Mansion House Bay

We arrived here around 5pm after a great sail and beautiful scenery. Steve managed to get the trany to cool down so we could motor without over heating it. quick update for those who didn't know.....
we have changed our plans and are heading straight to Auckland. Expect to be there Dec 12-13 depending on wind and how much faster we can run the engine before it overheats. We left yesterday ( tues NZ time) to head to Great Barrier Island, sloppy seas and not a lot of wind and then the heat sensors alarms going off, made for a decision to change heading to Auckland asap. The trany starts to overheat if we motor more than 1000 RPM. ( this means with no wind or wind in our face we are "LIMPING" ever so slow. We pulled into Urquart bay at the base of the river going up to Whangerai so Steve can do some more adjustments and make it so the trany won't over heat. We will be leaving today , most likely stopping around Kawau Island for the night and then into Auckland. ( this is the current plan, depending on how the engine and trany respond and of course the wind.) We will check out Great Barrier Island later on after we get the heat exchanger dealt with. Also forgot to mention, Monday night we anchored out in Tutukaka - the wind we knew was to come up to about 20 knots gusting to maybe 30 - no biggy... after we went to bed ( of course, dark, pouring with rain and cold out) we heard a bang so loud we thought the boat in front of us dragged and hit us.. turns out it was the anchor and chain tugging so hard it broke the clutch ( lock dog) and the chain started to roll out. Steve jimmied something for the night. the solid aluminum handle broke right in half and the corner of the windless is also damaged . another thing to get welded and fixed in Auckland. I off course didn't sleep hardly at all that night, Steve slept like a baby. We didn't drag and nothing else happened , made for a long night for me.
But like I said our ACE MECHANIC did a good job and we are doing great!! We will leave here tomorrow for Auckland. Life is good !!
We went ashore and walked around the gardens , absolutely beautiful and we even saw 2 peacocks one was an albino - We will tour the mansion today and give a full update ( make sure to answer the trivia question)
It was great to chat with you Graeme and Ron, thanks for phoning - felt like we were just around the bay from you lot!! It sure reminds us of BC here! Time to go ashore...........................

I have to say, thanks to you all for playing "Orca III offshore Trivia" - the answer is......
HO HO HO HO! We have found Santa and his helpers!


They may be baggywinkles but they are more fun this way!!!Danny Lou you make us laugh and you caught us in the act. Karen ( which one?) I like the idea ! Maya and Emma both want one of their own..may have to keep making them, Steve!! They are so soft!! Steve actually made 8 in the last couple of days, we all did something to help him but Maya did the most........

Trivia #2 Mansion House (New Zealand) Who lived here in 1860 and what was his role in New Zealand? good luck to you googlers!