Gulf Harbour, NZ
God, I suck at actually posting when I am home. I have lots to talk about so this is going to go in increments.
Trip to Vanuatu was good. We caught a few fish along the way including some of the smallest tunas I have ever seen which we threw back. Here is Ayla reeling in one (I finished for her as it was fighting pretty good). We got in at about 11:00 am on Thursday, about the same time the owner landed and spent the afternoon cleaning the boat in the nice bright sun.
Friday I took the day off to "see the island" while the others finished turning over the boat for the owners to move onto Friday afternoon. Unfortunately it poured pretty much all day so my plans sort of got screwed. I ended up going to the market and walking around town. The market was the best I had seen since South America. Tons of great veggies and fruit, fairly cheap, and all looked really good. I had a little kitchen in the room I was staying in, so I decided to buy some fruit (coconut, bananas, oranges, raspberries, & POMPOLMOUSE!) and make a great big fruit salad for lunch...it was fabulous.
I flew home early Saturday morning and was back in Auckland by late morning. My car battery was dead to the point of not being able to unlock the door so I had to wait around in the freezing cold for almost 2 hours for AA...not a great way to be welcomed back.
Work on the boat had progressed well in my absence and I returned home to an engine room fully painted and ready for insulation to be installed.
Since returning work on Visions has progressed, but a bit slower than I had hoped. Insulation has been installed and looks great and tomorrow most of the electrical equipment and furnace should get mounted on the walls and then the electricians can get in there late this week or early next and do the bulk of the re-wiring.
Meanwhile, I have been trying to make new friends and have started curling. The ice is pretty marginal as it is normally a hockey rink, but still lots of fun on a Sunday night.
I also headed to the beach in Piha, though the clouds rolled in on my drive there so it wasn't great weather wise. Still a beautiful point and I am sure amazing on a nice summer day.
