Steaming To Bluff, New Zealand – Bluff, New Zealand

Saturday-Tuesday, 25-28 November 2023
Day 3-6 of 110ish

Another night tossing and turning. I’m sure this will improve. It has to once I get tired enough. Ugh!

Gentleman’s Hours

Fortunately, we’re on gentleman’s hours as we steam to Bluff, NZ. Gentlemen’s hours means only two meals. The first meal is at 10am and the second at 5pm. Quite sensible and lovely for the (pretending to be) cooks! 

Fake It Till You Make It

I’m now cooking alongside Damo in the galley. It’s probably fairly comical to watch. I have no idea what I’m doing and, though Damo loves cooking, the serving/timing part is stressing him out. I feel for him! He’s doing a great job despite the stress and the guys are really enjoying the meals. 

I am slowly learning my ropes as a galley hand with all my extracurricular duties outside of the galley like stocking the supplies in the mess, cleaning heaps of dishes, and keeping the floors clean in the mess and corridor on this level. Some days it’s a fair amount of hard yakka. 

Taking It Like A Champ

There’s not much to see out the portholes but I’m certainly impressed at how this boat handles big seas! Only one morning did we wake up with the frozen goods redistributed across the floor in the freezer. Not too bad for 50 knots of wind and 4-5m seas. 

In the meantime, I’m getting to know the crew slowly. I don’t have any previous experience but I can certainly tell that I’m blessed with this lot. I’ve been warmly welcomed into the fold. It’s a relief to know that these are the guys I’ll be spending four months with!

The Bomb

And then two days out of New Zealand a bomb drops…the skipper says that we might not be able to get into NZ because there is something wrong with the clean hull certificate. My heart drops! And my internet for the day had run out…again. I couldn’t tell Tom. I was on tenterhooks for a day until I learned that it was all cleared and we were going to Bluff. What a relief!!!! I couldn’t imagine doing this for four months without my bean. 

I See Land – New ZeaLAND!

November 28th comes. The excitement ramps up! That morning I looked out my cabin porthole and saw land! We’ve made it to NZ which means I get to see Tom again after a week. It’s very, very exciting!!! 

On the way up the harbour it was also quite interesting to watch how they dock the ship and the role of the pilot boat. Pretty incredible.

The best part was to see Tom on the dock with plants in tow for the journey. THAT’S MY BOY!

Tom boarded, got comfortable enough and then dove straight in to his cook role. Damo had prepared the 10am feed for Tom, which was sweet and much appreciated. It didn’t take Tom long and he had his bearings. Soon after he arrived we ate some food and then got him moved into the cabin, which now feels a lot smaller 😛 And I couldn’t be more grateful for it!