We have been just cruising around for the last two weeks. When we left Gulf Harbour we headed out to Great Mercury Island. It was a lovely and idyllic spot. The weather was terrific. The island was quite small, there were sheep and cattle grazing all over. We were allowed to wander around so I went for big long walks through pasture land up and down hills. Barry came ashore with me and wandered the beaches finding agate and obsidian at one point. One day he even ventured up a hill and had an encounter with the Angus beef cattle that live there. I went swimming a couple of times, we had a super time.
We headed back to the mainland and visited some anchorages on the Cormandel Peninsula. We went and got groceries at that spot where we had lunch Mom, it was the furthest north we went on the west side of the peninsula. We met another Canadian boat is one anchorage and were invited for a birthday supper. In another spot we met a couple of retired NZ pharmacists that are addicted to boating and they had us over to their boat for a lovely meal. It was nice to finally meet and get to know some local boaters. At the moment we are circumnavigating Waheke Island. It is just north of Auckland, in the Hauraki Gulf and has become a fancy place to live, lots of people commute to Auckland daily to work. We are hoping there will be a internet spot on the other side of the island so I can post this and let you know that all is well.
We only have about a week left before we put the boat on the hard and get her ready for a year or more on her own. We have a friend that is going to look in on her once a week. We are planning on giving him our dinghy, which is on its last legs, as compensation. I hope he thinks that is a good deal. I am having nightmares about going back to the real world. The other night I dreamt we were moving into my grandfathers home, and we had all the furniture that we bought when we first moved to Saskatoon in 1980. It is truly amazing what your subconscious does. I am looking forward to seeing our family again, I can hardly wait.
