We anchored at Pangaimotu, the home of Big Momma’s Yacht Club. Earle and Big Momma are incredibly helpful to cruisers and provide great services. With the help of our taxi driver West, we were able to get some leaky oil hoses replaces and a new cap for the header tank. Earle has a ferry that goes into town daily. This made provisioning relatively simple. Sometimes we would take a taxi and sometimes we would walk from the ferry wharf. Some of the new buildings in town certainly have a very non island appearance. It seems the Chinese are investing heavily in the infrastructure in the main town with new parliament buildings, new ferry building and several new hotels. We spent the next week or so preparing for our trip to New Zealand and looking at weather everyday. Our plan was to stop at Minerva Reef to reassess again the weather to New Zealand. Happy hour at the bar was a constant talk of weather. Finally, it looked good and we were on our way.