It is 25 minuites into January 1, 2019 where I sit. Where most of family and dear friends are it is somewhere around 0625 on the last day of 2018. I think the beginning of a new year brings the time difference into perspective a bit more. We are anchored off the town of Russell, in a place called Koroareka Bay, which is on the north end of a pensuila that sticks out into the Bay of Islands. It is across the water, by about 1.5 NM from the town of Piahia. Piahia is a truly lovely small town, geared almost totally towards tourisim, but not in a garish way. It is delightful, bordered by beaches where one could sit and daydream for hours and shops on the other side where one could shop for everything from t-shirts to fine Merino wool clothing (mixed with silk amd Possum fur) to take away pizza. I freely admit to indulging in all these activities. It is good to be out of the marina slip and back on the anchor. I could equate the idea of being in a marina slip to living in an apartment in a downtown location. You simply get off the boat, walk to your car and go where you need or want. Being on anchor is in fact more free than being in a marina berth. It is free in the sense that it is not attached to land. Clearly we are sort of atteached to land by way of the anchor sitting on the bottom, yet we are free of all the land based stuff. It may seem silly to some, but having to do more to get where you need or want to go makes the activity more valuable and meaningful. Admittedly one does not have to do much more to go shop or daydream at the beach when on anchor but there is launching the dingy, dealing with the outboard, tying up to a dingy dock somewhere then finding where to go to do what you set out to do in the first place. Not quite as mindless as walking to your car. This all brings me back to my thoughts about the new year. I have celebrated many new years, some turned out better than others yet there is a commonality to all, and that is hope. At the beginning of every year I have hope for a better year than the previous one, no matter how good it was. There are often thoughts about the things I wanted to do, but did not for some reason or other. There is a resolve to make those things happen in the new year, just as there is a resolve to avoid doing the things that I might wish had not happened. There are many things to consider for 2019, among those related to this adventure is sailing to Australia. We had considered sailing back to Fiji, then on to Vanuatu and New Caledonia before going to Austraila. Turns out it is easier to deal with the cats if we go to Austraila direct from New Zealand. No quarintine, no deposits, no fees to speak of and much easier entry. Most likely, weather permitting we will depart for Austraila late A pril or early May. Meanwhile there are the never ending maintenance tasks on the boat. Interestingly, this boat will celebrate it's 20th year about the time we leave for Austraila. I took delivery of her in May, 1999. She is just about broken in after over 50,000 NM. While the boat is being pampered, we will take a road trip to the south island. The details are not firm yet ,however it promises to be an incredible trip. New Zealands south island has some amazing wildlife, glaciers, fiords, beaches with hot springs, volcanoes and other natural beauty that makes it very unique. That trip will obviousely happen at the beginning of this year, which in my mind suggests this could be one very exciting year........more later PS: Happy New Year from both Charlene and me