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Pogeyan berthed at Whangarei Marina: our home-away-from-home

After several years of maintaining this blog with Google's primitive, but  free "Blogger" tool, we gave up and just use Facebook to communicate with distant friends and family.  Facebook is so much more convenient for us to publish 30 photos after a scuba dive or family event.

To "friend" either of us on Facebook, please use the links on the right.  

Don't use social networks?  Well, good for you.

Makogai Island - Fiji

As we approached the island of Makogai we had to pass through a gap in the reef that encircles the island.  As often happens, we caught a fish just as we approached the reef.  This launched us into a routine where we head upwind, start an engine and drop the sails.  Oh, and we also had to avoid hitting the reef.  Rich dragged in the fish and it turned out to be a 25lb tuna.

A quick stop at Poor Knights Islands

At the end of our 3 week exploration of New Zealands Northeast corner we stopped at the Poor Knights Islands: a marine reserve located about 30 miles from our "homebase" in Whangarei.

The anchorages at the Poor Knights are marginal at best.   Thankfully, the wind and swell were quite low for two days straight.  We dropped our anchor on a pile of rocks and set out in the dinghy to explore.

The best of Taupo and Rotarua in One Day

After passing through the desert road we ended up near the town of Taupo and New Zealand's largest inland lake with the same name.   Taupo itself was quite crowded and a bit too "touristy" for our

tastes.  However we were interested in a few spots just North of the town so we stayed at a nearby AirBNB and headed out the next morning.  First stop was the Huka Falls.  They are described as horizontal waterfalls and that's pretty much accurate.

New Zealand's Desert Highway

Halfway through our North Island road trip we were driving North from Wellington, heading back to our boat in Whangarei.  Highway 1 takes you all the way from the bottom to the top of the North Island, right through the middle.  Beautiful New Zealand farmland and lush forests line the road.

Nothing but transmission towers

About 5 hours into our drive we happened upon the stretch of Highway 1 known as the Desert Road. What an unusual and unexpected delight. We were driving past green hillsides with grazing

New Plymouth has a Lot to Offer!

Three Sisters

Prior to our 10-day road trip through New Zealand's North Island Rich combed travel guides and websites to find dozens of points of interest and hikes.  We put them all on Google Maps and planned a meandering route down the West coast and back up through the middle trying to connect-the-dots.

Yesterday we were rolling down a coastal highway when we caught sight of one of the outdoor attractions. The Three Sisters are large rock formations sticking up out of a beach next to tall white cliffs.  They are located at the mouth of a river that empties into the ocean.  Lucky for us it was low tide and we were able to make our way along the river to where it emptied out onto a broad open beach.  It was a beautiful spot.  The sun was getting low in the sky and the quality of the light was amazing.

Mount Aubrey Loop Trail

Mount Aubrey seen from the road below.

On a nice New Zealand afternoon we decided to put down the boat work and go for a hike up nearby Mount Aubrey.  We read that the hike offered spectacular views of Whangarei