New Zealand

Hello all. We have survived another passage and are now in Opua New Zealand. We left the Isle of Pines on Tuesday morning and had a good sail for five and a half days arriving here on Sunday evening. The winds were as we had hoped and on average were in the 20-25 knot range with seas that were not too big.
Here in Opua they, the local enterprises, companies and local government have a week long party to welcome the international cruisers to the country. There is a big marquee in the parking lot with lots happening all day and dinners and drinks in the evening. Marian has been at a vineyard wine tasting for the afternoon and tonight is pizza night with local entertainment. Never a dull moment in this cruising life. I would say on average we are out socializing with friends old and new at least five nights a week. The thought of coming home and living on the land is rather scary for us as we are much more active here that we would there. Oh well it does not matter as we have the house rented for another two years  and have cruising plans beyond that. We know it is a tough life and get no sympathy from any of you.

Our plan now is to sail the boat down to Gulf Harbour where we will leave her and fly over to Australia and then back to Vancouver for Christmas. We should be home by December 1st and we hope we will be able to visit all of you in Vancouver and Calgary then.