[scatty]

Hello

Have had a search around the threads but am clearly not pressing the right buttons! We are looking into getting to NZ by boat (and I don't mean one of the big ones with lots of decks:roll ).
Has anyone done this? We would like to take the kids who will be 11 and 12 when we go, take our time, see some stuff on the way and stretch it over about 6 months. We want to do the motor boat thing rather than the yacht route, and hug the coasts rather than cross the oceans!!

Would love to chat with anyone who knows about this or be pointed in the direction of books to read about this kind of adventure,

thanks in advance, Scatty

[dbonnett]

Hello
...and hug the coasts rather than cross the oceans!!....


This is likely to be (one of) the tricky part(s) - it is over 1,000 miles to Australia (across the roaring 40s to boot) and almost 900 miles to New Caledonia. Boating to NZ can clearly be done, but I don't think it would be an easy voyage on a smaller boat. It would definitely be open ocean travel.

There doesn't appear to be a lot of info via Google (based on a quick search) but I did find this link (http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagepost.cfm?postaction=reply&catid=54&threadid=1253493&messid=10914245&STARTPAGE=1&parentid=0) about crewing a sailboat - the bit about weather in the South Pacific might be interesting to you.

Good luck!

[jubjub]

Someone did it, a while back, they came over on a cargo boat I think it was.... they did a great blog about it too, aha, found it....http://sibylle.co.nz/english hubby had it saved in his favourites from yonks ago...

[bartons]

Hi Scatty,
are you in the UK? Or US? Or somewhere else? Makes a big difference to the project!
We looked into getting to NZ from UK by yacht, OH is experienced sailor and has crewed on yachts across the Atlantic and was quite keen on the idea. We decided against it because of the time (we might not make it in the 12 months to activate our PR visa), the age of the children (4 and 7) and my fear of pirates on both east and west routes.
We then looked into going by cargo/container ship. Costs far too much (about £12000 for the four of us) and you don't get much time in the few ports where the ship stops, so there isn't much sightseeing along the way. And a lot of ships don't take small children on board.
Not sure what you mean by "the motorboat thing". Is that on smaller motor boats as a paying passenger? Depending on where you come from this might prove difficult to find, especially since there's four of you, and I could imagine the costs mount up, especially if you split the trip into several legs.
We came to the conclusion there's no real alternative to flying at the moment and are waiting for the time when airships become available once more!

[davehunter]

Best of luck, give it a go if you must, but its much cheaper and easier to take the plane. The seas are very big and angry around new Zealand at times, We have seen 30 metre swells on our horizon. Enough to make seasoned sailors weak at the knees. its a long way to Austrailia, with nothing in between, no planes or helicopters to save you, as Tony Gilmore found out. Its even further in the other direction. Plenty of sailing or motorboating to be done when you get here. Get a round the world air ticket and stop off in as many places as you want on the way over. All the Best Dave.

[scatty]

Thanks for your replies and the links!

We are in UK at the moment. I appreciate the whole plan sounds insane but we have some money to play with and 2 years to plan.....
Dave, who is Tony Gilmore? or am I completely showing my ignorance?

[duckdodgers]

I looked into it aswell, on a whim one day (coz I miss it and wondered what the cost was compared to flying), I grew up at sea as the daughter of a Merchant navy captain and can reccommend a voyage on a cargo vessel as a much better way to see the world than touristy package holidays. However, it does seem to cost a LOT more than the simple common flying thing that people do ;-), and it doesn't seem like a common route. Not much info on the internet that I found. With all the other organising going on (cats, dogs, house etc) I'll be settling for the easy option - a quick flight!

[duckdodgers]

who is Tony Gilmore?

I do't know if this has been answered yet, but wasn't he the British guy who survived living in his upturned boat for ages on a solo voyage somewhere off the coast of Australia?

[Nick88]

It's Tony Bullimore you are thinking of

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Bullimore

There are alot of people that arrive in NZ by boat every year, I have met several here in Northland. However they are always sailors not motorboaters. A couple of years ago the whole Town Basin in Whangarei was filled by a flotilla that had come from Sweden.

I think the main reason no-one motors is the cost of the fuel needed for such a long trip, and not many people would put up with the engine noise and fumes for months on end.

For me it would be safety, motor boats are less likely to be as stable as a sailboat under a certain size, ie. they would not recover from a rollover. You would also need twin engines and a filtration system that can turn even the worst third world diesel into something an engine can use reliably. Lastly hugging the coast means you are exposed to pirates, especially in the area of the Red Sea and NE Africa, and Indonesia. Most sailors stand well out to sea in these areas.

There are loads of good cruising websites online, I'm just not sure how many of them are suited to motoring.

[StevieD]

Scatty good luck mate, but I think your nick should be Batty :laugh

Seriously, would think it is a bit of a tall order, considering the seas you have to cross. As an ex seafarer I would rather go on a big multidecked thing than a little boat ;)