G’day! We’ve had spotty internet use over the last several days so forgive the delay in getting updates to you. We are all happy to be back at sea after our month in the boat yard.

Mike and I made a two day trip back to Auckland by car to get some Acupuncture as we found a fabulous Chinese woman there in December. She works wonders. Mike has received Acupuncture regularly for years, I am new to it and I am a firm believer. We also were able to catch up with our new New Zealand friends Trish and Michael, who we think are fabulous.
We are currently exploring the Great Barrier Island which is a few hours sail off the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. It is a great, big, ruggedly beautiful island. I’ve even managed to make friends with some of the wild ducks that visited our boat each day. I even had one of them eating out of my hand….amazing. We’ve gone off Tramping and came to a dam that was built way back in the 1800’s using only logs. This is how they got the trees/lumber down from the mountains……it is amazing to see and think about what at undertaking this was back then. I will get pictures on the gallery soonest. While climbing down from the trail to get closer to the dam, Mike slipped and fell several feet down a wall of rock….he got a little scraped and bruised but luckily he is fine.

We plan to stay here another day and head further south to Mercury Island and then Tauranga. From there we will continue to make our way to South Island where we will do more land exploring. From everything we hear the South Island is the most beautiful so we are anxious to see everything. As you may know New Zealand has become well known for their wine. We are all enjoying the many different wines here and will explore some of the 336 wineries they have too. We find most New Zealander’s to be very friendly and are enjoying their hospitality. Our current plan is to continue our exploration of NZ while heading south. We will head back to North Island in April and pick up some parts we ordered and explore more of North Island we missed while working on the boat. We plan to leave for Fiji in early May, depending on the weather.
That should bring you up to date for now. We love and miss you all! Life is Good!!!!!!