Buoy, ohbuoy, what an epic journey
IT sounds like something from a children’s book: a buoy crossed the Tasman Sea and ended up in the hands of Ernie the Kumara King after an epic three-year voyage.
The buoy, thought to have broken free of its Australian moorings in 2015, was washed ashore during heavy rain and gales from the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Fehi on February 1.
Dargaville farmer Warren Suckling, aka the Kumara King, said a family staying at his bach in Motukahakaha Bay, just north of Taupo Bay, spotted the large buoy bob which has several faded stickers on it, including one saying ‘New South Wales Roads and Maritime Services’ and another saying ‘No skiing or aquaplaning’.
Solar Technology Australia project manager Shaun Wells confirmed with the NSW Roads and Maritime Services the buoy was one of theirs and was originally located at the Hastings River near Port Macquarie, about 400 km north of Sydney.
‘‘We believe it was lost during the floods in May of 2015,’’ Wells said.
Wells said buoys occasionally break free of their moorings, but this was a surprise.
‘‘We’ve had a few rock up in Darwin or the east coast of Australia, but it’s the first time one has made its way all the way across to New Zealand.’’
Suckling reckons the buoy weighs at least 200kg after it took five people to roll it onto the back of his ute.
Suckling has been housing the buoy at his place and was keen to add it to the maritime museum he established on his ‘‘Kumara Box’’ property, which contains shells, fish, shipwreck parts, kauri gum and fossils.
Wells said Suckling is welcome to keep the buoy, and Suckling is ‘‘absolutely thrilled’’. ‘‘It’s lovely; the museum has some good stories in there ... it’s fantastic to add to my collection,’’ he said.