Thursday 3rd November
We have spent the past two days reminiscing about when Cindy was last onboard sailing Vanuatu and to Brisbane. Yesterday we went ashore and walked one of the tracks on the island.
Every day we try to get one maintenace job done. Today’s job was to replace a D-Shackle on the stay sail furler. Andrew had seen it had broken when up the mast doing his regular checks of the rigging.
Andrew and Cindy are back into their routine of massaging each other on an evening to try to get rid of some of the aches and pains.

Tuesday 1st November
Today started at 12.30am with the airline website showing Cindy’s flight was on time. Andrew who had been staying near the airport went to pick her up. He arrived at 1am to find the flight was delayed. Cindy eventually appeared at 3.30am.
They returned to Chris’s (Sue’s sister) and slept till 9.30 am. They picked up some groceries on their way to Imagine. After lunch we hauled anchor and we headed off to Kauwau Island for a few days.

Saturday 22nd October
We have been busy but haven’t done a lot. We have been down south to see dad and sister. Back on the boat it’s been more repairs as the ordered parts start arriving. Fixing doors, pumps, mainsail car, toilet roll holder, the list goes on.
We met Sally, a lady that may join us as crew in the future. It’s just over a week untill Cindy joins us for a month. Cindy is an American that has sailed with us pre COVID and loved us so much she is coming back for more!

Wednesday 12th October
Yesterday we went ashore and had coffee and lunch with Chrissy (sisterinlaw) and Chris (Sue’s sister) drove up from Papatoetoe to join us for lunch and to give us a wonderful welcome home package.
The part had arrived for Fred (the auto pilot), so this morning Andrew took Fred apart. Inserting new steel pins into the clutch mechanism, the surgery went well. A couple of short tests shows the patient has recovered to full working order.

Monday 10th October
We have made our way down the coast stopping at Whangarei for the night. Yesterday we stopped at Kauwau island as it had the most sheltered bays from the north easterly winds and swell. This morning we had a pod of three dolphins come in the bay and swim alongside of Imagine.
This afternoon we set sail for Whangaparaoa, just a short trip away. We knew the swell and wind would get into Tindells beach but it all dies down tomorrow for a couple of days.

Friday 7th October
We got the laundry done and a bit of shopping before leaving Paihia for shelter.
It wasn’t enough being cooler in NZ than OZ, they had to throw a polar blast at us. We were just thinking that it wasn’t too bad during the day when the sun was out. Then the southerly hit. We thought we would have to get up in the morning and shovel the snow off the deck. Well, not quite that cold.
Now it’s passed and hopefully it will start warming up. We will have an easterly from tomorrow so we are going to set off to Auckland. We will probably stop at Whangarei for the night on the way.

Monday 3rd October
The weather got us again. We didn’t get to go ashore and do the laundry. The predicted lull in the weather didn’t happen so we had to go seek shelter for the week.
Paradise Bay was sheltered but it didn’t look much like paradise with the rain bucketing down.
There is supposed to be another break in the weather for the next two days, so we are giving Paihia another go. We have to be out of here by Wednesday as there is another storm coming towards the end of the week. After that it looks like we may be able to do a run to Auckland.

Tuesday 27th September
The swell is still over 2.5m so we have decided to stay here in the Bay of Islands for another week or so. Not having a working autopilot at the moment (parts on the way) we are opting to be fair weather sailors, especially as we don’t have to be in Auckland just yet.
Sue as the international Laundromat critic is going to check out the Paihia laundromats tomorrow as our few winter clothes need deorderising.
We also need some groceries.

Monday 26th September
For the past 8 days we have been in paradise, Paradise Bay that is. Most of the time we have had the bay to ourselves, but being a long weekend others wanted their slice of paradise.
The weather has been nice, during the day it has been warm when out of the wind. Definitely not jump off the boat and have a swim weather although some of the people on the other boats (particularly those with kids) have taken some quick dips. 13° water temperature, we think we’ll give it a miss for a while. At night it’s been cold and we have used the heater most nights for an hour. That’s enough to keep the boat warm most of the night.
Overnight the wind has swung around to the east and has got up high, so we will wait till it drops off a little and may set off tomorrow for Whangarei then Auckland.

Tuesday 20th September
Sunday we headed across the Bay of Islands to a sheltered bay on the North side. By the time we had reached this bay we were in 15kt winds, but as we entered the bay there was hardly a ripple on the water. We thought we would be well protected against the coming winds.
Yesterday it hit us. We don’t know what the winds were outside but in this sheltered bay the wind coming over the hill was gusting over 30kts. This continued well into the night, pulling Imagine back and forth on the anchor. All we could do in this cold temperature was the light the heater, making it nice and warm while we watched movies.
This morning the wind had subsided and only the rain affected us. We are certainly glad we weren’t still crossing the Tasman.
There seems to be a westerly developing on Friday, so then we will make a run to Auckland if it develops. In the meantime tomorrow we will find another bay to have a look at and shelter in.