April and May have been a bit of a blur, or as Paul describes it – like Groundhog Day. Our days revolve around checking the weather forecasts, sailing or motoring to the next spot if we need to move or empty the tanks or make water, fishing, hiking and maintaining the boat.
The weather is getting progressively colder and greyer and we are waging battle with increasing damp from condensation inside. There just aren’t enough sunny days to dry things out properly any more. The islands are still very beautiful though, even in the mist and rain.
During this time we have gone from very strict level 4 lockdown to level 3 (which wasn’t much different for us) and we are now in level 2 which means that we can start to travel further afield. We had planned to sail further down the coast to Auckland but have now decided that it would be better to do this another time when the weather is warmer. There is a project that we want to carry out that requires us to be in a marina berth so that is where we are now and Mari will probably stay here for the next 4 months or so. After the boat jobs are done the aim is to do some land based travel.
The new viewing platform at the top of Roberton Island 
One of the new signposts on the walk up Roberton Island 
First night of level 2 – we ate out at a restaurant! “The Gables” at Russell 
The tunnel on the cycle track from Opua (the track was converted from an old railway track) 
The place we walked to on the Cape Brett track. 
View from the hut on the Cape Brett track 
