Category Archives: Daily Lime

Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa

 The Barkers (Matt, Diana, their kids, Matt’s parents, brother and his wife) take us on a long ride down to Roturoa to visit the very special

Prior to enjoying the facilities we are given a brief tour which starts with a beautiful prayer.

Step 1: Te Iringa Waterfall Showers

Each person passes through a series of soft waterfall streams that energise the body and open it to awareness and to the present before continuing on the cultural wellness journey.  Behind the wood screen are 4 streams that range in temperature.

Step 2:  Te Ahi Tupia Tongariro Fire and Ice Caves

In Maori wellbeing practice, it is understood that moving between extreme temperatures improves vigour and stamina.  So, this is a series of hot and cold experiences that invigorate the body and soul.

Sauna #1 is called Bio Sauna and it is bewteen 50-60 C with 40-60% humidity.  We try to stay in here for the full 15 minutes but decide to move on after 12.

We did a quick walk through the ice cold pool (top right) and then moved on to the salt sauna. This was beautiful and my favorite of the saunas.  It sat around 70-80 C with 10-20% humidity. 

Back through the ice cold pool and into the last sauna called the Hay Sauna which was 60-70 C and 10-20% humidity.  This one bothered all of us as the hay smell made us sneeze.

The next step was only for the bold and the brave.  You step into a room, pull on a chain and a bucket full of ice water flows down upon you.

Step 3: Te Taiwhanga Matua Geothermal Pools

There are five (5) geothermal pools in this area: herbal, hydrotherapy, mineral alkaline, and the cold plunge.  The pool temperatures range from 12-41C as you gently move from one to the other.  

The Geo Soal Pool was the largest and had a long ramp for easy access.  After the really hot pools this felt like bath water to me, but it was still very beautiful and restorative.

Insde the Hydrotherapy pool they have beautiful cascading waterfalls with jets in between and a set of 10 bubbling lounge beds to relax your muscles.

The Herbal Pool had little pods of floating herbs.  We found rosemary, citrus, and lemongrass. It was probably one of the prettiest spots.

Step 4: Te Pae Paru Geothermal Mud Lounge

This was fun.  You lather our body with geothermal mud to nourish the skin and connect with the land.  Once you are fully covered in mud you lay down on heated lounge chairs and let it dry before going on to Step 5.

Step 5: Kohu Wai Ariki Steam Room

Reclining on the heated lounges and stoens in this misty cave allows you to completely relax.

After a beautiful and relaxing experience at Wai Ariki Hot Springs and Spa we head back to the private and very comfortable van to Auckland.  It was so spectacular to spend time with the Barker family.   They are truly good peeps!

Our blogs run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred at the end of December 2023.  Did you catch our wine tour at Wiaheke Island?

Waiheke Island Wine Tour

We visit Waiheke Island with our friends the Barkers (Matt, Diana, and their family).  We take a short 45-minute ferry ride from Auckland to the idyllic Waiheke island which is renowned for its vineyards nestled in beautiful settings.  It is often called “The Island of Wine.”

There are over 130-hectares (or 321 acres) of grapes and new vineyards are being planted every year.  The local winegrowers have mastered the unique maritime climate and ancient soil structures to produce red and white wines.  The first vineyard was planted in 1978, a relatively young vineyard.  Since its birth, Waiheke has made a name for its structured Chardonnay, fruity Merlot, elegant Bordeaux-style blends, and expressive Syrah – all noted as outstanding in their class.

With the Barkers we decide to visit three vineyards in our short 6-hour Waiheke Island Wine tour.  Matt and I arrived on an earlier ferry and managed to squeeze in a short hike.  Our plan is to drive to Man O’War Vineyard (purple arrow), then head back and stop at Cable Bay Vineyard (blue arrow) and our final stop is Mudbrick Vineyard (between blue and red).  The ferry dock is where the red arrow is pointing.

We start off at the furthest vineyard called Man O’War Vineyard.

Man O’War Vineyard

This was my favorite vineyard by far.  A more casual atmosphere right on the beach with loads of sitting areas, a DJ, first class wines (and beer), and food.  Man O’War is located on the far eastern side of Waiheke Island making it the most difficult to get to, but it is so worth the drive.  

This vineyard planted vines on numerous small individual sites across the volcanic hilltop and clay hillsides on their 4500-acre farm.  The wine was my favorite as was the tasty “garage beer” for the “Matts”

Cable Bay Vineyard

Guests enjoy breathtaking sea views while sipping on award winning wines from Cable Bay Vineyard.  But, unfortunately, we only had an hour to explore here so one glass of rose.  The grounds are beautiful and they grow their own herbs, vegetables, and edible flowers for their restaurants and bars. 

Mudbrick Vineyard

Located right next door to Cable Bay Vineyard on Waiheke island is Mudbrick Vineyard. It is world-renowned for it superb restaurants, award-winning wines and spectacular sea views.  They claim to offer the perfect Waiheke experience with their beautiful accomodations, tours, and wine tastings.  NY Times said “Mudbrick is a must see when visiting Auckland.”  Which is kind of funny to me as Mudbrick is on Waiheke island a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland.

Mudbrick offered a lovely wine tasting!  Shockingly, I really enjoyed the sauvignon blanc over the rose.

A beautiful shot of Auckland from the Sky Tower and from the Ferry on the way to Waiheke Island.  While on the ferry we swung by the Navy station which has the largest of NZ fleets of boats.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog post occurred toward the end of December 2023.  In our last blog we replace our shattered Moonlight Hatch Frames.

Booted or Booty: NZ Visas

As an American, you can enter New Zealand with an NZeTA which will give you a 3-month visa (if you enter by airplane, cruise ship, or private yacht.)   If you plan to stay longer than 3-months, which most cruisers do, you have to then apply for a tourist visa which will give you an additional 6 month stay. Most countries will allow you to extend your visas, especially if you are spending money in their country.

However, NZ allows Americans to either stay 9 months in an 18 month period or 12 months in a 24 month period (see here).  Here is where we run into a problem and face possible expulsion from this amazing country.

Last season we arrived in early November and left in early July.  Matt never left NZ while I flew back and forth to the states several times (as my dad was very ill).  By the time we left, Matt had spent just over 8 months and I had spent about 6 months in NZ.  Well shoot.  Even if we got approval for the 12 months in a 24 month period visa that is not enough time for us.  It would have us leaving in February which is the peak of cyclone season.  So, we need to do something to fix our visas.

Booted or Booty?

Seems so strange to me that NZ would kick us out considering how much money we spent last season and this season on repairs and upgrades.  But thems the rules.  So, we had to decide…do we return and schedule a lot of work costing a lot of money with the hopes that we won’t get booted?

We decided to take the risk.  Here is what we had to do to get an extended visa.  It is a long process that wasn’t cheap.

Visit the NZ Immigration website.  You complete a very long online application, upload about a dozen documents, pay money, get a complete physical and medical check, pay more money, and wait.

Application Process

Reach out to us if you are interested in learning how to properly complete this application or hire an immigration agent to assist you.

The application inquires about standard information on you, your boat, and your spouse. They ask about your health, financial status, criminal background, and more.  Nothing is sacred.

It requires proof and uploads of financial status (past 3 months), proof of the value of the boat (insurance documents work), proof of marriage (if applicable and applying as a married couple), scans of passport bio page, boat registration, temporary import entry (TIE), and completion of the INZ 1224 form.

In addition you have to upload a photo of yourself in front of a non-white, solid color background, not smiling, with hair behind your ears, solid color shirt, and a very specific pixel size.  It was such a pain to get this just right.  The system rejected a dozen of our photos!

Medical

NZ is a socialized medicine country which means they don’t want their tourists to be a burden on their society. Our visas required us to get a complete physical.  We went to Rust Avenue Medical as they were able to get us in quicker than White Cross in Whangarei.  Even though it was quicker, it was still a 2-week wait.  This was rather a long process and took us about 2.5 hours and cost $300USD per person.  They did a urine test, checked our vitals, asked us a dozen questions, asked us to do basic physical activities (bend over, touch toes, etc…), eye exam, listened to our heart & lungs.

From there, we walked two buildings down the road to the pathology lab and had a full blood test run (including for Hepatitis B & C, HIV, Syphilis, HvA1C, and full blood count).  This took about 45 minutes, no appointment needed, and cost $250USD per person.

Next we went to TRG Imaging which is next to White Cross in Whangarei.  We had to get chest x-rays.  We walked in without an appointment and were done within 15 minutes, the cost $250USD each.

The medical facilities all uploaded the results to the immigration website.  Within 24 hours we were notified that immigration had all of our results.  Now that is fast!

The Waiting Game: Visas 

It is a bit nerve racking as you wait for your visa approval.  Supposedly, if your application is submitted and is in process you don’t have to worry, even if your NZeTA expires.  But that is a big “supposedly”

The other interesting thing is that our NZeTA visas are good for 2 years.  So, our NZeTA is valid until 29 September 2024.  Which means technically you can enter, leave and re-enter for another 3-months as long as this NZeTA is valid.  But what I don’t know is how this works when your standard tourist visa expires.  Surely their system shows that we have both an NZeTA and a tourist visa and we try to enter on the NZeTA with an expired Tourist Visa they will stop us?  So many questions….

We finally had a reply three weeks after our medical records were submitted to immigration.  The email was non-descript and short.  It did not have any hints as to whether we will be denied and booted from NZ or accepted to stay.  I opened the attachment with such trepidation and anxiety!  

Kicked Out ?

We were ACCEPTED!  Thank God!  Not only that, but we were given a multiple entry (so I can fly back to the States).  Usually this type of visa is a one entry visa meaning you only can enter once and being that we were already here we could not leave and come back during this visa period.  So, lucky for us we got multiple entry so I can fly back to the states and return to my boat.

We feel so blessed to have been approved and look forward to exploring the NE shores of NZ!

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  This blog took place in November.  Several beastly boat projects get completed in the last blog post.