We're cruising again! Yay! We managed to tear ourselves out of the slip yesterday at Whangarei Marina and move down the river. It was both exciting & sad. These past few days I've found myself trying to concentrate on every detail of my surroundings because I don't want to forget any of it. I don't want the memories to get fuzzy like they always do. As much as we don't seem to want to stay anyplace for very long, this one got under our skin. This whole country is under our skin! Oh well, we need to keep this show moving; it's really what we want. Sometimes leaving the slip is the hardest part because you get so comfortable; it's so easy to rationalize why you should stay just one more day.

Our last few days were less stressful since we knew we were on the downward side of what hopefully will be the bulk of the projects for this season. Thank goodness! The last biggie was having a new chainplate made for the backstay. It was the only one we'd never replaced since it looked like a huge project to remove it from the stern but in the end, it wasn't so bad. The chainplate is a thick, curved, formed piece of stainless plate that runs through the hull and attaches with 6 bolts & a backing plate. At the top is the hole that the backstay wire attaches to. It holds a massive amount of force when we sail. After yet another trip to the ATM to get money to pay for that, we got it installed & it completes the new rig. One thing that does make it easier working on your boat around here is that you're not alone. Jon always jokes about how we felt at Shipyard Quarters in Boston when we we'd getting ready to leave on a cruise. People thought we were nuts ripping the rig apart or Jon fiberglassing a new dodger top on the dock because there was no one else around doing that kind of stuff. But here, everyone's got some issue and they're tearing something apart to try to fix it. Big things just break and the problem is you need everything working well if you can before you shove off to the land of no supplies.

We fit in some organizing, tried to thin out some of our junk and I even managed to sell a few things like the old VHF radio, the leftover new formica from the countertops, and we got to recycle all the old rigging wire and get a few bucks for it as scrap. I loaded the boat down with food and quickly remembered how you might think a locker is full, but you can always manage to squeeze in another can of tuna or bag of cereal- all priceless in the islands. And you wouldn't believe it... but coffee mate is back on the shelves! Rich raced over there & bought 12 bags and I bought 7, wondering if that'll hold us. I fear not! There was a whole discussion on the grocery store's Facebook page about this coffee powder. We weren't alone!

Even though we try really hard to lighten up the boat, it seems every year we gain a few pounds somehow. I remember back when we had only one GPS..... I prodded Jon to go through his spares and see what he's been meaning to install for the past decade or more and hasn't and he went ahead & tackled the bilge alarm/counter. We now have a loud bilge alarm that will sound if the second pump goes off and a counter to keep track of it in case we're not on the boat; we'll still know if it runs. It's a safety thing and we're glad to finally have one. It's only been sitting there for about 12 years! And one less yellowed package too! He also did a bike maintenance session while I re-greased the winches. Now we have new tires that actually have tread on them. We took a spin on our favorite local loop to try them out. I still have 4 more winches out of 9 but that doesn't have to happen before we leave. Even though we did a lot, there's so much left undone. Such is life with a boat. It owns us really.

It took some perseverance, but we did get to the Whangarei Bird Recovery Center to meet Robert, the founder of it. Robert & his wife take in injured birds found throughout NZ and nurse them back to health. If they can't be released & are healthy otherwise, he houses them at the center in really nice aviaries. After the most recent cyclone remnants we had a couple weeks ago, he got another bolus of birds and we had to wait till things settled down before we could meet him. We went with Mark & Anne and had a great time seeing a couple of moreporks (small owls), an extremely tired albatross, a hawk, two hilarious tui's and the center's most popular resident, Sparky the Kiwi. It was nice to see the morepork owls up close but Jon & had just gotten a fantastic view of one late in the day on our running route. He was barely above our heads on a branch, completely fearless and very curious. Every time we talked to him, he would tilt his head while his pupils got larger. The next night, I ran up there and looked for him, couldn't see him but then I heard him call “Morepork! “ after I ran by.

The albatross had come in 2 days earlier and was still really fatigued. As I understand it, young albatross sometimes get confused when storms are coming and they head in to shore on the West coast of NZ. They're supposed to head farther out to sea and fly around the storms using their sense of of barometric pressure. Instead, they surf in on the waves and tumble up onto the beach, getting covered in sand & losing their waterproofing Robert says they can only take off from the water or from a cliff where they can catch a wind current. They can't take off from a beach so they stand around on the beach, tired, waiting for their waterproofing to return and for the seas to calm so they can get back in the water. In the meantime, people try to help or are curious and get too close.... what a sad thing. Once ready, Robert takes the bird back out to sea using the coast guard for transportation. He holds the albatross above his head and once they reach about 22 kts, the bird starts flapping his wings and starts to rise up & take flight. He had aerial pictures showing how this is done. Interesting! I don't know why he doesn't just put the bird in the water instead but I forgot to ask. Next is the talking Tui bird. This bird was taught to talk by his predecessor named Woof Woof who has since passed away. He says things like “come closer! Kiss Kiss! It's cold! Are you cold?” The funny thing about it all is his voice- it sounds just like Yoda from Star Wars or in my opinion, like an artificial larynx. It's nothing like you'd expect to hear from a bird and it is kind of startling but what a riot!

And the last bird was Sparky the brown Kiwi. He lost his leg in a gin trap and he's lived at the center since 2002. He travels with Robert all around NZ as an educational tool. He'd just been in Christchurch the day before we saw him. The local airline always lets Robert & Sparky fly for free whenever they're “working”. Sparky was shy but so very cute and you can see how New Zealand would want to preserve this unique & harmless bird. Whenever Robert set him down on the ground, he would immediately put his long beak in the ground and just sit there with it like that; waiting for a vibe from a worm. Then, if he felt one, he'd swirl his beak around in the dirt burrowing deeper until he came up with the worm! It was so nice to pat him too. A pretty solid bird I would say.

As I readied the boat yesterday to leave the slip, I was reminded by the webs around the cockpit that we have a few resident spiders that are coming with us. Again. We had a few spiders in various areas of our stern rail & windvane last year and when we left for Fiji I thought they would never make it. Well, they hunkered down on the 10 day passage just like we did and then enjoyed spending the winter in the islands, then toughed it out all the way back here. I guess they've earned it & they're going back with us! It's fine with me; they're very low maintenance pets!

We were all set to anchor at the mouth of the river last evening in preparation for the 50 mile sail to Great Barrier island today but alas, our navigation system wasn't working right. It seems the upgrade to Windows 8.1 messed it up so we had to pull in to Marsden Marina to get good internet so Jon could fix it. He did of course and so we were off today as planned. We had a very peaceful, calm motor trip over here which is EXACTLY what I'd hoped for. There were lots of blue penguins (the world's smallest penguin), gannets and a few dolphin. We fished but only pulled in a skipjack tuna which we're not fond of, so we set him free. We tested out some of our equipment, relaxed in the beautiful surroundings and it felt very good to be moving again. Great Barrier Island is absolutely beautiful & is mainly park so we have a lot of exploring to do in the next few days. Hey! It was discovered & named by Capt Cook in 1769. I just cannot get over how NZ is like a slice of heaven if you like to hike & be outdoors. Not only are there endless, amazing trails, there are the maps to get to them, the signs, the facilities, the maintenance, every detail is completely thought out and you can't possibly do them all. Truly unique on the planet I am certain. A pamphlet that describes Port Fitzroy, where we're anchored right now says: If you had to design the perfect boatie's spot, this would be it. Good on you for finding it!” And the one for the next anchorage down says: “The trouble with Tryphena is if you linger here, it might make your ordinary life seem less than perfect.” The like the way the Kiwi personality is transparent in their written materials.

It feels funny being at anchor. As a friend mentioned to us recently, when you get to a place like this, you quickly remember why you put up with all the work & expense of having a boat. Like making landfall after a crummy passage, the hard parts seem to fade into the distance. We plan to cruise around for the next week or two before making our way to Opua to join the rest of the group, looking for a weather window to head to Vanuatu.