Miss Jade Ward was launched this morning, Monday December 4th at 0954. Her displacement was 7.1lbs and LOA 22 inches. She is in perfect health and her designer and builder are grinning from ear to ear. Needless to say her grandparents are pretty chuffed as well. Can't you tell by the photo?

We arrived back in Sydney in time for the big event on Saturday after travelling non-stop for 32 hours, including the time we spent waiting at airports. Mia is in a private room in the hospital until the end of the week and Darren is staying in the room with her, so we have taken over their house and are baby sitting Suki the dog.

Our plan is to stay in Sydney until January 11th when we will fly to New Zealand for a family birthday. Debbie's brother Jim and his family have lived in New Zealand for a few years and he is celebrating his 50th birthday and Debbie's father is celebrating his 80th. So the mountain is coming to Mohammad so to speak. We have rented a 'batch' for a week on the Marlborough Sounds and between that and Jim's yacht we need to accomodate about 17 family members. Should be fun.

We will leave New Zealand to arrive back on the boat on January 25th or 26th. From there we will sail to Mazatlan on the mainland then on down to Puerto Vallarta to provision and then possibly a little further down the coast to Zihuatanajo where we will leave for the Marquessas in March or April.

Because there is not going to be a lot happening between now and then the blog may go into hiatus until the end of January.

To all those friends we will not get to before Xmas, have a wonderful Xmas with your families and loved ones and a prosperous and safe New Year.