We arrived in the absolutely stunning Bay of Islands, New Zealand on Thursday at 1430h. If I have read the literature correctly there are some 130 islands in the bay, many with beautiful white sandy beaches, lots of coves and other places to anchor, miles of walking trails with waterfalls and some great snorkeling and diving.

Driving around on shore it reminds me of parts of Maine or other places in New England with quaint villages and one block towns. They say it is summer here, however I will wait until December 21st which is according to the travels of the Sun the official beginning of Summer. At the moment it feels like winter. It is cold as hell! How cold, you might ask, is that exactly. Inside the boat it is about 60°. Outside, since we arrived (until this morning) it has been raining and blowing like stink. Just outside the entrance to the bay a gale has been raging since the evening after we arrived. It has cleared out so the Sun is shining this morning and the wind is down and it feels like it may get up to the 70�'s.

Besides the weather there is the issue with the animals. Our animals, not the wild ones. Ours, as most know are two of the friendliest cats you could meet. Bob and Buzzi. On arrival here you might think they were mistaken for creatures from Jurassic Park. The short version of the story is New Zealand is making valiant efforts on many fronts to keep out pests and disease, whether it be cats and dogs, or growth on the bottom of your boat or stuff in your freezer.

Months ago, we applied for a Permit to Import Domestic Cats, which was about a 12 hour exercise in filling out paperwork, gathering and scanning veterinary records, obtaining government approved rabies tests, and of course filling out payment agreements. We also had to obtain a guaranteed booking confirmation at an approved quarantine facility, for a nonrefundable fee. It turns out there were a couple of issues with our paperwork.

First, we were told we needed a specific rabies test, performed at least 3 months, but not more than 6 months before we arrived. Said test had to have the results analyzed and certified in a Sovereign Government Veterinary Lab. The blood was drawn in Bora Bora, French Polynesia so, naturally it was sent to Paris, France for analysis. We get the analysis back (the cats are not, and never have been rabid) and send it off to Animal Imports at the Ministry for Primary Industries, a bureaucratic palace, where we had sent the previous volumes of paperwork.

In spite of the test results confirming the rabies free critters, it seems the veterinarian in Bora Bora did not have an RFID chip reader that would read their identity chips, so she used a different identification number on their blood samples. This number appears on many of their health records but, it is not good enough. So we were told we needed a new booking confirmation at the quarantine facility starting December 28th. Why that date? Well, that is six months from the date we arrived in French Polynesia a �"rabies free country�". We were in the Galapagos before that and though the islands are probably rabies free, the home country of Ecuador is not so we had to count the six months from somewhere else.

As most know from the Galapagos we sailed directly to French Polynesia, which took a bit over 20 days. Apparently, the Pacific Ocean is not considered rabies free because we cannot count those twenty days spent at sea towards the six months in a rabies free country.

The bottom line is we are confined to a mooring near the marina in Opua until December 28th, at which time the cats will get to spend an additional 10 days in a quarantine facility before they can be imported. Once they are in the quarantine facility we can move about anywhere we choose in the boat. Once the cats are released from Quarantine they can move about freely as well.

Why go through all this? Well the incentive is that if we do not import the cats with all the crap that goes with it, we would be confined to a single mooring for the entire time we are in New Zealand, which would be limited to six months. No extensions for any reason. If we were to follow the path of not importing the cats and for some reason overstayed the six months or ventured away from our assigned mooring the penalty is the cats. Despite the costs and hassle it would not be worth the penalty. More later�...�...�...�.....