Jim kicked ass analyzing that last weather system! There’s no other way to say it. After my note to you, he continued to review weather and decided our best bet was to, in effect, turn tail and run for it. We didn’t do a complete 180 but we did alter course and return 90 miles back the way we came with a more westerward angle. Jim’s routing made sure we stayed south of heavy weather and allowed us to sneak up behind the low-pressure system. While we had winds in excess of 20 knots and seas in the 10 ft range, it was less than half of what we could have encountered had we tried to plow through. All the boats in our flotilla altered course in one way or another. Seas remain lumpy and bumpy today with 9-10-foot swells, but winds have abated to the 12-15 knot range. The hardest challenge facing us now is laying a course directly for Lautoka, Fiji. We are currently motor-sailing upwind, which is no fun but better than getting our butts kicked last night.

NOTE: Mothers, sisters and aunts stop reading here. Again, I’m not being funny but recommend you not read the following until we arrive in Fiji.

About seven hours before the system hit-and it does in fact “hit”. We heard a distressing call that our dear friends, Steve and Wendy, on Elusive were taking on water. Another friend of ours, Scarlett O’Hara was en route to assist them. Wendy, you may recall, was my Auckland buddy for two weeks while our husbands brought our boats over from Tonga in November. Elusive, a J race boat, had started taking on water. Steve tore it apart trying to find the source he couldn’t locate it. Wendy and their 30-year-old son, Allan, boarded the dinghy (liferaft in effect) in anticipation of sinking. Luckily, Scarlett O’Hara, made it to them before things went further. Tied aside Elusive, John from Scarlett boarded the sinking boat in an attempt to help Steve find the leak. Steve and John are two of the most savvy boat maintenance, fix-it guys in the fleet. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough this time. Elusive had to be abandoned and was coasting barely above the surface less than an hour before dark. It goes without saying we were devastated listening to these events unfold on the emergency net that coincided in timing with the sinking. It was emotionally disturbing and shocking to say the very least. We’ve heard and talked with Steve over the radio since then and it is still heart-warming every time we hear his voice. They were so very fortunate that Scarlett was so close, that this happened before dark and before the storm. It is said, “Things happen for a reason.” If this weather system had not been advancing Elusive and Scarlett would not have been as close to one another and a sea rescue of this sort may not have been possible. We thank God, a million times over, things worked out the way they did. Steve, Wendy and Allan remain on Scarlett en route to Fiji with the rest of the fleet.

Note to our mothers: In all sincerity you should not read this update. Let Dad do it and update you on it much later. Yes, I am serious mom - don’t read it.

We’re several days into an 8 day passage and have received word that a large weather system is developing over Fiji and heading our way. We have about 18 hours of notice right now so we’re significantly altering course, heading west to try and get to the back end of a large low. However, we’re still likely to see winds near 45 knots and seas in excess of 18 feet. This will be the largest weather system we’ve endured. It is expected to last for 36 hours. Now, if I were you I would maybe wonder why I am sending out this kind of an update. Why cause alarm to those of you who can only wait for word from us? My hope is the old adage “Much ado about nothing.” I’m hoping by merely mentioning this to you that it is greatly overstated and I can make fun of myself for even raising it as an area of concern. Let us all hope for that.

The weather system should arrive around midnight our time on Saturday which will be 5 am Saturday morning in California. We’ll spend the daylight hours today going over everything on deck to make sure it is lashed down tightly. We’ll try and sleep as much as possible to be ready for extended periods of heightened attention to conditions. We’ll share weather information and plans for altering course with neighboring boats. We’ll check in with the Pacific Seafarer’s Net who monitors boat course, state and conditions with a daily roll call and check-in. Oh and I might return to my Catholic roots and pray here and there in my down time. This is not a hurricane or the like thereof. It is a large system that will pack a punch. Just the same we don’t like getting punched.

We looked forward eagerly to the first passage of the season and leaving behind cold, wintery weather in New Zealand. Then, we got an hour-and-a-half into our voyage. After we exited the Bay of Islands, seas were confused and swell a bit high. I asked Jim and Patrick if they smelled gasoline, two or three times. [I can be a pain like that.] They remarked it was most likely because we had just fueled the boat and Diesel may have gotten on our hands or clothing. Since I’ve “cried wolf� millions of times, I can’t blame Jim for not immediately taking this latest warning to heart. Shortly afterwards, I stood up and noticed our spare-gasoline jerry can loose, on the foredeck awash with green water rushing over the bow. There are five jerry cans: 4 Diesel and 1 gasoline lashed to a board on deck to be used as reserves. The line holding them in place unraveled and all were in the process of pulling themselves loose. Jim went forward to corral them, and retie the lines. Since he couldn’t do both at the same time, I too put on my life jacket and tether to offer assistance on deck. Patrick stayed at the helm monitoring the very large ship travelling across the shipping lane ahead of us. With several salt water rinses, gasoline was sprayed over the decks, over our foul-weather waterproof clothing and even in our mouths. Ultimately, we returned everything to its proper place.

The fumes had made me nauseous when I smelled them in the cockpit. After being doused in them, I really felt seasick. Not so proudly, I am now the first person to puke on the boat for a non-alcohol related reason. The next 24 hours I felt miserable. Luckily, there were three of us aboard, because I was totally unable to do my watches or anything else for that matter. This also affirms that it pays to prepare several meals, in advance, for the first few days at sea. Day-two I felt much better and now am 100% seaworthy again; and hence, why I am even able to type right now.

Since then, our sailing has been wonderful, with warm temperatures, sunny skies, moderate seas, and plentiful wind. We’re not a fast boat by any stretch of the imagination. So, we’re always thrilled when we manage to pass another cruising boat. So far, we’ve passed three other boats that departed Opua an hour or more ahead of us and we’re closing in on a fourth. Jim attributes this to our new main sail, which in his infinite sailing wisdom, he deemed necessary for our fourth season. Right now our best estimate predicts we arrive at Latouka, Fiji on Friday, May 22nd (Thursday, to you in the States). We’ll keep you posted.

It’s well into May and we still haven’t headed off to Fiji. We are waiting for a good weather window which looks like it might be today.

New Zealand winter arrived and it’s been very cold and damp, temperatures currently ranging from 45 to 65 degrees. Add intermittent rain all day and brisk winds and it’s quite blustery. We have all our blankets and sleeping bags out just to try and stay warm through the night. Long underwear, waterproof pants and jackets are a usual part of our ensemble. Burr! After a few years in Mexico and the Pacific Islands, this is crazy cold to all the cruisers here. Our extended crew, Patrick, has handled it better, having flown in two weeks ago for the passage. He’s made the best of the delay by renting a car and touring most of the North Island.

We expect about an eight day passage to Fiji and will let you know how it’s going once underway.

In the meantime, here are a few more considerations and observations from our stay in NZ:

As it relates to animals:

• Possum to New Zealanders are like rats to Americans. For that reason, they actively hunt them and have started using their fur in clothing. It’s very common to see possum fur gloves, hats and sweaters. It’s actually warmer than wool and feels much softer. It costs more too.

• Did you know the average life expectancy of a sheep is only 8 years? Their teeth wear out from constant chewing and they starve. Well, they would starve, except most sheep in NZ are dead by 8 years due to the amount of lamb and mutton based food products.

• “Lamb� is meat from a sheep under six months old, as in truly little, baby lambs. Otherwise, it’s mutton. I don’t eat lamb and this reinforces my decision.

• How do I know these little factoids? I went to Sheep World four times [Stop shaking your head. Jim’s been three times.] It’s like a petting zoo for children and adults. The dog and sheep shows where the working dogs herd sheep are impressive. There are two types of working dogs: the Look-Away and the Hunt-Away. Neither resembles what you would normally think of as a herding dog.

• Two thumbs up to New Zealand for having the healthiest animals we’ve seen anywhere: horses, dogs, cats, sheep, cows and even goats. Mexico and Tonga were the worst, having emaciated animals afraid of human contact.

• We visited friends of Jim’s family and toured their working ranch - over 1000 acres. At the end of the tour, Jim jokingly asked if I would like to buy their ranch. They offered after witnessing my enthusiasm for the animals. My response was “No. Instead of a working ranch we’d just have 3000 pet sheep, 600 pet cows, a few pet goats, 12 pet horses and half a dozen pet working dogs.� That’s a lot of pet food.

Regarding beer and food:

• Let’s face it all beer is good; it’s just that some beers are better. As experienced beer inspectors, we can tell you beer in NZ is better than beer in the US. In particular, they don’t have any low-budget, low-quality brands like Budweiser, Miller or Coors. Our favorite NZ beers: Mac’s Gold, Monteith’s Original and Tui.

• Small-town locals often go shoeless in grocery stores, bars and restaurants. It’s a little too common for me.

• Fast-food drive-thru windows travel in the “wrong� direction. The cars pass the front window of the establishment driving left to right, then along the side the building (travelling front to rear) and exit at the back of the business.

• What’s the deal with pizza in this country? You can’t get a simple pepperoni pizza unless you search out an American chain in larger cities. BBQ sauce is the most common component, along with smoked chicken, lamb sausage, venison and pine nuts. Along those same lines, beetroot, shredded carrot and egg do not belong on a burger!

• Every sushi restaurant we went to had rolls with chicken in them. Chicken in sushi is just wrong.

• KFC and Subway are the most common fast-food chains, with Mc Donald’s rolling in a distant third.

• There being few to no Mexicans in NZ, Mexican food is near impossible to find. Since we love robust spicy foods, Indian food has become our Mexican substitute–pass the beef vindaloo.

General:

• Network television shows are allowed to drop “f-bombs� after 8:30 pm, as well as brief nudity. That being said, NZ television programming is still REALLY bad.

• Prostitution is legal and unionized! I’ll comment no further. There are too many directions to go with this tidbit.

• There are no bike lanes in the country. With narrow roads and tourist drivers not used to driving large campervans, let alone abiding by these laws (i.e left side of the road, roundabouts and deferring to any traffic from the right at all times), you won’t catch me on a bike here anytime soon.

• After living six feet above sea level for the last two and half years, hiking around the rolling countryside was more difficult than we’d like to admit.

• What’s worse than turning 40? Being in your 40’s!!!!!!!!!!!! I turned 41 last month. The good news is I still look younger than Sharon. [I’m just checking to see if she’s reading these posts. We’ve been friends since high school.]

We added three new photo albums to the Gallery tab: North Island, South Island, and Goodbye Tonga–Hello New Zealand. Since our laptop was fixed and our website host changed, we’re back in business sharing pictures.

As part of our transition from land and to prepare for our upcoming departure, we sold the campervan. I’ve also returned to mass provisioning for months on the hook. We started projects to get Blue Plains Drifter ready for her fourth cruising season. We eagerly await the short-term memory loss of it all kicking in while sipping cool cocktails at anchor in Fiji.

Being at dock has afforded us the luxury of talking more with family and friends both via phone and email. Helping to cure my admittedly whiny attitude has been the dose of perspective gleaned from those conversations. Hearing first hand the effect—both mental and financial—that the economic crisis has had on people makes it obvious our fourth cruising season is an opportunity to be appreciated. Our plan is to leave New Zealand the last week of April or first week of May depending on a good weather window. BPD’s most frequent extended crew member will be joining us for the trip. Patrick flies in to Auckland on the 26th!

We’re at the end of our all encompassing tour of New Zealand. It’s been amazing. As card carrying members of the roving tourist community, which in this case means driving a campervan, we descended like a plague of locust chewing through the most notable activities and attractions in a given area. At the end of the day, we’d seek out a taste of the town’s personality through its neighborhood pub. Oh sure, it’s easy enough to find just any pub but finding the locals pub took some sampling and investigation. Moving locations every two to three nights while speed vacationing got tiring at times but it allowed us to see the best the country has to offer. Neither of us has ever seen diversity of scenery and activity in such a compact package: rolling farmland peppered with sheep, cattle, deer and the occasional goat; glacier country lowlands littered with rock fragments interrupted by milky, blue streams; hundreds of miles of undulating mountains covered in dense, verdant tree ferns; by contrast mound after mound of California-like golden foothills. All punctuated by snow-capped volcanoes looming in the distance. These dramatic changes in scenery are separated by pint-sized towns with king-sized appeal. We fell into the habit whenever we left a “big cityâ€� we’d wait for the first small town with cozy, country charm to enjoy our morning coffee or tea.

As a testament to this lifestyle, my high school pal, Bill, joined us for a week in the midst of his own NZ explorations. In just one week, we kayaked, hiked, celebrated Bill’s birthday with a drink fest, rode one of the world’s most scenic train rides {coast-to-coast across the South Island}, landed on a glacier in a helicopter, rode quad-bikes over rocks and through three-foot deep mud pools, rolled down a hilltop on a dry luge, and competed in a 50-person rock, paper, scissors contest in which Bill won 3rd place. I was disqualified for cheating (allegedly cheating I should say). To cap off the week of manic fun, Bill got a Maori inspired tattoo in Queenstown – the adventure capitol of New Zealand. Sure, we had to detox for three days after Bill left but we had a blast together.

Jim and I have had a few more adventures since then while making our way north. Jim had the 2nd half of his armband tattoo completed with traditional Maori symbols. Oops! I mean Maori symbols for “I love you mom and dad� (wink, wink). We hiked Mt. Taranaki and viewed worms that glow in the dark (glow worms as they’re called) while floating in inner tubes through a maze of subterranean waterways.

As mentioned, we hoped to stay and live in New Zealand for a few years. While that is still our plan, we can’t make it happen right now. The economy here is down, like everywhere else, making jobs hard to come by. Without work permits, we’re not desirable applicants since prospective employers would have to jump through extra hoops to assist us in attaining a visa. With many candidates to choose from, they’re not likely to want an extra headache. We sent out resumes but to no avail. I always find job hunting interesting. I complete my resume, feeling good about my experience and qualifications, even confident I’d say. I send it off to companies who either ignore it completely or respond “not interested.� It’s a humbling process.

We retained immigration lawyers who helped us submit our application for a work permit. With work permits in hand, New Zealand would allow us to enter and stay a full year looking for employment. Once one of us has a job, we can stay indefinitely and then apply for residency. All applicants are entered into a pool. Two different migration firms told us selection of our application from the pool could take more than six months. Although we aren’t literally being deported, we will be forced to leave New Zealand before our visitor visas expire in May. Since BPD did not sell, our decision was pretty simple. Living at sea is cheaper than living anywhere on land. We’re heading to the islands for another season. Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are the charted course with Australia as our final destination. This will be a six month outing. During our travels, we hope to be notified our application has been selected and approved. If that happens, we’ll put Blue Plains Drifter up for sale in Australia and fly back to New Zealand to find jobs and get settled. We will target Wellington since it offers the most big businesses, therefore greater opportunity for finding a job in Human Resources. If we don’t have work permits, we will be able to reenter the country again, for another six months, to wait out the application process and continue the search for work. Blah, blah, blah… yawn. That’s the migration plan today.

Switching gears back to seagoing mode, we had several projects done in our absence coordinated by a project manager. We have a few more to check off before BPD is cruise-ready but nothing major so far (fingers crossed). We hope to throw off dock lines at the end of April and head to warmer temperatures and bath-like water conditions.

They say the strangest things in NZ:

B.L.A.T. - Bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato. You never see a B.L.T.

Cheers - a friendly way to say good-bye. You can also just say “cheers” which could also mean thank you.

Boot – car trunk

Cheerios – small Vienna sausage like snacks

Chillie Bin – a cooler, also called an esky as in “Eskimo� brand coolers

Chips – french fries

Crisps – potato chips

Dairy - any convenience store, like 7-11

Drinks and nibbles - snacks, appetizers, hors d’oeuvres

Fag - cigarette, also called a ciggy

Fanny Pack – never use this phrase since “fannyâ€� is the word for vagina. It’s called a “bum bag.â€�

Fringe – those are bangs, like hair over your forehead

Good As… - means “no problem� or “sure thing� and is used as a fragment not a sentence

Handle - a mug. Otherwise it’s a glass which is smaller with no handle.

Hire - In NZ one doesn’t “rentâ€� a car or canoe. You “hireâ€� them.

“How ya’ going?â€� - is used instead of “How are you doing?â€�

JAFA – just another f’ing Aucklander. There is tension between people from Auckland and Wellington.

Jandals - flip-flops

Judder Bars – speed bumps

Jug - pitcher as in a “jug of beer”

Mainlander – The residents of the South Island proclaim their island the “main� island and hence refer to themselves as such.

Mixer - a faucet with both hot and cold water, highly uncommon here. Almost always a sink has the dreaded individual spout at each end of the sink. When washing your hands you freeze your left hand while scalding your right. The spouts barely hang over the lip of the sink making it almost impossible to wash dishes.

NZ - this is the common abbreviation for New Zealand. However, it is pronounced as “en-zed”. They pronounce the letter “zâ€� as “zed.â€�

Owl-Lou-Mini-Um - this how they pronounce aluminum

Pissed – drunk

Pudding – is the common term for dessert of any kind

Return - round trip as opposed to one way. Tramps are marked as taking 45 minutes return.

Rubber - an eraser

Scroggin - Trail mix

Serviette - table napkins. A “napkin” in NZ is a feminine product.

Stubby – is a beer bottle that’s not of the long neck variety or a koozie to keep a drink cold

Sweet As… - means emphatically I agree or very cool, also used as a fragment not a sentence

Tea – we thought this was simple enough. However, Kiwi friends invited us to their home one evening for tea. We weren’t sure what to bring so we brought beverages and a snack. Well, “teaâ€� meant full a full dinner! Yes, that is what a New Zealander means when they invite you over for “teaâ€� at 6 pm.

Tore-till-a’s - this is how they pronounce tortillas

Tramping – hiking

Whitewear – these are appliances like washer, dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher, etc.

Many words are spelled differently too. Tires for example is spelled “tyres.� For this reason, using spell check on their computers can be quite a challenge.

Travel Update:
To our surprise and delight Wellington was much like San Francisco minus the homeless, the smell of urine and abundant street trash. They even have a cable car!! It was shaking(not in an earthquake-like way) and moving even on a Sunday afternoon whereas Auckland was more like a ghost town both after 5 pm and on Sundays.

On the South Island, we’ve been tramping some of the more notable treks with overnight stays in quaint, remote lodges accessible only by foot or boat. We treated ourselves to a two night stay in a cottage that gave us a mountain view on one side and seaside view on the other. It was really hard to go back to living in a van after that stay.

There were reunions with cruiser friends, Island Time and Elusive. Those outings were just like cruising seeing how they centered around drinking events: The Blues, Brews and BBQ’s Festival and the Marlborough Wine Festival.

We will continue to make our way south along the West Coast of the South Island in the days ahead.

New Zealand is known for its outlandish adrenaline-rush adventures. As the saying goes, “When in Rome..”

Our first thrill came just after New Year’s while still in Auckland. It was called a “Reverse Bungy” but would have more aptly been described as The Human Sling Shot. Picture two 125 ft tall cranes set 20 yards apart. Envision a three-person bench seat on the ground between the two cranes. A large hook underneath the chair holds it to the ground and operators harness you to it all. Attach a giant rubber band from each crane to the nearest side of the seat. Now, imagine exponentially adding torque to those rubber bands, to reach maximum capacity. Suddenly, a hook releases and the bench seat catapults several stories into the air, well above the height of the cranes, at a speed exceeding 100mph. The G-force drives your head back into the headrest. The contraption is flung skyward while the seat in the center is spinning from the torque of the rubber bands. As a rider, you scream as loud as you possibly can and reach for something to brace yourself. Unfortunately, pretty much only open air awaits the clutches of your empty hands. Eventually, the chair stops spinning and you find yourself merely suspended between the top of the two cranes in the bench seat, thankful to be alive. That was only the beginning of our extreme sporting adventures.

Each city is known for their extreme activities so we attempted to make the most of each area. The adventure mecca known as Rotorua, located in the central area of the north island, lays claim as the birthplace of the Zorb. A Zorb is an 11 ft high, inflatable, transparent, plastic ball one straps into only to then be rolled about yards down a steep embankment. The result is toppling head-over-feet again and again, watching the ground and sky spinning past, the entire length of the hill. The wild ride comes to an end finally by bumping up against a small rise to come to a stop. There a guy rolls the ball on end so you can stumble out of the hole. It’s good fun and surprisingly does not make one as dizzy as you might expect.

We also had to partake of the Sky Luge. This luge, unlike the Olymipic luge, has no snow and ice. You take a chair lift up a dry ski slope. At the summit you jump on a black, plastic toboggan with a handle-bar and three wheels underneath. You coast out of a gate and progressively gain speed as gravity careens you down a concrete chute into wider concrete lanes, gathering more speed along the way. There are sand pits at some of the turns or foam padding against a concrete wall in other turns. Even the low gutters lining the course are smudged with black plastic in just about every turn where people less skilled than us hit the edges. It’s simple and silly but fun nonetheless.

Next up, we heard rumors of Class V whitewater river rafting. As many of you know, I was an avid whitewater rafter and paddled nearly all the rivers in northern California. Jim and I have also rafted the top 3 rivers in the world so we can be a bit demanding when it comes to thrills on the watercourse. We were both pleased to find a Class V in NZ is the same as a Class V in the US and internationally. Since this was a dam-controlled run, operated only twice a month, the water was big. With rapids called Rollercoaster, Mother’s Nightmare and The Waterfall we were not disappointed. Boulder-strewn rapids boiled with foam and were long enough to necessitate various manuevers through the rapids to emerge downstream still inside the raft and right side up. The scariest part for me was the novices in the raft with us. I thought for sure I was going to take a paddle handle to the face when occasionally one of the guys let go of the “T� handle. Rookies! NEVER let go of the “T�.

However, the river is not where an injury occurred. Have you ever parted with your spouse for a few hours in the afternoon and upon meeting up later one of you had two black eyes? Us neither, until now. Jim’s knee was bothering him, so he elected to rest up, watching a movie while I took a 2-hour hike to a nearby waterfall. Well, a block-and-a-half from the holiday park I got distracted. I ended up at New Zealand’s highest “water touch� bungy, 150 feet. Water touch means you get dipped in the water at the bottom as part of your bungy experience. Depending on how long you’ve been following our adventures you may recall that I chickened out of a bungy jump in Africa. I’ve always regretted it too. So, this was a chance to make up for it. Besides, if I chickened out again, I wouldn’t tell Jim I even attempted it. I could even add a gold star to my jump by opting for the thrill of getting dunked! The logic seemed so elementary at the time. In my bikini top and shorts, I waddled to the edge of the platform. They asked how much of a dip I wanted in the turquoise waters below. I said, “Just the top of my head, maybe my shoulders.� One, two, three and off I went. This scared me far more than sky diving and I will NEVER do it again, NEVER. Either their scale was off or the line selected for me was wrong. Whatever the case, I hit the water and hit it hard. I was plunged in up to my ankles. It all happened so quickly, I barely realized during the rebound, that my bikini top was now up under my chin. Yes, they videotape all this for posterity! After I jerked it back into place, I tried to decide if I had broken my neck, my nose and crushed my skull or just broke my nose. Operators lowered me into a dinghy and the two guys in it were not administering any first aid. So, I thought my injuries must not be apparent. Maybe I really didn’t break my nose, just snapped my neck and crushed my skull. In the 10 minutes it took me to hike back up to the office to see my pictures, the black eyes began to surface. The office crew took one look at me and winced. They said it sometimes happens with the way people hit the water. I still think they screwed up, because earlier that day and the following day, when I took Jim there, we didn’t see anyone plunge as deeply as I into the abyss. Medically speaking, my neck was stiff for several days and my nose a little sore with sunglasses resting on the bridge but it was nothing to really obsess over. My right eye looked like I sneezed while applying purple eye shadow and accidentally smeared it above and below my eye. However, my left eye was a different story. For more than a week, I looked like I had made one too many smart aleck comments and Jim had let me have it. He often led people to believe that too. When we were in public while people were staring my way he would casually say, “Don’t make me tell you again woman,� or while sharing a plate of nachos he’d say, “You better not eat that last nacho or you know what will happen.� Nice, huh?

After that episode we took a few days off from adrenaline but not from adventure. We hiked the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in a day. This 12+ mile hike over steep ground includes the volcanic area encompassing Mt. Doom of Lord of the Rings fame. The real name of the mountain is Mt. Ngauruhoe but who really cares or even knows that name? The terrain is stunning and traverses possibly the most active volcanic area in the country. It is often called the most beautiful one day trek in all of New Zealand. There is a fantastic red crater along the way with strong contrasts of dark brown and red soil. At the base of the red crater are vivid emerald sulphur pools edged in golden color from geothermal activity within the volcano. It was fabulous to say the very least.

Our return to watery exploits turned out to be a 3-day canoe trip down the Whanganui River. Neither of us had ever been in a canoe before let alone attempted to paddle one more than 50 miles. The scenery the first day’s scenery struck us as nature’s finest. The second day, to our surprise, the sightseeing got even better: deep gorges, waterfalls, class II rapids, tree ferns, grazing sheep, wild goats, hawks flying above the canyon, lowland forests, lush plants clinging to steep river banks and all in the most serene setting. We saw no one else on the river the first day and very few the second and third days. We spent nights in huts with two dozen other canoers, kayakers and one family of three in their own raft. As usual, we were the only Americans. The rest of the people were all from New Zealand or the Netherlands. The second night our hut was on the grounds of a Maori marae (sacred grounds). We partook of a ceremonial welcome sung by a Maori woman adorned with a traditional female tattoo which covered her entire chin. After welcomed onto the grounds, we were considered family, and like family, they would do anything they could to help you. The family hosted dinner for us that evening cooking with food donated by previous visitors. We reciprocated by leaving food we planned to prepare that evening. Although a river journey, this excursion through incredible landscape makes the elite list of the “Ten Great Walks” of New Zealand. It is the only water trip on the list.

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand and southern most city on the North Island, is our next stop. We’ll stay there about a week before crossing the ditch (Cooks Strait) to the South Island.

Happy New Year!

Due to the time zone, we were first in the world to welcome 2009. We reunited with our cruising mates in Auckland for the occasion: Elusive, Island Time and Little Wing. For midnight, we gathered on Queen street within view of the iconic Sky Tower only half a block away. The Sky Tower is the symbol that distinguishes the Auckland skyline from other metropolitan cities around the world. In appearance, the tower is nearly identical to the Space Needle in Seattle. It is the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere and taller than the Eiffel Tower. The mass of celebrants collected in the street was a true melting pot of nationalities and cultures. The band of Harry Krishna’s dancing and chanting nearby proved it. As Father Time reached midnight an explosion of fireworks shot out in all directions from atop the Sky Tower and continued for several minutes. Not having planned to be in the square for New Year’s, we were very happy to have made a last minute change of venue for midnight itself. It sealed the realization we were in a foreign country for the big event.

Touring the countryside the latest few weeks has been great fun. There has been a wide variety of adventures including a nighttime Kiwi bird hunt in a forest. This was as ridiculous and nutty as a snipe hunt. We didn’t see a Kiwi but we did hear them, along with a lot of our own snickering and giggling. The male Kiwi bird call resembles what you might expect to hear in the movie Blair Witch. It’s a high pitched scream repeated for 8-10 times. A few days later, we managed to see a live Kiwi at an educational center focused on preservation of the highly endangered bird. Interestingly enough, most New Zealanders never have, nor will they ever, see a live Kiwi even though it’s the origin of their moniker.

Jim went scuba diving at Poor Knight’s Island, one of the top rated dive spots in the world. My ears won’t let me dive, so I snorkeled. Neither of us was disappointed. Wearing a 7 mm thick wetsuit needed for the nippy water temperature is like dressing up as the Michelin Man for Halloween. We stayed warm though which was key to our enjoyment.

We took a ferry 45 minutes off the mainland to spend Chrismtas and the days following it on Waiheke Island. Vegetation on the island is rich and thick with native bush and hence, native bird life. We spent our days sea kayaking, hiking, and shelling the beaches—not with artillery. I may have mentioned this before but normally I don’t spend much time collecting sea shells by the seashore (I had to say it that way) but the shells on the beaches here are so varied from one beach to the next that I absolutely love it. Luckily, we made friends with a local artist in our travels who incorporates shells he finds on New Zealand beaches into his Kauri wood carvings of bowls, platters and coasters. When we commisioned him to make a center-piece platter for us we provided him with an array of shells we collected ourselves. It takes him a few months to finish one of these incredible bowls. In the meantime, he asked if I would collect shells for him during our travels. This makes my time spent shelling well worth the effort since I don’t have to listen to Jim taunt me with “What in the world are you ever going to do with all those shells?” A highlight to the sea kayaking came when we encountered the elusive blue penguin. We only saw one but he was only a few feet from us splashing and rolling around. These are the smallest penguins in the world and cute too!

Considerations & Observations VI

• Very small town living predominates the lifestyles in New Zealand. Even a major city, Auckland, is petite by comparison to San Francisco. In our rambling, we hop from one tiny town to the next. They exude a charm and comfortable atmosphere by not having an abundance of chain stores. The shops lining town centers are usually individually owned stores for crafts, clothing, imported foods, butchers, convenience stores, cafes or coffee shops. We didn’t see a single Starbucks or the NZ equivalent, Esquires, outside of Auckland.

• While touring the northland, stunning sights of rolling green farmland sprinkled with cows and sheep dominated our car window slideshow. While very beautiful, I think I could take pictures of the northland, mix them with pictures of Virginia and Pennsylvania and most people wouldn’t be able to tell one from the other. This is not a criticism of the scenery. It’s gorgeous but not completely incomparable to sights in the US.

• Jim achieved another personal best. We arrived in the one eatery, one mini-convenience store town of Baylys at 1 in the afternoon. It didn’t take long for us to find a pathway from our holiday park (campground) to the eatery/bar/restaurant. The Funky Fish was having a party for their 8th anniversary complete with a band and local delicacies. We’re pretty sure we were the only non-locals there because we met just about everyone by the end of the night. We think my evening came to a close around 7 (details are still a little cloudy) when I headed back to the van to sleep off the beer hangover that was rushing my way. Jim returned to the van at 1:15 am - - a full 12 HOURS after he walked through the back gate of the Funky Fish. When I pointed this out, as wives love to do, he simply commented, “but I made a lot of new friends.â€� I then saracstically stated the obvious “Well, I guess you had fun.” Jim responded in Confuscious-like style with “All bars are fun… if you stay long enough.”

• International Ambassador. Traveling around, we encounter more German, French, and UK citizens than Americans. Ah, how I do enjoy antagonizing the French. I engage my victim in innocuous conversation. Then, when they’re not expecting it, I go for the sucker punch, “So, what do you think about Lance Armstrong returning to cycling and the Tour de France?” At this point, the exchange changes tone to that of a lively debate. After a healthy volley of arguments on each side, I go for the jugular. The closer: “I don’t know why the French get so upset. We always LET you win a stage on Bastille Day.” This is immediately followed by vulgar hand gestures and my adversary retreating to his native language. Yes, I’m doing my part to improve stereotypes of rude Americans abroad.

• US media outlets fill the news with doom-and-gloom reports to the point one might think we’re living through Armageddon-like times. American news focuses strongly on the US, so Americans don’t hear much about the rest of the world. Here in NZ, the theme isn’t so much doom and gloom as bent toward reporting about death. Reading the paper is often like deciding on the Darwin award winner for who “offedâ€� themselves in the most creative manner, around the world. Nonetheless, it’s a luxury just being able to pick up a daily newspaper again.

• Newspapers report the daily UV exposure rating. The scale goes from 1 to 11 but most days the rating is 12. I didn’t know this, but apparently there is a hole in the ozone layer that results in NZ and Australia ranking at the top when it comes to melanoma cases. It’s a good thing we have a ton of sunscreen leftover!

• I never thought of our lighting on the boat as being any darker than on land but apparently it is dimmer. Unfortunately, with better lighting comes the realization we both have lots more gray hair and sun freckles than when we left on this adventure.

• Living in the Bay Area creates wine snobs. Happily, we counted ourselves among them, prior to this trip. Initially, we found it odd to read wine lists and not see any CA wines. We got past that though when we didn’t need to pay more than $10 for a bottle of decent, tasty wine. We sank to a new low though. Not only is the wine cheap and palatable but almost all of them have a twist-off cap!

• Reversal of grocery shopping. Cruising we had to stock up on fruits and vegetables whenever we saw them because we had no assurance we would see them again. As a carryover affect, it is very hard not to buy “extras” in the produce section of a grocery store. However, if you thought the boat was cozy quarters, you should see the van! Space makes the decisions on the quantities of groceries and souvenirs we purchase.

• In just over two-and-a-half weeks of travel, we stopped in only one town large enough to warrant a movie theater. It had been over two years since we sat in a movie theater. In 24 hours we made up for it, somewhat. We caught three movies including the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

• Sports enthusiasts may know the New Zealand rugby team is called the All Blacks. However, did you know their basketball team is called the Tall Blacks? True.

• NZ is not famous for its culinary offerings, but they do recognize one basic concept in food. Anything that tastes good naturally tastes even better fried.

• One thing that has remained the same with stepping off the boat: not knowing the day of the week. In Tonga, we kind of kept an eye out for Sunday because everything was closed… everything. Here it can take a lively debate or a scan of the newspaper to establish what day of the week it is. Yes, it is nice to be ignorant of the day of the week but not knowing the day usually comes with a partner – not having a “payâ€� day.

• You know you’re in New Zealand when you’re reading employment ads and see one titled, “Career in Skydiving.”

We have so much to tell you. Our most surprising news: We put Blue Plains Drifter up for sale. We calculated we sailed more than 10,000 miles, spent the night in more than 50 anchorages, visited 5 countries and 19 islands from Mexico through the South Pacific. If BPD does not sell, we could embark on a third year cruise taking us to Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and on to Australia.

In Opua, New Zealand we enjoyed stepping off the boat directly on to a dock. It has been seven months since BPD tied up anywhere for anything. Jack and Jim reunited. The old friends settled in together as if they had never been apart. That is Jack Daniels and Jim. Jim is off rum and back to Jack for those keeping tabs. Jack was darn expensive in the islands. Jim had his turn at becoming a consumer and indulged in a new watch, casual jacket (hadn’t needed one in a few years), shoes to wear with jeans (hadn’t worn jeans in a couple years either) and long sleeve shirts (pure craziness). We also met and became close friends with a famous member of the local sailing and ferry community. He has his own boat but often rides the ferry across the bay for an afternoon. We first met Sam one morning when heading to the showers. When we returned Sam was IN our boat checking out the interior. Remember, cruisers are a rather friendly lot. Another time while airing out a lazerette on deck we left its hatch open overnight. The next morning, Sam woke us up when he came aboard and put his full body in the lazerette trying to see what all the work was about. Becoming part of his daily routine, Sam stopped by each morning and again each evening. He was not opposed to having appetizers on BPD before grabbing dinner on his own boat. Our most startling run-in with the gregarious chap was returning one afternoon; opening the companionway doors and seeing Sam poke his head around from the spare room as though he were looking at someone disturbing him on his own boat. We had left the forward facing saloon hatches open and Sam had let himself in through the window, leapt to the table and made himself at home. Sam, of course, is a cat. He’s large, black and white and as feisty as they come. Jim appeared below deck many times after playing with Sam in need of a napkin and several band-aids to stop his bleeding. I have to say, Jim deserved every scratch and bite he got. My favorite sight was Jim rolling Sam over on his belly, tormenting him and causing Sam to scratch the heck out of him. Jim retreated, happily dabbing at his wounds. Jim, thinking play time was over, started to walk away. Sam dashed after him, and in full dive, wrapped himself around Jim’s calf and sunk in his teeth. This move always gave Sam the last word in their wrestling matches. The most entertaining match involved an unsuspecting neighbor playing with Sam after Jim had antagonized the hell of out him moments earlier. When the man turned to finish his conversation with a friend, Sam lunged after his calf and chomped down. The guy never had a chance. Victorious, Sam left in a flash.

You may be wondering where Bailey, the best kitty ever, was in all this feline fuss. Unfortunately, our beloved Bailey passed away a few months back, just after her 15th birthday. The veterinarian treating her said it was heart disease. I haven’t mentioned it until now because it was truly the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through. Jim and I miss her dearly, talk of her often and have brought a few Bailey mementos with us so she continues to be part of our adventure in our hearts and minds.

Jim and I have transitioned from roaming the blue plains of the ocean to traveling the black plains of the byways of New Zealand, hence the title of this post. Our medium for this next venture is Quinn, a campervan. The man from whom I bought the campervan reminded me so much of my grandpa that I named the van Quinn, after him. In preparing Blue Plains Drifter for showing to prospective buyers, we moved everything off and put things into storage or Quinn. It’s odd knowing that two years of living accessories, souvenirs and assorted boat equipment fit into 6 x 5 x 4 space and a tricked-out cargo-van. We’ve gone from the house, to the boat, to the van. At this rate, we should be living in a cardboard box by spring. We’re hoping for a nice refrigerator size box – fingers crossed! The most embarrassing thing to move was food provisions! I often boasted to Jim about being a master provisioner. For the last 12 months, we never lacked for anything on BPD: paper towels, Kleenex, Ziplocs, soap, toothpaste, shampoo and, of course, food. While other cruisers spent time scouring markets and toting bags of goods back to their boat in wet dinghies we were enjoying the moment snorkeling, hiking or relaxing with a drink. Well, Jim now describes my provisioning approach as less than “mastery.� I think his exact words were “You put so much stuff on the boat we couldn’t possibly run out of anything.� Suffice it to say, there are many canned and prepackaged goods coming with us in Quinn. Heck, we are still drinking Tecate! We could readily have cruised another six months only needing to buy perishables. Oops!

We’ve been living in Quinn just over a week, and much like living on that boat, we feel like turtles. Here again, we carry everything with us so we never forget the camera, sunscreen, toothbrush, socks, etc… It’s all at the parking grounds in the worse case scenario. It does usually take us a few minutes to find the van keys. Neither of us is used to carrying keys. So, we misplace them regularly. I still can’t believe WE LIVE IN A VAN. It is nice that we always park on grass so it doesn’t feel like you’re tumbling out of the van each morning onto a parking lot. It’s more like tumbling out of a van onto a meadow. It has been an amusing enterprise already. We visited the northern most tip of the North Island, Cape Reinga. Venturing north included stops at the northernmost everything: tavern, winery, campground, lighthouse and even petrol station. Quinn runs on diesel.

Campers and campervanners alike converge on holiday parks, the term given to the abundant number of campgrounds throughout New Zealand. Usually a well-equipped communal kitchen, dining area, games, tv room, bathroom and showers are available. In cities, holiday parks are usually a fair way from the action but in the more common smaller towns they can be impressively central or near lakes, bays, beaches, rivers or forests. The nightly cost of holiday-park camping is between $7-$9 USD per person. We have the option of plugging in or not plugging in to power which allows us to swap facilities for wilder, less-developed locations like national parks. So far, we’ve been happy preparing our meals wherever we happen to turn off the ignition. It’s deluxe having a two-burner stove and a sink with running water in the van. In our first few nights, we had views of mountain ridges; we parked right next to the shoulder of a scenic bay; parked on a bluff overlooking a distant bay to the south with a cow filled pasture to the north. We also parked at a beach, one backdrop we’ve seen plenty of the last two years. Sometimes there have been other campers in view and sometimes not. Because of the pure excitement of seeing and doing things on land, we moved locations most nights to maximize the variety of our experience. We rode quad ATV’s on the infamous Ninety Mile Beach and through towering sand dunes, surfed in the Tasman sea (burrrrr), stopped at landmarks, collected tiny treasures on the coolest shell covered beach I’ve seen, tasted at two wineries and Jim had Fish and Chips of the most famous variety in New Zealand. In addition to the activities, we’ve also had the pleasure of meeting some pretty colorful characters, who immediately opened their homes and personal histories to us. If this sounds like a lot, I guess you could say we’re in overdrive, literally. This is our new life, for the next few months at least.

This will most likely be our last post before the holidays so we wish all you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

P.S. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find bandwidth which will allow us to update photos. We’ll let you know the next time we add them.

I am overdue for an update. I do apologize. The guys made it here Tuesday late morning. The trip took them 8 days and 30 minutes. That’s really good speed for a boat of our weight. Of the nearly 100 boats to make the voyage from Tonga to New Zealand this season BPD was probably one of five or less who did it without any of the following: without stopping at Minerva reef, without experiencing wind speeds over 30 knots and without breaking anything! What a great passage. I knew with my flying ahead, Murphy’s Law would have it that they’d have a blissful time. Dave, Tijny and Jim have been enjoying land again with drinks, dining out and exploring the new country. Dave and Tijny left this morning in Quinn, our campervan. They’ll use it for touring the next week or so until they head back to the states.

I had no issues “driving” Quinn on the opposite side of the road but there was one occasion that involved two guys pushing the campervan while trying to jumpstart my dead battery. Who knew that leaving the refrigerator plugged into the 12 volt overnight would run it down? Did I mention… I’m so glad Jim is here now so I can go back to little to no responsibility for things like that.

We’ll head out for some exploring of our own in the weeks to come.
Take care and have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

It was a busy 24 hours. The wind came up and was blowing 25-29 kts on the nose. We spent a lot of time trying to balance the sails so that it would not over power the autopilot. I spent a lot of time trying to get a grib file (weather) to see what the winds are going to do.
Everything is good. It actually turned out to be a great day of sailing. The winds moved around to the beam and we have been doing 7.5 kts all day. It’s been a little lumpy but getting better. We are having fish again tonight for dinner.

We had a great night. The winds picked up yesterday and are still good, about 12 knots. It should be a good sail the rest of the way. We hit the half way point yesterday! The second half should be much faster than the first half. We did pretty good though. We only used about 26 gallons of fuel. That means that we will have plenty to motor if we get wind on the nose coming in to Opua.

Dave caught a fish yesterday. It was a skipjack but we ate it for dinner anyway. I marinated it in Worcestershire and put a lot of Old Bay on it. It was pretty good. TODAY though we caught a monster. It has to be the biggest mahi mahi I have ever seen. It must be 50lb. It took us an hour to get it on the boat.

The captain wrote: It’s going great! We’ve had to motor a little more that we wanted but it has been a nice comfortable passage so far. We made 340 miles in 3 days. We are going slow but that was the strategy. Start slow then have nice winds and weather the rest of the way to NZ. I just got an update from Commanders Weather. They are confirming that we should see 15-20 knots starting tomorrow for the rest of the passage.

The swabbie update: I bought a campervan! It’s a 1995 Ford Transit. It is newly remodeled so the bed has never been slept on and the upholstery is brand new. Also, new and never used are the shower and porta-potty. It has a double to queen-sized bed, a sink, two-burner stovetop, shower, porta-potty, mini refrigerator, microwave, storage under the bed and beneath a small couch and a table mounts in the middle for eating. As with most campervans, it is diesel with nice bucket seats and a Kenwood stereo. It is taller than a normal car but width wise it fits in a normal parking space. The exchange rate made the price in US dollars only $7550. I had to tell you all about the perks first. Otherwise, if you only heard the price, you would have thought I bought a real junker. The man I bought it from is in his mid- to late 70’s and reminds me of my grandpa. He’s SO nice. That’s why I felt guilty when I nearly killed him. Remember, I have been living on a boat the last two years AND they drive on the opposite side of the road here. During the test drive, he grabbed the wheel more than once, asked if I had driven before (at all), asked if I knew how to drive a stick and inquired about my intent to purchase insurance. He giggled and laughed along with Wendy and myself but I could see he was a bit concerned for us. Wendy has also bought a campervan. We’ll keep our room in the city until Saturday to finish her purchase transaction. We need access to internet, fax and phone to do that. We’ll pick up my campervan Saturday morning and drive north to meet the hubbies. Jim should arrive about Tuesday.

Stay tuned for more updates!

The weather yesterday was good. We sailed most of the day. We had the spinnaker (light wind sail, very large) up for a while but the wind went behind us so we went wing-on-wing. Then the wind shifted 180 degrees which allowed us to do 7knots on a beam reach. We have not seen over 12 knots of wind since we left, unfortunately. We motored most of the night and still are now.

We have been eating okay. I just made biscuits for breakfast. They were good. I made the pre-packaged pasta from the Dancing Rooster (a Tongan restaurant) last night. That didn’t work out so well. The pasta had thawed so it turned into a sticky mess. I boiled the hunk but most of the pasta fell apart. I was going to put a red sauce on it but that would have totally made it look like road kill. Dave and I ate some and it tasted fine but it looked like crap. We are going to have chicken with pasta tonight.

The only other boat around us is Little Wing. They are 60 miles behind us. There are a number of boats leaving Minerva Reef today including Steve (Tiffany’s roommates’ husband). They are 93 miles away and will have intersecting courses. We will probably get close to some of the boats. We are now about 90 miles south east of Minerva. Meridian, Tin Soldier and several other boats are leaving Tonga today. They will be 2 days behind us.