9 thoughts on “Curious Cove Holiday Resort”

1. Hi from Melbourne, Australia. My Grandfather Alex Calder worked with “Darb” Manning at Curious Cove and he ran the entertainment for guest over each Christmas in the 60’s and early 70’s. I have been on Rongo. Actually my Dad (David Calder) and I were wandering the marina at Gulf Harbour some years ago and saw Rongo moored there. It was a shock and it was so great to see her. I don’t know what happened to her after that. My Grandfather and Darb were such good friends for many many years.
   Malcolm Calder

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2. Hi Stuart
   Email the photos to me at waitematawoodys@gmail.com
   Cheers Alan

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3. Avanti is only about a weeks work from hitting the water, Had to sort out alot of issues, engine wasn’t starting and the guy used etha to start it when we showed up to have a look, he told us it was due to the fact the engine had no glow plugs, after testing the batterys we discovered they were very flat, took two and a half days to get them to full charge, now the engine starts traight away with no etha, Tested the alternator output and found we had only battery voltage, traced the problem to a loose stud on the alternator so now the batterys will stay charged,
   After looking at the prop we found it rubbing on the support shaft, further investigation found no thrust bearing fitted, this probably fine with the original shaft setup which I assume bolted straight to the gearbox but as this engine is probably larger it has a driveshaft arrangement with 2 universal joints which are unable to put thrust through, we are making up a thrust bearing support today, the original owner told us it was leaking a bit around the shaft seals, we found the shaft seal carrier loose not bolted or sealed to the hull, and as there was no thrust bearing when it must have been in reverse a locking ring on the prop shaft would move rearward and chew the seals needless to say the seals were shot!, another source of leaking was traced to the exhaust down pipe, it was cracked where the water enters and rusted out on the bottom, we have made up a stainless downpipe now so we wont have that problem again,
   It was full of rain water when we got it and when we turned the bilge pumps on and got little more than a dribble from one and nothing from the other, we found that they had been wired through a 12v converter (the boat is 24v) the pumps are 24v and not only that the converter is only 5amp and the pumps are alot more than that! And the list of idiot things we have found just goes on and on and on, We have had to go through everything as we don’t want to get bitten in the arse, anyway the trailers legal the hull is painted apart from about a meter at the back where its sitting on stands at the moment, Pretty sure the guy we got it off everything he touched he f*#ked up! Even down to his welding on the trailer on the trip back to nelson 4 out of 8 welds on the uprights cracked and he had welded the studs into one of the hubs as the studs must have come loose at some stage and flogged the holes out on the hub so he welded the studs in but due to the lack of amps and ability and the fact he used mag studs instead of proper studs the wheel almost fell off when we got to Christchurch, had to come back to Nelson with only 3 wheels, Anyway Ill post some pics Im guessing it will be ready for action end of this week beginning of next with the exception of the cabin we will get that done after its back in the water

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4. That would be great if you could dig out some pictures, Give me an email if your interested and we can exchange some pictures as it comes together, aerobubb1@hotmail.com, In places we have found about 7 layers of paint! You don’t happen to have the original picture of that photo with all the women on it? As a strange twist of fate we think that one of the women on the boat is my workmates mum who I have gone halfs with in the boat, she remembers staying at curious cove and ski-biscuiting in the late 60’s, the photo’s a bit blurry so we can’t be 100% sure but its possible!

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5. Yes, that’s Avanti. She is a Chris Craft replica built by Dad as a commuter in the early 1960’s and sold when the bigger Vindex was built in the late 60’s. Pretty quick in her day. She is in the top left photo (covered in women!)There are some other photos of he around before the top dodger was put on – Will see what I can find. Chris

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6. Was this boat from curious cove? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=654421994
   Myself and a workmate have just bought it and managed to get it back to Nelson unscathed and we are going to give it a tidyup over the next few weeks, Will be removing the house paint and repainting it and doing a few small repairs, hoping to hit the water in Nelson bay for some fishing shortly, Any information on the boat would be greatly received cheers Stu

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7. Lovely photographs. They make me sorry I didn’t get to the NZ Students Ass. annual summer gatherings there in the 50s. Unfortunately we had our CMT camps at the same time.

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8. The speedboat is a Chris Craft replica, “Stingray”. Bought by my grandfather, A.R. Manning, in the 60’s. Sadly Stingray is no longer around, she was built for lakes and had been fastened with brass and basically fell apart. Reportedly she was very quick and stories of my Dad and his cousin driving her at full chat under the Curious cove wharf (while the his Mum and Dad were away) surfaced at his funeral.

   Being towed by the Buick truck is Ventora, a 28′ vindex stretched to 32′ – Dad wanted a big cockpit for fishing. She was built at Curious Cove and launched in the early 1970’s. She is still around somewhere in Northland.

   The old commercial launch in the photo with the tyre fender is a bit if a mystery. She might be a Picton built Lane launch as she shares hull lines with Iris and Mavis. She could be Whareatea, built by Claude Wells in Whakatahuri. I would welcome any suggestions.

   The two photos in the bottom right have are Red Funnel Launches launch Ramona (currently on the hard in Picton (top), Rongo (l) and Rawene (r) (bottom left photo). I know Rongo is gone but I don’t know whatever happened to Rawene after she stopped being the Picton mail boat in the 1980’s

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9. Fabulous photos! The Buick is in the shot third from the bottom at the left. But, what is that speedboat??

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