NZ 2

The family photo!  Complete with family dog!

Oops!
Coming home one evening in the dark and the rain, we were hit by a German couple in a Maui camper van, who got confused which side of the road they should be driving on.  The poor Toyota was written off, Daryl ended up in hospital with a large gash on his neck, and our friend and driver, Jan Marie also needed attention for shock.  But, hey, we are all good now and it all could have been a lot worse.

Honey and I both looked forward to our early morning walks together,  she was learning to come when called,

and I could let her off the lead to run around and explore.

Daryl and Victor, our architect are working on the plans for our house.                                                                  

So at the beginning of February we headed to Sydney to have a couple of days with Daryl's daughter and then headed back to the boat in Florida.

Home in New Zealand for six months

I have been rather lazy in the last few months, but here is an update for those of you who are still interested in what we are up to.
I got back to New Zealand in August last year, after visiting my family in Malta.  Daryl and Jay did some more work on the boat and then made their way home, stopping in Cambodia for a break on the way.  I had arranged a birthday party for Daryl's 70th, and when they missed a flight,  they only just made it home in time for it!

Back to Kerikeri and the wonderful scenery.  Just a short walk from the house in the famous Stone Store.

The garden looked a bit wintery when we arrived, but soon everything started to blossom, like these roses.                

One day, Daryl had the bright idea of fostering a dog temporarily from the SPCA,  so we went along to see the selection there.  We decided that we could do the most good by choosing the dog that needed us most, and here is a picture of 'Honey' when we first saw her.
She was scared of her own shadow, but we reckoned we lots of love, attention and some training, she would make a wonderful family dog.

Malta

I left Daryl, Jay and the boat in St Augustine, Florida and flew to England.  Having spent a few days there, I headed to Malta for my annual trip to visit my Mum, sister and family.

Mum is 93 now and in good spirits, usually at about 6pm, when it is time for a drink!  We chatted away the two weeks I was there and caught up on all the news together.

My sister, Jane, is mad about horses and so loved all the space that her new place has.  This photo is taken from the roof of the house and you can see that the horses have plenty of room in the paddock, but it is August here and so there is little greenery for them to chew on.

Having so much space, Jane ofter looks after dogs when their owners go away on holiday.  There are no kennels and the dogs enjoy running around the garden freely.  They often do not want to go home!

The maltese language is amazing, this truck belongs to Sean, who helps Jane with the building work at the farmhouse.  It basically says that he does all types of building work with stone.  'Gebel' are stones!  It's pretty hard to pronounce too!

Jane was the first woman in Malta to race trotters and still owns one now.  So before I left the island, she took me for a ride around the local countryside in the 'charetta'.  It was a wonderful trip out and we stayed out until it was just about dark.  

The last supper before I left to head back to New Zealand and a bit of time in our house there.

Daryl and Jay are also on their way back, but decided to have a break on the way and are spending some time in Bangkok and Cambodia.  Having worked so hard on the boat together, they wanted a bit of a break, instead of heading directly home.  So we shall meet up there.

St Augustine, Florida

We head north to St Augustine.  Jay has been helping out in a gallery here, gaining a bit of experience in the retail side of the art business.  He certainly looks the part!

Meanwhile, back on the good ship 'No Rehearsal', we are having a refit.  Lots of things on the list, new generator, engines, water maker, and the list goes on.  We have decided to head south to Panama next year and into the Pacific and so we want the boat to be all up together for that.  Exciting time ahead, and we are really looking forward to the next adventure.
  Here is Daryl chipping up the old teak and it will be replaced by new.

Our new Northern Lights generator is now fitted and working a treat.                                                                         

Jay is now back on the boat and helping us with the jobs.   We are replacing all the ceilings on the boat, the surfaces need to be sanded for the silicone to adhere well.

Hard work, but look great when they are done.                                                                                                                 

Time out to celebrate the 4th July and watch the fireworks over the bay with friends from the gallery.                          

A great day for me!  Decided to replace the old 3kg washing machine with a larger 6kg one! Measured the cupboard about ten times before ordering and it fit like a dream.   No more taking heavy bags to the local laundry in future, I shall be able to do it all on board.  Such a luxury, and the new water maker, soon to be installed, will easily cope with the extra demand on water. 

Isn't she beautiful!!!!
Well, it has to be a her hasn't it?


So, I am off to England tomorrow 2nd July and then on to Malta to see my family for a couple of weeks.  Ending up in New Zealand on the 27th August.  So lots of travelling ahead.
Daryl and Jay are staying on, and lifting the boat on Monday, carrying on the good work for a couple more weeks, before heading off.                                                                                                                                                        

The Berry Islands

So left Nassau and sailed to The Berry Islands, keen to meet up with some other cruisers we had not seen for a while.

Annie and Liam from 'Gone with the Wind' crossed the Atlantic at the same time as we did.   It was great to catch up with them and chat about our travels in the last two years since we last shared a bottle of wine together!

Another wonderful sunset, with 'Wyuna', Gina and Bruce in the foreground and 'Gone with the Wind' behind them.

A dingy ride up the river to spot the turtles, we only spotted a couple, but it was fun motoring through the mangroves on the lookout.

Lunch at 'Flo's',  over rated and over priced, but the company was good.                                                                       

Daryl playing dead with one of the local mutts on one of the islands, supposedly part owned by Shakira, the pop star!

There's nothing to beat a good G and T at the end of the day!  And Liam was mixing some rather strong ones, while the barman prepared us some excellent conch cerviche.
 
Then it is time to say 'Goodbye' to our friends and start to head north to St Augustine.  The work is piling up and the list is getting longer, so time to head to the shipyard for some hard work.                                                                                      

Nassau

So, we say Goodbye to Puerto de Vito and head north, back to the Ragged Islands and then the chain of Exumas.

Back in Georgetown, Jay volunteers to repair a sail for our friends on 'Taipan', an Australian couple that wanted to head off to Florida and then pulled the clew out of their headsail.  Good to keep his hand in!

So Jay left us and flew to Florida from here.  Sad to see him go, but he needs to get on with his life, we shall meet up with there in a couple of months.

At the Palm Cay Marina in Nassau.  We are cruising with 'Wyuna', Gina and Bruce, and 'Liberty Blue', Olivia, Alexis, Iris and Hugo.  Here we are celebrating Gina's birthday with a round of Mojitos, just any excuse for a drink really!

Back in the land of Starbucks.                                    

In the evening we went to the old part of Nassau to have a walk around and then had a fabulous meal at Cafe Matisse.  A lovely treat for our 12th wedding anniversary.

Cuba 2

Driving around the countryside, and loving the scenery.

Stopped to chat with the sugar cane harvesters and sample their produce.  It is cut each year and the re-seeds itself for the next year.

A typical farmer's cottage.  They make some wonderful fences out of cacti and trim  them to size, very ingenious.     

The courtyard inside one of the beautiful old houses in Havana                                                                                    

And of course all the old cars in Havana, here's a whole row of them, a taxi line. waiting for the tourists to come ashore from the cruise ship.

Trinidad, one of the must see old towns in Cuba.  Very pretty, but full of visitors and noise and dirt.  We stayed a day and then high tailed it back to the civilisation of the city!

In Havana there is a huge renovation project underway and in one of the squares each reformed building had a sign showing old and new.  It will all be beautiful when they are finished.

We stayed in a 'casa particular' in a suburb of Havana called Vedado.  The family was wonderful and we usually had a drink with them in the evenings, excellent Mojitos.

And last of all, it was hard to miss the face of 'Che Guevara' on so many of the walls all over Cuba and signs supporting the revolution everywhere.
A great place to visit with so much history and culture to absorb, have bought a book on the history and will try and educate myself!