Our cruising adventures begin! We’ve had great weather and quite a variety of activities to keep us busy. We flew to New Zealand from Tucson via LAX)  and arrived Saturday morning. From the airport we headed straight to Gulf Harbour where Raven awaited us. The day was spent getting settled on board – unpacking suitcases, stowing our belongings, and adjusting to the dramatic change in time zone. New Zealand is 19 hours ahead of Tucson and we lost an entire day during our flight. But we’ll get it back on our way home-).

So far we’ve had great weather and quite a variety of activities to keep us busy. The morning after our arrival we took care of a few more chores and errands, and then we set sail for Great Barrier Island which is about 40 miles east of the mainland. That took most of the rest of the day – we anchored in Whangaparapara Harbor and took the dinghy ashore for a quick look around and a short exploratory walk – saw our first Kaka which is a native parrot, mostly brown in color.

Over the next few days we sailed from Whangaparapara to Smokehouse Bay where the yachties (New Zealand term) can do their laundry onshore in the provided washtubs and wringers. There is also a fire you can fuel yourself with firewood to heat up water for a hot bath – photos in the gallery. I think I will stick to Raven’s nice hot water shower and forget the communal tub! However our washer/dryer aboard the boat currently doesn’t work – so Anouk did do some scrubbing in the wash tubs and hung the laundry out to dry on Raven’s lifelines!

We took a short steep hike from Smokehouse Bay to a high spot with great view – lots of huffing and puffing and good aerobic exercise. Good thing, though – because it turned out next on the itinerary was a serious hike to the highest point on the island – Mt. Hobson. We were promised a great view at the top, but a drizzly wet cloud settled in and instead we got a pretty good soaking and no view at all. The accomplishment was worth it however – the highest point on Great Barrier Island, some 3000 feet above sea level. The last bit to the summit was a seemingly endless staircase (800 steps – Carol counted) courtesy the Department of Conservation. The wet conditions added to the challenge as the track was slippery, especially in the steep places of which there were many! You can see Mike was grateful to make it all the way to the top!  We gobbled our sandwiches as our reward, quickly before the bread got soggy, and headed down again.

The hike took 8 hours round trip and involved some talented clawing our way up steep (and slippery) gulleys, pulling ourselves up by tree roots! I know my fitness level went up a good notch or two after that, and the entire hike I kept thanking Mary Ann and Fitness Together for the workouts, as I could definitely feel those exercises kicking in and saving me from falling down the hillside.

Home again, all in one piece – for a delicious dinner of wine (lots), salad, cheese and crackers – and then early to bed. High fives all around though, for having finished quite a challenge in good shape.