We are still in Whangarei (North Island) and the boat remains on the Hard for two full weeks now.
The weather in New Zealand is much like mountain weather in Colorado….if you don’t like it, wait 5 minutes and it will change. New Zealand has a hole in it’s Ozone layer therefore ten minutes in the sun and you are burned. They are also in the midst of a drought. It is cool during the day and can be cold at night. You have to remind yourself that you are in the South Pacific and on a large island as the winds here are quite strong, gale force at times so making for some rough seas and wobbly on land. We expected to be finished with our work by now but as boats go, you start one project and several more appear. Our days consist of waking early, working hard all day on the boat and pouring ourselves into bed at night. It’s one way of getting back into shape after the Holidays! I now know more about figerglassing, epoxy, sanding, heat guns, priming, painting etc…than I ever thought I would! We are well known at all parts, marine and hardware stores. The boat is beyond filthy, dirty but I guess most of that goes with the territory of being on the hard and under construction.

A funny story about some of the slang the locals here use…..Of course, G’day Mate, which is the local greeting equivalent to Hello in the U.S…..Mike tried to use this approach once and said Good Day to a woman and her response was….well I guess it’s a good day but…..I explained that he was attempting to say G’day…she just laughed. Another time one of the boatyard employees working on the boat with us was telling us his wife went off Tramping……we all just looked at each other funny and thought what a bummer for him…..of course after I asked what “tramping” meant in New Zealand he explained she was hiking. I laughed and told him that if you said your wife was off “tramping” in the U.S…….it meant something completely different!

We are happy have the availability of stores and restaurants but I assure you service is lacking. Tipping is not applicable here and it shows….service is so slow here, they should give you a room for the night with your table…..All bitching and kidding aside we still remember how fortunate we are to be on this adventure. There are those that are far worse off in life…especially those in Haiti right now….so we keep all in our prayers.

We hope to be back in the water by Thursday next week and then will clean up the boat and start to provision again. We will head to the Great Barrier Island from here and spend several days there, then it will be off towards Wellington and Marlborough Sound (South Island) were we will do some camping and tramping ourselves….

I have added some pictures to the gallery and more will be added to boatyard pics in the next few days. We miss you all much and think of you often….Life is Good….