Between hikes our exercise consists of snorkeling – now that we have proper equipment it is all coming back quickly. Anouk is a certified dive instructor and keeps a sharp eye on us, so we are in good hands with our own private diving lessons. We will probably buy SCUBA tanks before the trip is over – it’s the end of the season here so maybe we’ll get some good buys. Definitely we will want dive gear when we go to the South Pacific this summer.

Our last day on Great Barrier we rented a car and drove around to the east side of the island which is exposed to the Pacific Ocean and not a good place for cruisers. I was the designated driver and it was a bit of a challenge as the roads wound around through the mountains with lots of blind curves – biggest problem is that they weren’t wide enough for two cars so it was always a bit of an adrenalin rush when we met oncoming traffic.  As they said in the tourist brochures, the island natives drive like God was on their side!

We toured a couple of pleasant seaside towns, found a nice cafe for lunch, and then spent the afternoon at a beautiful beach – there are lots of photos of that area starting with the sheep under the picnic bench, and also the wade through the estuary to get to the sand. There was only one other person on the entire beach and we had a lovely time.

Next morning we left the Great Barrier and sailed back to the mainland to a small port town north of Auckland called Tutukaka. We have spent two nights here and this afternoon we will head further north up the coast towards the Bay of Islands.

Yesterday we met up with Amy Bankoff. For those of you who don’t know her, Amy is formerly from the Phoenix area, a junior rider who used to show the Cross Creek horses for me about five years ago.  She has emigrated to New Zealand and has been here for about 2 1/2 years now and lives in this area.  Amy joined us for a sail about 13 miles off the coast to the Poor Knights Islands – considered one of the best five diving spots in the world (according to Jacques Cousteau).  Amy is four months pregnant and we pounded through some pretty rough waves, so her triip out wasn’t too much fun as she definitely wound up seasick.  We almost turned back, but she said no…good thing because the Poor Knights turned out to be a great experience. We anchored in the lee of the island out of the wind and waves and went snorkeling – the water was spectacularly clear – you could stand on the deck of the boat and look down into the water and see fish (thousands) 50 feet below the surface. The diving was really beautiful. Also there is a huge cave, so we motored into it with our dinghy for a look around.  The cave has great acoustics and I understand every year they hold a concert inside – with the band playing from a boat and the audience circling about in their own boats!

The sail back to Tutukaka from Poor Knights was much more comfortable – Amy recovered nicely and met us for dinner at a fun funky restaurant called Snappa Rock in the harbor where it turns out she had bartended the first six months she lived in New Zealand.

This morning we are doing laundry, changing the oil (engine, generator and transmission), checking the internet, shopping and in other words, just catching up on real life.  We’re out of here at noon and it may be several more days before we get back with the next installment of photos and an update.