Ga day Mate, Kia Ora where downunder shoes are optional (even at the airport or in the grocery store) and everyone says "no worries" to everything. She'll be Right, You Little Ripper, Sweet As .. and Stone the Crows soon started to flow easily for us once again. As they say "You Gotta Love It" and we do, a little bit more, each time we go and visit family and friends.

We spent nearly a month in Australia and New Zealand, stopping off in Vancouver on the way to say hi to the kids and to enjoy the RVYC vegas night. Our last few weeks on Ta-b we spent de-commissioning her to be ready to put on the hard, for the two months we would be away. It is always a lot of work, but she is certainly worth it. Russell is returning to Curacao on the 10th January with our friend Adrian. They plan to get all the boat jobs done before I get back on the 22nd January, what wonderful guys.

Our first stop downunder was Australia to visit Russell's older sister and family. They live about an hour south of Brisbane, an area we have always loved. The weather is warm and the natural beauty of the countryside is spectacular. We spent a lot of time hiking the Hinterland rain forests and enjoying the stunning foreshore trails and beaches. In Oz there are an incrediable amount of colourful birds, the music from their constant singing is magic and in Queensland they are very tame and are more like pets. We managed to catch up with our niece and her kids and also our friend Andrew who rowed across the Atlantic at the same time as we sailed it. Ten days was not enough time with Yoga and Boop, next time our visit will be a lot longer.

We had an amazing last day in Brisbane, meeting up with Russell's younger sister who was on her way back to New Zealand, and then bumping into our old flatmate at the airport. We had not seen Ken for about 30 years and I was amazed when he recognised me, such a small world and so wonderful to find each other after all this time as we had lost contact.

Next we spent ten days with Russell's mum in Timaru. She is 91 years of age and just a delight. She still lives on her own and is in very good health both physically and mentally, so we had a lot of fun together. Our days revolved around eating and drinking, two of her favorite pastimes, and going for drives.

Grant and Mary kindly had us to stay again and we had some fantastic evenings catching up with them and various friends. It was the beginning of summer while we were there and the local Rose Festival week; which I was able to enjoy with Mary one day. About ten homes are chosen for their gardens and they are open to the public for a couple of days. Wow is all I can say, they were spectacular. Gardening is a big pastime and New Zealanders, like the English, love roses so it was a real treat. Normally the houses are not open, but we lucked out as most were and all decorated beautifully for Christmas - we had a lovely day. We also had a fun day out with our friends Irene and Chris of s/v Cutty Hunk who are now living back in Christchurch and running a tour company.

From Timaru we drove down to Queenstown to see our best man Foxy who has recently moved there from Perth. It is about a four hour trip south past various lakes and through several mountain passes, just stunning; especially with all the wild loopins covering the sides of the roads and fields. The view from Foxy's house of Coronet Peak and the Remarkables ski areas was fantastic; we can certainly understand why he and Jacqui have chosen to retire there. Queenstown is known for its outdoor activities and has become the hub of the south island since Christchurch's earthquakes. Sadly that means a lot of tourists, but we were there just before the season started and saw it at its best.

Next stop was Auckland to visit Russell's younger sister who has just moved to Piha, a beautiful area on the west coast about half an hour north of the city. We took off for a few days in Jillie's bus/converted camper van and headed up the east coast to Whangarei and ended up Whananaki where we met up with Leslie and Bruce from s/v Midi. They now have a fab caravan for land travel while they are not sailing around Greece/Turkey, a perfect life. We could have spent a lot more time enjoying the beautiful coast, but the weather was not that great and time was not on our side as we wanted to head back to Vancouver for Xmas.

A lot of our friends have visited New Zealand and Australia, however if you have not, we would highly recommend it. New Zealand has again, three years in a row, been voted as the best place to visit by The Telegraph. The people are laid back and friendly - everyone stops to have a chinwag (chat). With a patchwork history of Māori, European, Pacific Island and Asian cultures it is a very diverse country. The majority of the people live in the north island, especially Auckland, whereas the south island has its stunning mountains and lakes. Everyone is into the outdoors with camping very much a way to travel and explore. There are not many big hotels and on our trip most places to stay were either camping grounds or B&Bs. We look forward to returning there in 2016 with Ta-b once we have crossed the Pacific.

I have added a few pictures to our gallery for you to enjoy. Please keep in touch, it is wonderful to get all your news and know that you are there for us even if we are not around very much. Kia Ora (Maori for be well/healthy, now used as "hi" in NZ).