SIMON O'CONNOR/Stuff Rex Hendry, with partner Sally Johnson, prepare to cast off the self-built 'Timandra te waka' for its maiden voyage. Almost 180 years ago, Rex Hendry’s pioneering ancestors disembarked from sailing ship Timandra and walked ashore at Ngāmotu Beach, New Plymouth, to start a new life. On Thursday, on a calm, sunny afternoon, Hendry emulated their adventurous spirit by launch his self-built ‘Timandra te waka’ near the same spot where they first set foot on February 23, 1842. SIMON O'CONNOR/Stuff 'Timandra te waka' takes its first sea trial with owner Rex Hendry and Sally Johnson aboard. “It is hugely significant to me to be able to launch the boat and have that connection to where my grandmother’s family, the Barriballs, stepped ashore,” the retired consultant planner and garlic grower said before casting off from the lee breakwater jetty.