Yesterday Cam and Craig headed out to Hartland to hit up some jumps they'd been wanting to try. Craig's friend Gord came along with his camera and mad shooting skills. He captured all these great shots below. I think it's time I got the camera out there too!
On Wednesday we got up early and drove an hour or so north to Opua, where our sailboat awaited us. The Mystique IV was docked, waiting patiently for us to climb aboard and steer her into the Bay of Islands.
This was our basic route through the Bay of Islands. Of course there were more twists and zig-zags, but red is day one, blue is day two, green is day three:
Day one was a calm day... so we didn't catch much wind and I was definitely feeling the swells :( But we sailed to a big sunny beach for some shell collecting.
Can you see Dad in the pic below??
The Mystique IV:
We were also surrounded by characters.
Sometimes you just gotta let it all out:
The whole beach was full of gorgeous shots...
We sailed over to Otehei Bay for the night. Kylie decided to row our little dinghy, Dorothy, to shore.
Then we left her there.
Ha, no we couldn't lose her, she cooked our dinners!
She didn't stay long on shore, since the tide was coming in.
After a pleasant night in Otehei Bay, we had a nice little breakfast in our tiny kitchen (the stove even made toast underneath!)
... and we watched the sunrise before heading out for some more sailing.
We sailed out into the main part of the Bay. We were the only sailboat out there, and Dad said all the other sailboats anchored in the surrounding bays would be watching us as they sipped their coffees to see how much wind we were getting. So he made us all sit on one side of the boat to make it tilt more and look like we had really good wind!
Kylie and I took turns sailing... she looks like an old pro!
Meanwhile, Dad never took his hand off the rudder for me!! Oh well, I'm a rookie.
Eventually the wind really picked up, and boy, did we ever have fun ...
At the end of day two, we anchored in Pipi Bay, a popular little nook. Unfortunately, our female neighbour in the boat pictured below enjoyed long topless swims. So Kylie and I call it Titty Bay now!
But we did have some more polite neighbours... a wee penguin!!
Day three also had great wind. We sailed around and eventually anchored at Russell Island for lunch. A sailboat from Alaska even cruised by! What a long journey that would be...
Russell Island is all beach and grass on one side, and a hidden lagoon on the other. Kylie and I had a great time exploring.
Soon it was time to lift anchor and head for home. As we were making our way back towards Opua, we cruised right through a pod of dolphins. It was absolutely incredible. Man, can those guys really speed through the water! They were hard to catch on the camera.
And then, magically, one was just 10 feet off the back of our boat:
What a fantastic farewell to our sailing adventure in the Bay of Islands, where my Dad grew up on sailboats. I loved seeing how familiar the place was to Dad. He knew all the best spots like the back of his hand.
We sailed peacefully back to Opua, just as the skies started to cloud over for the first time in three days.
I spent last week visiting my granny in New Zealand. Dad, Kylie and I were fortunate to have second cousin Liz and her French husband, Nico, as our hosts in Auckland after we landed. They took us up some of the local volcanoes (yes, volcanoes!) in Auckland. The volcanoes are lush with vegetation and grass and there are even sheep and cows grazing on them! Not to mention a ton of rabbits... felt like Uvic all over again :)
This was the view from the top of One Tree Hill... which is now more like One Obelisk Hill.
Kylie viewing the Obelisk at the top of One Tree Hill.
Nico, Dad, Kylie, Liz and Baboosh. Nico is going to give me some contacts of his family in France for our trip in October. Meeting up with locals is the best way to see a country for sure!
A volcano crater in the centre of Auckland. It's deeper than it looks! Of course, I thought about Cam and how he'd love to play around here....
After a brief visit in Auckland, we drove the crazy winding roads north to Whangarei, where most of the immediate family is living.
Dad had booked us this cute little cottage for the week (two weeks for him and Kylie).
Dad and me at the wharf in Whangarei.
And of course we visited Granny... it was her birthday on Tuesday so we brought her some fleurs, though flowers seemed to be overtaking the estate she's living at!
Whangarei falls was just a short walk from our cottage and the estate where Granny lives.
Birthday drinks at a local pub with the whole fam-dam. I loved the NZ beer...
She hasn't changed much over the years! Still gorgeous.
Cousin Bridget, myself, cousin Amy, Kylie.
A candid group shot...
This photo is just for Mum... Kylie and I were shocked how much like Lance looks like Dad when Dad was his age! This was a photo taken before Dad left on his epic Europe & Africa travels.
Granny and her father were very close.
New Zealand - Part 2 will cover our three-day sailing adventure! Sailing is a big part of this side of the family.
