Well, it's been a while since I've written and after receiving a few requests for "my voice", here you go. Actually, if Scott weren't seasick in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, he'd probably be writing this, but as he is, and I am not (being on land) you get me.

Scott and his father left last Friday on their way to New Zealand and his email to me Sunday read: "We are doing great, the conditions are pretty awesome. We sailed in 10-12 knots from behind the beam all day yesterday and today are sailing in 8-10 from ahead but in smooth water with about a one meter sea. I am expecting it to stay very light and we are working our way west to pickup the forecast SW'ly." My first reaction was relief that conditions were so good. My second was that he must be lying to make me regret flying to NZ, and this impression stayed with me until I read his email today: "Most of the day, we skirted the edge of a frontal system with gigantic clouds so it was really rough, beating into 15 -20 knots with steep choppy 2 meter waves all day. We had three reefs in the main and the jib mostly furled and were just plowing into everything. Even dad thought that the boat was noisy and too rough to sleep on the settee. I felt gross and just lay in the cockpit and ate crackers for dinner. I was really happy that you were in NZ." Ok, I guess he wasn't lying in that first email after all. Anyhow, the good ship Whisper and crew are making their way toward us and will hopefully be here by early next week. As of Sunday they had about 750 miles to go, so they might have around 550 miles left.

The boys and I arrived in Auckland last Monday, leaving behind sunny Tongan skies and temperatures in the low 80s to arrive in clouds, rain and temperatures in the high 50s. We felt like we had arrived home, and were happy to put on our sweatshirts. We had one night in an airport hotel and we took full advantage of all the amenities. In the 20 hours that we had our room I took two baths and two showers, Finn had two baths and one shower and Timothy had one bath and two showers. I figure we used more water in those twenty hours than we've used on the boat all year, and it was glorious.

After a six hour bus ride, we are now in Paihia, a small tourist town in the Bay of Islands, staying in a rental apartment and still reveling in those things that we never thought twice about -- unlimited hot/cold water (icy cold, too), refrigerator, a big (though empty) bed, a tv, and a local grocery store that has everything we would want. We have really been enjoying the local food -- milk, wine, apples, cheese, ice cream, pears, kiwis, lettuce, wheat bread, broccoli, carrots, beer, tea, nuts, jam - and eating all of the things that we couldn't get for the last 6 months, or at least not consistently and inexpensively. The boys have been drinking almost one gallon of milk everyday (so much better than powdered milk mixed with warm water), and have finished four tubs of cream cheese in six days. I expect see some fat rolls on Timothy soon as he has been out-eating Finn, which is pretty impressive as Finn out-eats me.

We are enjoying New Zealand but have really only seen Paihia. Unfortunately there is no public transportation in NZ outside of the big cities, so that means that residents have to have a car and visitors either rent a car or hire taxis, neither of which my "birthday gift" budget can afford. I was disappointed, thinking that NZ was a little more progressive than the US in such ecological matters, though I suppose there just isn't the population here to support a bus system. Thus, we're hoofin' it all over town, and while it's very beautiful, I have a feeling it'll be much more beautiful from a boat's view. Yesterday we took a really nice hike and covered almost nine miles, after which we were completely exhausted. Tomorrow we hope to walk to the marina in Opua where Scott will check in next week and where some of our boating buddies are now. It's six miles to the marina, so we'll have to get a car back. I keep meaning to ask if it's safe to hitch-hike. That may be our saving grace.

So, we're well and sane(ish) and looking forward to being all together soon and we look forward to hearing from all of you. Cheers!