movie time

check out the video Kyle and Maya made with Jocelyn, Jenny( Malachi) Grant ( Wind Dancer) and Eiton ( Mintaka) - and local kids from the park. they had a great time, they did all the work, including editing, picking the music and all the computer tech stuff. good on them!! The link is on the side ,just click and let it load, it takes a minute................... Well worth it!!!

Surf's up!

We've had a busy week again, lots getting done to have us leave NZ soon! Provisions are mostly stocked......... scrub bottom and diesel are all that are left - we are doing the odd jobs while we wait for Graeme. Still have some stowing to do, but that will come. We have had the boat plugged into the dock (borrowed a trasformer from Meridian) for the last 24 hrs. so we could get a real good charge and eaualize the batteries. It has been great ! I have hot water from the tap
( that is a treat , has been a long time to have that, we normally boil the water in the kettle) so lots of showers on board today - and everyone has had their fill of the computer. the kids were allowed to play on line for over an hour each!! ( more like 2) - we give the tranformer back later today, but we have used the power well! for info- its 220v here and we are 110v that's why we need the transformer
We are getting anxious to leave, I miss being anchored out - and at the same time will miss all our wonderful friends who are continuing on to Fiji, ect.! we have a great bunch of cruisers out here.

Kyle and I went with our neighbors on Hanna , to the beach at 6:30am, yes that's correct 6:30 am- its cold at that time and dark , anyway I went swimming in the ocean and Kyle did some surfing! the water is warmer than the air and it was beautiful , what a way to start the day.

Why am I up so early? was I crazy?! NOpe- it was a great swim and loved the sunrise!!

Surfs up and the boys are out there! Kyle and Steve ( From Hanna)

sunrise at Sandy Beach , not far from Whangarei

the surfer boy! Kyles 2nd time out in the waves learning how to surf

Me ,my kids and the Malachi girsl went for a hike to find a cave with glowworms, found the cave and only 4 glow worms , but lots of wetas ( these are very big!! huge bugs) and we girls ran out of the cave. Kyle thinks we are a bunch of " Wooses" ya well, blah to you Kyle -haha

the cave - we think its an old mining cave. Kyle checked out all the chambers, it doesn't go in to far , very dark!

the hikers, Emma was not to thrilled , think there has been too many late nights!

yep , that's teenagers for you!! Nice faces, eh! have been a lot of birthdays happening!!

Grant ( wind dancer) 13th Birthday! kids all had fun

Music in Whangarei

Gleln and Sally came dowon from Opua to do music with Steve at "Frings" ( Steve has been jamming there every Wednesday night) But unfortuneately Gelen's sax wasn't working right so no music together. Glen put it in the shop and will try agian once its fixed. We had a great time hanging out and listening to Steve though!

Steve loves to play!

the boys trying to sort it out! missed having Glen jam with Steve
CHEESE!

Steve and Tracy ( Hanna), Sally and Charisma came to join us in the fun! Malachi also came and we were all bummed that Glen couldn't play!

we also did a Pre- Birthday party for Emma and friends since we will all be going seperate ways soon- I made the cake and fun was had by all, they made all kinds of craft creations and even the older kids came to join!

the one on the right is Emmas, she made a beautiful frame and clothes peg doll!

Social, Social, Social!!!

Oh my are we doing that here!!! Socializing to the max!! the girls at Revas! Nancy, Marilyn, Robin, Marg and Me - Dionne

We had a great time at the cruisers night at Reva's. lots of fellow boaters there. Candine's last one as they left on the Thursday. Hope to see them in Hawaii!

the Candine bunch - Austin,Chris, Chrissy, Tim

We went for a road trip to Opua to see The Dorothy Marie and Steve's boss from Sea Power.

Jay from Malachi - doing the fun job!!

On the way we did the boat yard tours! Stopped in Dockland 5 to see Malachi doing their bottom - also ran into Oddity ( met them in Minerva, they came for the Marlin feast) after we left and went to Norstand Boat yard to see Tin Soldier - Glen (Tin Soldier) doing the big job!!

they are a steel sailboat like us and are doing almost the same work we did a few years ago. ( they sandblasted the bottom and their deck! have the mast off and are re rigging it, and have been battleing the weather) do you all remember us doing that?!! Well I am feeding them tonight - oh we can so relate to all they are going through! We saw a few other boaters on the hard there as well. Still not sure what we are doing. we only need to clean our bottom. We may have scared ourselves away from the boatyards!!

Steve checking on the work, remembering a time with our boat!!

Anyway ,off we went to Opua, sure was neat to be there again!

Glen our dingy ride to The Dorothy Marie

Sally and Kyle on the ride back to their boat

Buddies to the end!! Me and Sally

We had great time with Glen and Sally - we sure miss them! They are our family here!! We are planning on going to Great Barrier Island with them as our last cruise until they come to BC. They are continuing on to Fiji. It will be very strange not to be on a passage with them.

After our visit ( way to short must see them again!!! We went to do a little shopping and poor Emma wiped out and scratched up her face! Not a fun thing.

We headed over to Bruce and Kris's ( Steve's boss from SeaPower in Opua) place for a BBQ dinner. What a beautiful view they have!! It was an excellent time, great food, fabulous people and a must see again before we leave.

Kris and Bruce from SeaPower Opua

and Skippy our favorite dog! He is just lovely, belongs to Kris and Bruce

this is what I look like when I am doing the blog , ( when all is going well, today I have had nothing but troubles - for some reason cut and paste are not working and I have had to drag everything into place, what a pain!! Hopefully , you will be able to click on the pictures and make them full screen - not sure, I have not made them smaller) sorry no picture of how I look now, it would scare you!!!!!

More fun in Town Basin!

The kids went on a camping trip overnight with another boat , Provider,they took 12 kids! They all had a good time- even got visited by 5 possums Maya on her way to the camping trip!
Once the kids got back, we were off with Wesly and Jacquie for a mystery tour and roast lamb dinner. Our mystery tour took us to Whau ( pronounced WOW) Valley Dam and then a petting zoo. the kids love that!Wesly and Jacque and Steve in the bunny cage. complete with doves and parachetes notice Steve's little friend in his hand! don't leave home without it.
these flowers reminded me of our lilacs- don't smell like them but kinda look like them. oh so pretty. I took lots of flower pictures , the pink one at the beginning of this post is my favorite. not sure what kind it is, if you know please tell me.
one of the many birds around! trivia what kind of bird is this?
just because you haven't seen enough sheep here in NZ!
-the kids loved this guy! We think its an Alpaca not a LLama - anyone know for sure?
Even Steve had fun feeding the animals! He loved to torment the goats!!

in the bunny cage, Kyle got to hold a rat, Maya a bunny and Emma a guinea pig that looked like the one she had in school called Cinnamon
Kyle's favorite - the Emu!! he spent a lot of time with this guy,eventually getting to pet himand the fabulous roat lamb !! we had a real traditional Kiwi dinner! complete with pavlova for desert.

just another day in Whangerei!!

Beads made by Dionne!! Can you tell I love blue?

We are doing all kinds of projects! getting the boat ready to set sail again. We have sold our kyack , the kids here are cleaning it. Steve is fixing up the sailing dingy and finishing up Orca III projects. We have been cleaning out every nook and cranny making room for all the food for the next couple of crossings. I am stocking up with as much as I can to avoid buying anything except fresh stuff in French Polynesia. also making room for Graeme! Along with that I have been making my own glass beads! I love it and Steve has already got a plan in mind for making me a studio once we get home! Kyle and Maya have been doing glass fusion - lots of fun!!

scrub scrub a dub dub! They are happily cleaning cause they make some money when its sold!

at the dock in Town Basin Marina - Whangerei Northland New Zealand

building away!! she is looking good, Maya is will be painting the name on it - wait and seeMaya loved the glass fusion class! she is very creative!
Kyle finishing up the final touches with a lesson from the teacher. He also is creative! But he wants to do glass blowing.

Annie Rose glass bead studio! this is where I create!

Maya's creation! ready to go into the kiln.

Oh I forgot to mention on the last post!! way to go Karen and her daughter Kiya, for getting the answer right - the chronometer is the thing it was!! they used that at sea many many years ago!