Hello All,
I just got back to Opua from Auckland a few hours ago. I took the bus up here and had a very nice trip. We had an awesome 3 day cruise down the coast on Curious. Steve picked some very nice anchorages to stay the night on the way down and also had a few lunch time anchorages. The Eastern coast was very nice with lots of bays to choose from. The weather could have been better but all in all was not to bad. We got to sail part of the time but had to motor a lot as the wind was almost on the nose. His boat sails to windward very well so we had the main up most of the time just helping out. We arrived in Auckland on Friday morning and got the boat tied up at the downtown marina. We were surrounded by mega yachts of all shapes and sizes. Just to give you a clue the Auckland area has in upwards of 8000 boats in marinas or on moorings, it was a sight to be seen. They don't call it Sail City for nothing lol. We helped Steve get the boat all cleaned up and through the weekend got it ready for him to fly home to the UK for a month. Curious will be moored in Auckland till March sometime when they will return and cruise around NZ then back to the tropics.
On Saturday afternoon Nick off of the Compass Rose came down from Whangarei where his family has the boat parked. We met them in Pago Pago and have stayed in touch the last few months. Nick, Jon and I went out and had a few beers and had a nice visit. After being out most of the night I helped Nick find a back backing hostel to spend the night and Jon took off with a friend that has been living here in NZ from the Basque Country.
On Sunday Steve and I and Terje, his friend from the UK that helped him make the crossing down here met up with his stow away crew that he had in Fiji. Toby and Nicole are here visiting NZ for a week then heading back home to the UK.
I met up again with Nick on Sunday after coffee and we just hung out in town for a few hours. We both made reservations to take the bus back today so we got to hang out on the bus and visit to Whangarei where he got off and I continued to Opua.
Kaisa, my crew I brought down here made the trip with with us on Curious. She was a lot of fun to hang out with and Steve made her helmsman and navigator on the boat. She did an awesome job and we will meet up again when I get back from Alaska and hopefully get the boat out sailing. I think she is going to tour the South Island for a few months then I don't know.
Jon said he is coming back up here in a few days, to do, well, do what ever Jon does lol. His sister will be flying in before Christmas so they will be touring around for a few weeks.
That's all I know for now so I will talk to you soon and it's nice to be back home again.
P.S. If you're curious about Curious go to http://blog.mailasail.com/curious and you can see my ugly mug in the Tuamotu's in Toau, look for Paradise found....Again!
PEACE
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