Hi Again.  Sorry for the lack of communications recently, but internet service has been sporadic.  Mike received a $14,000 satellite bill for October and November’s usage so we have stopped using it until we get that squared away.  We now have to rely on WIFI so don’t worry if you don’t hear from us as often.

We are making our way down the North Island and are now in Tauranga (The Bay of Plenty) this last week waiting out high winds and big seas. (The cyclone that hit Tonga effects New Zealand)  This is the 6^th largest city in New Zealand, soon to be the 4^th largest due to growth. We’ve stopped at some great islands along the way as you have probably read from Gary.  The sailing climate here is quite different and rough so I am going back to our original plan of touring New Zealand by land and will drive to Wellington (southern point of North Island) and Mike and Gary will sail leaving on Saturday morning (a 3 day sail).  The winds and seas get rougher the further South you go so I’m happy to not sail in gale force winds.

We have met some fabulous people along the way.  We still find New Zealanders to be friendly and proud of their country….and they want you to enjoy your time here.  We’ve met some new friends on Great Barrier Island and they live in Tauranga.  I have been invited to stay with them before I make my way down to Wellington….an 8 hour drive.   From Wellington (capital of NZ) we will cross Cook Straight and anchor at the tip of South Island.  It is not considered safe to sail the South Island so we will anchor there where Mike and I will do some camping and tramping for a few weeks.  Gary thinks he may take a few days on land as well. The South Island is about 1,000km long and we look forward to seeing it as we hear it is the most beautiful part of New Zealand yet.  It just gets better and better.  Gary’s friend cancelled her trip to visit us in March but Mike has some friends coming to visit mid April.  We look forward to their visit. We will head back to the northern part of North Island late March early April…..always depending on the weather.  From there the plan is to head to Fiji early May.  Life is Good….

I do not have access to the internet on the boat anymore so my internet access will be sporadic. When ever I get to a city. So if you do not hear from me you will know why.

Since the last email we stopped at a couple of more bays on the Great Barrier Island. Whangaparapara (how’s that for a name) and Tryphena, which is the main village on the Island. The Island is about 20miles long and 7 miles wide with a population of 600.

We left there on Thursday for Mercury Island about 10 miles off the coast of NZ. I do not think anybody lives on the Island just a whole bunch of sheep and cows. Maybe a Sheppard or two. The bays are absolutely beautiful. Sand beaches (white sand) at the head and rock cliff’s all around. I decided to go for a hike so I went ashore on the beach where we were anchored. There was a terrible smell which at first I thought were the sheep. But upon closer inspection I saw 20 dead rotting whales on shore. Looks like they beached themselves about 2 months ago. They were little whales maybe Pilot whales ( about 20’ long). I understand that 60 beached themselves and people saved 40 of them one of which gave birth after being saved. While the precise cause of the mass beaching of these whales is unknown, experts suspect the shallow, sloping sandy shores may have confused the whales’ sonar system.

On my Hike I found the most awesome tree I have never seen. It was 10’ in diameter and only 50’ high with many many low hanging big limbs 1’ or more in diameter. Some of them went from the tree back into the ground out again and then made a 90 degree turn towards the sky. I stayed there for an hour sharing energy with it. Further on during the hike I found another wonderful beach that I had all to my self and the sun was shinning. It was a great day.

We left there on Saturday for Tauranga about 65 miles , 10 hours away. For the first 6 hours of the trip we had variable winds sometimes just sailing and sometimes with the engine on and sailing. Then when I got off watch and went down to read Mike got 30 knot winds and hit speeds of 11 knots for a couple of hours. Tauranga is on the mainland and a pretty big city. We will stay here for 3 or 4 days and move down the coast further south.

The adventure continues

Love Gary

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!!!!!!

New Zealand at Sea Again

We are finally at sea again. It is Saturday and we left this morning at 7 am for the Great Barrier Island about 45 miles out to sea. The wind is dead on and light so we are motoring Bla Bla. But the sun is out so all is OK. I put out the fishing pole with my new $40 lure, so we will see. You know how many fish we could buy for $40?

I think the last time I wrote you I was going to see Avatar 3D in the Auckland Imax theater. It was awesome. Now I know why I am a tree hugger and why things seem to go my way in life. Well it isn’t really my way it is just that my desires are in harmony with the energy or as it was called in star wars The Force. As a result I do ask myself why am I on this trip. I do not believe it is my own selfish desire to sail around the world, because to many other things had to happen to make it possible. I could not have made all those other things happen. So I have yet to see what it is all about.

The first night we spent in Katherine Bay – very pretty. On Sunday I took a hike just to get some exercise. It was up hill the first 1 ½ hrs and of course down hill on the way back. We then headed over to Kaiarara Bay. Mike and Marnie took the hike that I did 2 months ago when I stopped here by myself. The one to the dam, 2 ½ hrs. I am going to take a hike to the village of Fitzroy to see if the Super bowl is on anywhere. Remember it is Monday here and Sunday in the States. We are 18 hours ahead of Eastern standard time.

So we will probably just gunk hole around the Island for the next few days and then head off to another Island on our way down south.

The Adventure continues

Love Gary

Also I have some of my caving pictures on my face books account which I do not get to very often.

G’Day. Shellette is back in the water as of Thursday afternoon. We toasted with Champagne as we worked very hard for three weeks. Shellette is happy to be back in the water and so are we. She is maintained, repaired and cleaned! I cannot express to you the amount of work we did…..too much. We were all very tired and overworked, mentally and physically so very ready to claw each other’s eyes out by the end of three weeks. Mike and I stayed in a nearby hotel room at night while Gary chose to stay on the boat, on the hard.
We’ve had some time to get a little rest these last few days. Gary is off with the rental car and camping and Mike and I are enjoying being on the boat alone for a few days.
Our plan is to head to The Great Barrier Island later this week and continue to head to the South Island from there. We will do some land tours down there as sailing tends to be too rough in the South. So much to see so we can’t wait to share it with you. Stay tuned. Life is Good.

The boat went back in the water on Thursday Hurraaaaaaaa. We got all the projects done plus some that were not planned. All is well with Shellette. Mike and Marnie are back on the boat after spending 3 weeks in a hotel. I am leaving the boat for 3 days to go on a road trip. M & M had the room for another night and let me use it so my first day/night of the road trip, I spent in the hotel. It was nice; I watched a movie, used the Jacuzzi and sauna and even took a nap. What a nice change from grinding fiberglass and painting with toxic paints etc.
That night I was walking to have dinner and ran into the guy who replaced our salon floor. He has sailed around the world 2 times, 8 years each time and around Cape Horn both times. He built his last boat 51’ and it was amazing. For example most teak floors are veneer. His was solid teak with solid holly 3/4′” thick. It was just beautiful. It took him 14 years to build.
Anyways back to the road trip. I am heading to Waitomo to go caving. It is about a 6 hour trip. My first stop was Hamilton on Saturday. I went to a casino and lost this time, but it was fun.
So we have a tent on the boat and I bought a sleeping bag and on Saturday night I camped out for the first time in 20 years. I think the last time was in Switzerland when we lived there. Got up on Sunday and it was raining, so I had to pack up camp in the rain and headed to my caving adventure.
The caving was an awesome adventure right up there with sky diving or white water rafting. I felt like Indiana Jones. Five of us were on the adventure with 2 guides. First we repelled down through a hole in the earth 150’ (looked like a well, but made by Mother Nature). Then we hooked onto a rope and pulley and shot down another 50’. Finally we jumped into the small river running through the cave with inner tubes. We then floated in the river. Glow worms where all over the ceiling, so as you are sitting in your inner tube looking up it looks like the starriest night you have ever seen. It was really awesome. So we floated through the river for awhile at times passing through some rapids. Remember all this time we are 200+ feet below the surface. It never dawned on me we had to get back out again. To do that we climbed up a vertical cave with water running through it and had to go up single file as it was a very narrow passage. It was truly a blessing to see day light again after being down there for 3 hours. I was also getting a little cold even though they gave you a thick full body wet suite
So I left Waitamo and started heading back to the boat. I stopped in Auckland on the way back to see a couple of movies In the Air and at 10 am on Monday, it was the only time I could get a good seat to see Avatar 3D in a Imax theater. I don’t think I have ever seen a 3D movie. I am sending you this email before seeing Avatar.
I cannot wait to get back to the boat and head to sea again, exploring more of New Zealand.
The adventure continues
Love Gary

The work continues. The fiberglass hull repair work is all done, thank goodness it is the nastiest,grinding and working with epoxy resigns and all. The painting of the hull is complete. We are hoping to launch on Wednesday, if we don’t there will not be another window to launch for another week. The salon floor replacement is the main hold up now. The floor got wet from a slow leak in the water line that got under a part of the floor and rotted it out. The guy we hired to do it is a perfectionist and as a result he is taking a long time to do the job, but the job is being done right.

We are starting to clean up the mess from all the work we have done and what a mess it is. So we are picking everything up putting it away and washing the boat from top to bottom. The last step in the process will be putting on the anti fouling bottom paint. So today I am taking off and letting Mike and Marnie do the cleaning. I need some time away from the boat. I have been working on it for 17 days straight.

So my first stop was a restraunt to have coffee and pastries. We have to start the day off right, don’t we? My next stop was the Parihaka Lookout. From there you can see all of the Whangarei valley all the way to the ocean 10 miles away. I then went to see the Whangarei water falls. They are about 200 ft high. In addition I took a walk along the river for a hour or so. I love looking at trees and they have such a variety here with some very large (4′ diameter). If you were with me you would often see me hugging trees.

I am at this moment sitting in an outdoor cafe to eat lunch and then I will go over to the Internet cafe to send this. Hopefully we are back in the water the next time I write.

The adventure continues

Love Gary

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….

It has been over a week since we hauled the boat and started to work on it. As I mentioned last time I am staying on the boat and all has been well. I cook most of my meals on board and take showers in the yards bathroom facilities We do not have any refrigeration as we cannot run the generator while the boat is out so I have a cooler that runs off the batteries to keep stuff in. To Charge the batteries we have a converter that takes 220 volts (which is the standard in all the world except N. America) and converts it to 110 volts. Of course we also needed 110 v for all out power tools.

Mike has been taking off all the bathroom doors and making them fit better and re-mounting the hinges. This has turned into a 3-4 day project. Then we found another crack in the haul from previous haul outs and how they blocked it. Luckily this one did not leak into the boat. We did have to grind the fiberglass down to the foam core ( a 1′ x 6′ area) so we could fix it right. Next we will re-glass it and all will be well.

Marnie has been helping Mike with the doors and myself with painting of the hull in certain areas that needed some cosmetic repairs. I would like to tell you more exciting things (new Islands etc.) but yard work is yard work.

Anyway’s what is the dumbest thing you have ever done while working on a project?? I just had another one of mine that falls into the top ten. So I have to sand the hull where I am doing the cosmetic work, maybe a total of 100 sq. ft in 5 different areas. Then we applied a coat of primer paint and after that a coat of high build paint for sanding purposes. Well all these paints are two part epoxies which means you mix the paint with a hardener. Do you know were this is going yet ? The high build coat went on but it looked funny and was taking a log tome to cure. It was never going to cure because I forgot to put in the hardener. So Marnie and I had to scrape off the paint, clean the surface two times with acetone sand again and start the process all over. It was a two day F-up. Now can any of you beat that one?

We have been working 8-5 for the last 9 days and it looks like that will be the case for the next week. We are hoping to launch on January 25.

The adventure continues

Love Gary

New Zealand

Great Barrier Isl.

It feels like a lot has transpired since I last wrote. I spent 4 days at Great Barrier Isl.. It is in essence a wilderness Isl. with many beautiful bays and anchorages. At this time of year I was one of a very few number of boats out there. I did go on a 3.5 hr hike with a couple from England and had a jolly time of it.

I then sailed for Whangarie on the mainland, about 45 miles. There I meet up with Nicole, Colby and Amanda for a couple of days. Nicole and Colby were just finishing up a 2 week trip around New Zealand. Amanda has been working on that boat she sailed on from Fiji. It was great seeing them all again. But sadly today they all left. Colby and Nicole back to the US and Amanda back to Auckland, New Zealand.

Tomorrow I will sail to Auckland to pick up Mike and Marnie on the 24^th. Its about 150 miles and I will just take my time stopping at some more little bays and Islands enroute.

All is well and the adventure continues.

Happy Holidays

I wish you all could be here with me, but you are all here with me in my heart. Happy Holidays to you and your family. Love Gary