Soon after we arrived in Opua Phil headed back to the States to spend the holidays with Carole and the family. I remained on the boat here in the Bay of Islands Marina and spent the next six weeks doing a considerable number of boat repairs, maintenance, and upgrades. About once a week I have sailed out to the many beautiful bays in the islands for several days at a time, and have especially enjoyed the harbor and quaint town of Russell. The Duke of Marlborough is a beautiful old hotel there with an excellent restaurant I have really enjoyed.

Opua consists primarily of the marine and numerous adjacent boating stores and marine service companies. This has been quite convenient for my boat work. A five minute drive away is Paihia, a small town with a number of quite good restaurants. I found a club there, the Thirty-30 Club, where they have a band and jam sessions on Sunday nights. They have been very friendly and have let me sit in a number of times to play blues harp, lead guitar, or sing R&R standards. Kerikeri is a somewhat larger town about 30 minutes away, and there I found an excellent music store where I bought a nice ukulele. I set it up with low G strings (as compared to "my dog has fleas" strings) and have found that I can adapt many of my guitar pieces to it quite well. It is now my constant companion, and I have become the default ukulele instructor for the boating community here in the marina!

Soon after arrival in NZ I bought an old beaten up and therefore cheap Honda Fit. Within a week the front brakes were grinding, so I had to replace the brake pads. Fortunately this is easy to do and the pads only cost about $25. Since then the car has been running quite smoothly. I bought a self-inflating foam pad and have found sleeping in the back of the car to be quite comfortable. I have explored a good portion of the North Island north of Opua and have enjoyed camping in the car in remote coastal campsites, especially as there has been frequent rain.

A month ago I met Chris and Sayo with their 7 and 1 y.o. daughters on the catamaran Family Circus. Chris is an avid sailor, free diving instructor, and excellent bass player, and Sayo is an excellent singer. We worked out a number of jazz, blues, reggae, and R&R tunes and have had great fun performing several times together at the 30-30 club.

This weekend I drove to Aukland for the professional tennis tournament. I got to see three of my favorite top pros play: Ferrer, del Potro, and Bautista Agut. Amazing tennis. In two weeks I will fly to Melbourne to see the Australian Open and then spend a week exploring around Melbourne. After that the plan is to drive all over the North and South Islands and eventually do an overnight cruise in Milford Sound to see the southern fiords.

Though internet connections in NZ are good, they are expensive. I plan to upload photos and videos when I get access to a free WiFi connection.