Thu, 18 Apr 2002
Greetings Everyone!!!
Realize that many of you haven’t heard from us in a while but yes we are still alive and doing well out here in “tomorrow land” (New Zealand). It’s always a bit strange to call home and have it be Friday here but only Thursday there.
New Zealand has been great and we have been having a blast. Did some actual cruising around the Bay of Islands when we first got here in December and even went up the coast for a week to Whangaroa which is much more quit and fewer boats. While we were there we had numerous dinners of BBQ’ed oysters. It was awesome!!! We even “scratched around for some cockles and pipis for a feed or two” (digging for calms). When we returned back to the Bay of Islands a few days before Christmas things were in full swing for the Christmas holidays with people everywhere in their boats. Lots of people camping on some of the islands with wonderfully colourful multi-room tents. Some of our cruising friends had shied away from the holiday madness but we rather enjoyed sharing in it and seeing what it was all about. Anchorages would sometimes fill up with almost 130 boats at night but everyone would generally head out the next day and then sometimes return to the same anchorage that night. Kiwis are not afraid to anchor. It was different having Christmas breakfast and dinner in the Southern Hemisphere but having fresh strawberries and asparagus was certainly a treat.
We arrived in Auckland around the middle of January and quickly got hooked up with a boat to do the Friday Night Rum Races. The races are so named as prizes are bottles of rum. Have been sailing on an Elliott 16 (53 feet), great all out racer called Hydroflow that is all made out of carbon. Has been lots of fun, even though the Friday Night races are more casual and no spinnakers.
It has been fun to be in Auckland while the Volvo 60 Around the World boats where in town and very exciting to be able to be out at the first turning mark when the boats restarted. It’s one thing to see them on television and quite another to see them up close and personal and to be able to almost feel the power of them as they came reaching past. We have also enjoyed see all of the America’s Cup boat going out and coming back from practice and to walk by the syndicates on our way to and from the marine stores. Recently some of the new boats have been showing up which has been interesting to see.
We have been staying at Bayswater Marina which is just across from downtown Auckland and a short ten minute ferry ride across. The ferry makes getting around much easier being independent as awe decided to not buy a car. In March Suzette’s parents visited and we headed off to show them familiar places such as the Bay of Islands and to explore many new places on the South Island. This is a great country with incredible beauty and lots to offer and great friendly people to meet along the way.
No one in our group went bungee jumping but Suzette and her mom took a jet boat ride that was really great and Paul did some luge runs and a tandem parachute flight off the mountain down in Queenstown, the home of adventure activities in New Zealand. Kiwi’s are very creative with ideas of different, exhilarating activities to take part in.
Our trip up the West Coast of the South Island was great with one of the highlights being a helicopter ride up and around the Fox Glacier. We were even able to land and get out and stroll around for 10 minutes at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. Incredible experience. The roads on the West Coast are a bit narrow and twisty but fun to drive. Lot of one lane bridges on the highway and some that you even shared with the train. Fortunately we never met any trains while crossing the bridges.
We are leaving Auckland today to start heading north again which is good as it is starting to get cold. We are actually sleeping with two blankets on the bed after over a year of just using a sheet and only sometimes at that. We will haul Altair out of the water on Monday to give her new bottom paint and check to make sure everything under the water line looks good. We will then provision and head back up to the Bay of Islands to see friends and do a few final tourist things. We plan to leave New Zealand around the middle of May and will head back up to Tonga for about a month, then on to a smaller island called Wallis and will spend most of the cruising season in Fiji of which we have heard many great things. The plan is to return to New Zealand in November and be here for the America’s Cup.
Some people have requested more photos. Several of our friends have web sites and as we have been travelling with them there are even photos of us. Check out www.svlayla.com click on “Adventures” then “Photos and Snippets” then “Niue” then “Honeymoon Shots” and you will see us. You can also see a photo of Paul (very small) sitting on top of an old WWII gun on Bora Bora if you go to “French Polynesia” then “WWII Gun Emplacements”. Then just play around their web site. We travelled with Layla in Bora Bora, Rarotonga, Niue and Tonga. You can also check out www.rainsong.net for other photos.
Hope this finds everyone well and happy. Please drop us a line as we would love to know what’s up with all of you.
Cheers – Suzette and Paul