We've been here on the North Island of New Zealand almost two weeks and have failed to update our blog. We bad.

I'll make no excuses for us other than to plead overload - overload in a good way. New Zealand is just so different from where we have been the last 8 months that we can't seem to get enough. Every corner we turn, there is something new to see and a strong echo of home. We've also been busy arranging for maintenance and repairs on Double Diamond. Regardless, here are some first impressions.

New Zealand is...



Cold. No, strike that. It's not really cold, just cooler than where we have been sailing during our past 8 months in the tropics. Don't misunderstand - it is a welcome and much appreciated change of climate. We're wearing long pants, long sleeves and fleece - and loving every moment of it! We've even had to turn the heat on in the boat and while I should complain about having to burn diesel (read: spend money) to stay warm, I really cannot. It's downright cozy.



Scenic. We are currently in an area called the Bay of Islands, a place that could be the definition of "picturesque". It's rather like warm coastal Northern California, the wild Oregon coast and the protected inland waters of the San Juan Islands all rolled into one.



Green. Not that the islands of the South Pacific were not green - in fact, they were very green. But New Zealand is fresh spring pasture green. Green that comes with new growth and cool weather rain. It is a land of forest and pasture.



Historical. From what we've seen to date, New Zealand has done a great job of preserving it's history and heritage, both of the Maori (the native peoples of New Zealand) and the Pakeha (whites of European descent). Visually, many coastal town centers are like stepping onto the back streets of Port Townsend or colonial, Victoria, BC. We hope to learn more about the modern relationships between Maori and Pakeha, but our first impression is that New Zealand's history of English colonial settlement - and it's relationship with it's native people - is much different from what occurred in the America's.



Modern. This is not the 3rd world. The internet here is blazingly fast (a very welcome change), the streets and roads are in great repair. New architecture is quite contemporary. The grocery stores are well stocked and shiny clean. There is hot water in public bathrooms!!!



Rural. Outside the towns (which are somewhat few and far between) are farms, pastures and wooded conifer landscapes. In a land of 4.5 million people, they lament that they are down (!) to 45 million sheep. (One New Zealander confided to us that the invention of fleece has been a disaster for the New Zealand farm economy). Still, they have 10 sheep for every man, woman and child, to make no mention of cows, goats, pigs and chickens.



Nautical. New Zealand, especially here in the North Island, is very connected to the sea and to sailing in particular. There is a long history and tradition of sailing here - back in the day, that's how everyone got here. Without sailing, New Zealand as we know it would never have happened. Their participation in the America's Cup is not just the passion of one billionaire. It's a passion for much of the country - aside from Rugby. Marinas, boatyards, chandleries and yacht clubs seem everywhere in the coastal areas.





Healthy. Could this have something to do with its rural-ness? The quality of local fresh food here is astounding - perhaps highlighted for us by the lack of fresh produce we found crossing much of the South Pacific. The air here is sparkling clean, despite the best efforts of our diesel furnace.





Friendly. The warmth and friendliness of the people we have met so far has been phenomenal. Total strangers have invited us to visit and stay. Everywhere we go, we have been made to feel very welcome and invited heartily to "enjoy our country".



Scented. Perhaps that may seem an odd comment, but our first impression as we approached from the sea in the dark of night was an overwhelming scent of summer pasture, of hay and green grass. We have discovered a local native plant called the Cabbage Tree (Cordyline australis for those interested...) that heavily scents the air this time of year with a flower scent akin to sweet Jasmine. It's light and lovely, scenting the air virtually everywhere we go.

These are all some first impressions... We've only been here two weeks and except for one day in a car, one day on our bikes and several afternoon walks, we have not begun to venture out as we plan to once all the boat maintenance and repairs are complete. We expect everything to be complete by the middle of the coming week.

As it has turned out, we arrived here several weeks ahead of much of the sailing community that was out in the Fiji/Tonga/Vanuatu triangle. We were getting a bit weary of the tropics (yes, it happens...) and eager for a change of climate and scenery, but knew we had at least another month of waiting for spring to get rolling a little stronger down here. No need to sail into or through the remaining storms of winter.

Luckily, we were fortunate to see a good early weather window for making the passage and took advantage of it. We've also heard from locals that winter was mild here and that summer seems to be coming on early. Regardless, a big thank you again to Richie Rigg of SV KaPai for schooling us on New Zealand/Australian passage weather patterns and clueing us in to the unusual weather situation that allowed us to have an uneventful early crossing.

Over the next few weeks, those boats still up in the tropics will start pouring in here to escape the pending cyclone season of the southern hemisphere tropics. (In fact 12 boats came in just yesterday from Fiji - all in one day.) Additionally, because it is still early spring here, most local sailors have not really begun to prepare their boats for the summer sailing season. We were definitely the early birds and until we arrived, things seemed a bit sleepy here in Opua.

During much of this past week and for much of next week, we have been (and will be) concentrating on making repairs and doing regular maintenance on Double Diamond. The upside of being here a bit early is that we got a bit of a jump on engaging all the boat service providers in the area - they were not yet busy and could accommodate us immediately on all our needs. We've been able to quickly schedule engine maintenance, sail repair, washing and waxing, canvas repair, rig tuning and everything all within the first few days of pulling up to the dock. Everyone was ready to work.

We suspect that early next week all our boat projects will be complete and we can get on with exploring the rest of New Zealand in earnest.