Archive for the ‘New Zealand’ Category

Searching for a guy named Mary …

Searching for a guy named Mary …

Several people told us we should stop in the town of Whangarei (pronouced Fangaray) on our way north as many yachties get their boats repaired there before sailing to Opua. Opua is the marina closest to the Bay of Islands many boats will be departing for the South Pacific. While in Whangarei we got to […]

Crew Available

Crew Available

How are we going about finding a boat to take us to the South Pacific? First we have to let as many people as possible know that we are available to crew and want to go to the islands. We have registered on all the crewing and sailing websites. We roam marina docks and ask […]

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

It is common practice these days that I enjoy an ice cream lunch. My new favorite ice cream is New Zealand made Kapiti raspberry vanilla ice cream covered in white chocolate (not real chocolate says the Swiss who is a bit of a chocolate snob : ) ) YUM YUM!

Counting Sheep in Tawharanui

Counting Sheep in Tawharanui

Photos of the week: Adorable sheep in Tawharani National Park. Twaharanui Regional Park is an open sanctuary with lush green farmland running along an awesome coastline.  It is a great place to camp and hike among Kiwi wildlife. I couldn’t decide which photo was better to be “photo of the week” … which do you […]

Surf’s Up in Raglan

Surf’s Up in Raglan

Raglan is a laid back surfer town located on the west coast of the New Zealand’s north island. It’s a great place to kick back and relax for a few days. Manu Bay is a popular spot for surfers. Thomas went kitesurfing but I was still too sore with my bruised rib to go out […]

Manu Bay – Raglan, NZ

Manu Bay – Raglan, NZ

Photo of the week: Manu Bay in Raglan New Zealand … surfers paradise

Thermal Therapy

Thermal Therapy

I mentioned a few posts back about an accident I had on a boat that resulted in me injuring my rib area. A week after the incident I was still in such pain that it hurt to sneeze. laugh, or lay on my side. I decided to go to a doctor (NZ has an excellent […]

Coromandel Peninsula

Coromandel Peninsula

Photo of the week: Coromandel Peninsula is a sparsely populated wild stretch of coastline on the North Island of New Zealand. It has evidence of some of the earliest Maori settlement in New Zealand. According to legend the Maori first arrived on the peninsula around the 10th century A.D. Beautiful.

Octopus … my new ride/home in NZ

Octopus … my new ride/home in NZ

Getting around in New Zealand can be challenging, especially when you are traveling with heavy and bulky kitesurfing gear. Public transport is limited outside of the bigger cities and not accessible to most of the places we want to visit. We needed our own wheels to explore the beautiful North Island at our leisure. From […]

Rum Racing

Rum Racing

Mount Gay Rum Race occurs every Friday at Westhaven Marina in Auckland. Thomas and I invited our new friend Jen from Idaho to join us in our attempts to get on a boat and participate in the sailing race. We walked along the dock asking if anyone had room for us on their boat and […]

Sailing 101 on the Wild Goose

Sailing 101 on the Wild Goose

Learned something new today … In an effort to gain sailing experience Thomas and I went out to sea for a few days with Wild Goose Sailing Expeditions. We sailed from Waiheke and surrounding small islands to Auckland. Australian Captain Jamie and his partner Lisa along with Tane (the baby on board) live on the […]

My new kite!

My new kite!

I bought my first kite at KBA (Kiteboarding Asia) in Thailand at a much cheaper price than I could have bought anywhere else in the world. I bought my board second hand in New Zealand through trademe.co.nz. The seller was a local Kiwi who surprised me by selling me the board for $50 less than the final […]