Whangerei from the mast top

Passage prep time again so up the mast to check things out ... and of course take some pictures ...

Visits and Visiting in New Zealand

Despite our short time in New Zealand we have been fortunate to have both sets of Grandparents visit as well as my cousin Caroline and her husband Jamie.

Whangarei Falls with my parents.

Checking out the caves with my parents.

Granny and Grandpa and the kids.

Benjamin in the park beside the boat with Grampy

To the Bird Sanctuary with Grammy

Surfs Up (sort of)

Johnanthan and I climb to get a view over a beach near Whangarei

Victoria taking Grampy for a row.

Johnathan out in Trickle

Yoga on the board.

The Fleet !

Not only did we get visitors we also go to go visiting a little bit.  One of the treats was to visit the sculpture Carin Wilson, a friend of Jamie and Caroline, at his amazing art studio on a mountain top.  We enjoyed the view and company but the kids I think especially enjoyed working in the workshop with "Uncle" Jamie.

The view from the studio

And, most importantly, the workshop with Uncle Jamie !

Relaxing in the serenity of Caroline and Jamie's house.

Glassblowing and Slingshots

A busy "day off" a few Sundays ago ...  Victoria has been watching the local glassblower working almost every day.  They only offer lessons for adults but after a few weeks Keith the glassblower came by to see if Victoria would be interested .. silly question ...

A few photos from her hours in the workshop.

Victoria glass blowing

Victoria shaping the glass

Preparing to add colour

Shaping

Heating the glass

Safety First - Relax and Stay Calm ...

Preparing to shape the glass

Oops - stopped spinning for second

Smoothing the colour

Grinding the next day

The finished products ! 

Meanwhile, Johnathan and I checked out his new slingshot earned for finishing a big section of math.  No ducks were harmed in the process.

Benjamin had fun playing with Grammy and Grammpy in the park ...  No slingshots for him yet.

Ha ha

Victoria writing up a report, with diagrams, of the glass blowing workshop.  Fluenta in the background - the Canadian flag is just visible.  Benjamin is of course helping ...

Life Raft Service

Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance ...  we try to do as much of our maintenance ourselves as possible but not may options when it comes to life raft servicing.  Thankfully our liferaft only needs scheduled servicing every three years but, shock and horror, three years are almost up.

We had a great visit, if crazy expensive, to the life raft shop in Auckland.  We had a chance to see our liferaft inflated and check out the contents of the pack up.  We also added a PLB and a spare pair of glasses to the emergency pack.

I guess we fit !

Show and tell

Testing the rations

Volvo Ocean Race - Auckland Visit

Life has been busy onboard with boat maintenance and home schooling but ... Still time to get out and play a bit.  The Volvo Ocean Race was in town in Auckland so we headed down for a visit combined with a chance to visit my cousin Caroline and her husband, Jamie, and some boat logistics.

No, alas they wouldn't take us out sailing in the big boats ...

But the kids got to helm the simulator ...

and take out the Toppers with a sailing coach

and try the grinding

and try the bunks in the mock up.

Victoria checking out the boat of her favourite team  - SCA

Pretty cool for fans of lego and boats - the SCA boat in lego !!

Their boats on the hard just like Fluenta at that time - but with a bigger support team.

Great quote

Thinking we need a pedestal onboard Fluenta

Volvo of course makes other things - Liz driving the excavator

Benjamin wishing he could drive the Volvo truck

Picture perfect Auckland.

And we finally caught up with Carol and Livia from Estrellita 5.10b.  Carol and I worked together at 443 (MH) squadron and they left to go cruising a few years ahead of us.

And a late departure from Auckland as stopping by to visit our friends on SV Nirvana resulted in a a few drinks and then dinner with this as the backdrop.