Okay….so you’ve heard me say it’s very windy in New Zealand right? Well it is so unbelievably windy I simply cannot begin to describe it appropriately. Gary has returned from his week of touring South Island. We are still in Wellington waiting for a weather window to clear so Mike and Gary can sail back up to the top of the North Island. Meaning we are waiting for the gale force winds to stop, which apparently they never do here. Hence the reason I choose not to sail the longer passages here. (I am certainly not alone in this thought process either…many cruisers and locals agree.) Anyhow, it looks as though we will be here until at least Thursday the way things look now. Last night and today we are in the midst of a 50+knot wind storm and the storm warning doesn’t start until later tonight….go figure. They are expecting 60+ knot winds later today, which translates to 70+ knots…. The authorities still have not found the sailboat from March 12th that got caught in the unpredictable winds here. Each day we listen to the announcement on the radio that they beleive this missing vessel may have lost it’s one man crew and be sailing on autopilot all by itself. Very sad to imagine.
We are anxious to get back to the top of the North Island to get some things done and see some of the places we missed in our hurry to get to the South Island. The North Island weather is a bit more mild than here so we look forward to not being windblown everyday! I am working on updating the picture gallery today so keep watch for that…….and that’s the way it is in Wellington! Life is Good…..