake City where they go over the mass destruction Christchurch incurred during the two earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. In September 2010 they had a 7.1 quake and just a few months later in February 2011 they had a 6.3 quake. Over 85% of Christchurch was destroyed including infrastructure, businesses, homes, vehicles, transportation, and loss of life.
Twelve years later they are still rebuilding some of their most historic and iconic buildings, churches, and structures. The museum, Quake City showed before and after photos and shared a great amount of information about how they are changing their buildings to sustain future earthquakes.
We continued to walk around Christchurch and found several monuments, parks, statues, art pieces and more.
We only had one short afternoon to explore Christchurch so this will be a place we come back to next time.
Events from this blog post occurred in early March, Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. In our last blog post we meet the beautiful blue penguins, fur seals, and the Steampunk HQ.