Opua, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Yes, I think New Zealand is close to what Paradise on earth could look like. Luckily Gods Word tells us that Paradise will look like nothing we have ever seen before. It will be more spectacular with streets of gold, etc.

The day we arrived, it was raining, cold and visibility was very poor. Johan asked "Why did we come to this 'mist'-erable land?" (Mist or fog) We were cold, tired, wet and dressed in long sleeves whilst the locals were walking around in shorts and sleeveless tops. Obviously, we suffered because we did not have a winter in 2012, sailing in the tropics for such a long time.

Customs/Immigration/Security/Agriculture were very efficient with the check in process, importation of Ntombi and all paperwork done within an hour. We collected the last paperwork on the following day because we just needed food and a bed.

The little town of Opua is good for working on your boat, but there is no other facilities/shops close by. The closest supermarket is about 10 km by road and a 2 hours walk along the beach. Very nice walk to the supermarket but not a good idea to try and walk the distance with heavy shopping bags. It will definitely take more than 2 hours walking back. There is a little convenience store in Opua, but everything is very expensive. We however bought bread, meat and veggies out of desperation.

The people are very friendly and trusting. The owner of "The Marina Shop" provide free internet to the yachties as well as the use of his business branded car. We used the car to go to Kerikeri (the closest town with a variety of shops) 32 km away. We were able to get a Telecom connection stick and a simcard for the phone. We bought a cable for my kindle and fresh fruit, veggies and meat for Johan. Not too sure if it was a good or bad thing, because we spent the next week or two on internet trying to find a car and a job.

We attended a few functions whilst in Opua. The first was arranged for all the yachties new to New Zealand by sv Moonwalker. Russel and Karin (sv Moonwalker) are a fabulous couple that we met in Tongatapu and they wanted all their yachtie friends to meet each other at their house. We were 40 people and it was fun! The next was a function organised by their friends to welcome them (Moonwalker) back to New Zealand. Russel wanted the yachtie friends to attend in order to meet his local friends. It helps to network and find jobs and find anything else you need to know about New Zealand and the surrounding areas. We were 'hitch hiking' to these events. The first was attended traveling with Water Music and the second with Radience.

We also went to Whangarei with Radience to say goodbye to Alaeris (Alex and Iris). They are leaving their yacht in Whangarei and flew 'home' for Christmas and New Year. They will only be back towards the end of February.

We were not too happy with the cars we found on Trademe and then we went with Mark (yacht Radience) to Whangarei to the Auction at Turners and attended the Irish pub session afterwards. It was an enjoyable day in good company and good music. I was wondering why we never started something similar for South African volk music? Anybody who can play an instrument arrives at the session and start playing with the rest of the group - obviously Irish music lovers.

We eventually found a car from "Cars for Cruisers" and are very happy with her. She is automatic and it is something for me to get used to. The next milestone was to find a job. We applied for a few but do not expect anything to happen in 2012. Johan however went twice to Auckland for interviews at the same training company. It is only 230 km by road, but it takes anything between 3 and 4 hours to travel due to the nature of the roads. You cannot travel more than 80 km per hour, with very short stretches of 100. The roads are very winding, curly and dangerous if you drive fast. It was however a very relaxed drive and we slept over in Auckland. In the first trip, we also slept over in Whangarei in the Top 10 holiday resort. Whangarei is where we originally hoped to settle down. Currently, I would prefer to settle here in Opua or Kerikeri, but that is not where the jobs are.
We joined the Church in Kaikohe and enjoy attending services in this rural town (38 km). Most of the congregation travel similar distances than us and they have therefore arranged to enjoy a pot luck every week.

We have decided to move down to Auckland on the 27th, after the end of Hurricane Edna passes New Zealand. What a disaster!