So, we’re in Auckland for a few days before our flight home for the holidays.

Yesterday, we had a nice time walking down to the waterfront and people watching.

Today we had the very good fortune of being shown around by our friends on Mariposa (the ketch, not the cat), Kerri and Andrew. She the Kiwi, he the Brit/South African and now living in NZ. They picked us up at our hotel and spent the day showing us some great places we would never have found on our own. In particular the extraordinary views from Waitakere Ranges and the Gannet rookery at the Muriwai Beach. Gannets are similar to the Albatross. They are huge and graceful (in flight) birds. Quite a bit less so when landing. The rookery was amazing as was seeing these great birds glide along just a few feet away from us standing on the cliff. Spectacular.

We finished the day at my favorite pub downtown, the Belgian Beer Hall. Great Belgian beer on tap as well as dozens more available in the bottle. Amazing food as well. As a bonus, Ann and I also learned some of the nuances of Cricket. There was a test match between Australia and GB on the TV and Andrew, having grown up in GB, was able to take us through the game. We learned about how to score, defend, bowl (that’s the same as pitching for us yanks-sort of) and how the most vicious players wear masks so they won’t be able to bite anyone. Tough sport, Cricket. There would probably be a lot of blood if it weren’t for those masks. And I thought rugby was rough!

Tomorrow, we tour the Aukland Maritime Museaum, then it’s off to the airport in the afternoon for our evening flight. We’ll be back in the US Monday morning local Calif time.

Packing and getting Charisma ready to “rest” for a couple months.

Doing stuff like getting the sails to the sailmaker for maintenance, emptying the on-deck fuel and water jugs, pickle the watermaker, service the batteries, and more last minute stuff to go on a checklist for when we leave.

One of the folks who live here on the dock is going to watch Charisma, start the engine weekly, check the bilge, etc while we’re gone.

We’ve had a great week transitioning from cruising to touring as we wait out the tropical cyclone season in New Zealand. I can’t think of a better place to be. We’ve hiked up Mt Parahaka twice (Ann did it thrice) and caught up with friends we’ve met here (too many to name).

At the end of the week, we’ll take a bus to Aukland where we have a hotel for two nights before getting on Air New Zealand for the ride back to SFO. A couple months in California, then back to NZ to “land cruise” the south island for a month, followed by boat work (can you say “varnish”?) and we’ll be ready again to set sail. Not sure where yet, but probably back up to Fiji to revisit some of the wonderful people and places we met and found this year.

We’ll keep the blog going because we’re used to doing that and no doubt will have some fun to share, so come back! It just won’t be every day. More like weekly.

One of the fun things about being at Riverside Marina is the Sunday night BBQ.

Everyone who is living on a boat in the marina or the boatyard shows up as do a few other folks who know about the secret. It’s just a good time. There were probably 25-30 folks present from more than a half a dozen different countries, all up for some camaraderie. The deal is – you bring your own main course to BBQ as well as a shared dish. We BBQ’d fresh corn in the husk from the Saturday Farmer’s Market and I made turkey soup that we shared. Ann also made her famous chocolate brownies. There were a lot of “oohs” and “ahhhs” when she showed up with the still warm brownie dish.

Afterwards we retired to Charisma and had a game of cards with Ken and Beth from Eagle’s Wings. Aside from being severely beaten (but not at all bitter) I am very embarrassed to say that Beth exposed herself at a particularly emotional part of the game as she was beginning to lose her (substantial) lead. It was, I’m sure, a very stressful moment as she watched her lead dwindle to a bare few points. Did I say “bare”? Well it was a close call. Bob gave her the dreaded tattoo “mana” by pulling up his sleeve and showing the magic Tiki on his arm to jinx Beth’s game. Beth, not a shrinking violet in any case, lept to her feet, ripped her shirt apart at the buttons with both hands pulling at each side, shouting something like; “Well, take that big boy!”.

Looking across the table in disbelief I noticed that Ken (her husband) had closed his eyes tightly in shock not yet completely comprehending the chaos that may have ensued. However, and much to the relief of all concerned, Beth (the aforementioned almost stripper) in fact had another shirt on under the one that she so wantonly pulled out to its furthest extent.

All present were greatly relieved by the concept of layers to provide warmth and as it turns out protection from exposure. Too much giggling by all…