Kia ora to all. Yes, we are still afloat. It has been a very long time and lots of water have run, not much under our keel, unfortunately, but we are almost ready to start a new sailing season. Our stay in Aotearoa has been a terrific experience. Lots of good and lots of not so good. New Zealand now takes first place in the list of places we have sailed to. It is a place that was blessed by the Akuas and Mother Nature with an abundance of beauty and sustenance. As one of my sisters said, "God came here last, after he had practiced a lot and created his master piece". At this time we are frantically working on the last details prior to departure. And of course there are always millions of things that needs attention, not to mention that we have a ghost in the boat. I should say a gremlin, having fun, causing trouble and things to malfunction. The anchor light, the running lights and the tricolor light on the mast are out. These are lights required for navigation. We checked those a few weeks ago and they were fine. Lots of other small things have also been touched by the gremlin. I spent the day filling many pages long forms to be sent to Fiji prior to our arrival there and to be ready for the New Zealand officials. We are waiting for a weather window for us to lift anchor and sail North. I will update once we have our dates set. Right now we are at Doves Bay in the North Island of New Zealand (see Google earth for our position). It is a magnificent anchorage although a bit exposed to the wind. Yesterday we had a huge amount of rain and wind. The rain gave us the gift of spetacular rainbows. There were many like this yesterday and today.I will say Bye for now but soon there will be more news. Aloha.