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| Top of Mt. Ruapehu seen from the plane |
Almost three weeks ago, Mark and I returned to the North
Island by plane from
Christchurch. We settled into Axel’s “office flat” in
Auckland for the remainder of our time in New Zealand. It is so generous of him
to let us stay here and we are very fortunate and happy to have friends like
Axel and Liz! Since one of the reasons we left our boat was to focus on work,
our business and being in a western environment, that is exactly what we have
been doing these last weeks. Pressurized, hot showers, unlimited Wifi and
electricity, a normal kitchen with a full size fridge and plenty of space to
walk around or hide in another room… we have it all in this apartment, in the
middle of the city! Mark has gotten a lot of work done in regards to research,
testing and software development for The Wirie pro and we are glad to report
that
The Wirie business is doing really well, thanks to
an article about our
product in the renowned sailing magazine Cruising World. I managed to write
some and work on my photographs.
On our days off, when the weather was pleasant enough, Mark
and I did some walks in and about town. One day we climbed Mt. Eden, one of the
50 dormant volcanoes in Auckland, for a nice 360 degree view. Another day, we
walked all the way from the city to Mission Beach, along the windy waterfront. We
even went to the cinema to see
Mad Max –
Fury Road! The last time that happened was five years ago, when we saw
Avatar in a movie theater in St. Martin
and our friend Ed, on SV Nini watched Darwin for the evening. Every day, until
they left on vacation, we also spent some quality time with our ex-cruising
(SV Gudrun) friends/accommodating hosts and enjoyed the company of their five month old son Arno. He is
such a pleasure to cuddle and be with!
 |
| Arno and his space ship |
The weather, although pretty rainy, has not been too cold
recently, which is great. Or, we have gotten used to 15 degree temperatures (upper
50s Fahrenheit) and wearing long clothes and a jacket! In between rain showers,
we manage to walk to the grocery store, and this weekend we hope to visit one
of the islands in the Hauraki Gulf. We’ll take our umbrella. It will be quite
the shock to our bodies again when we head back to Irie in Moorea, in a few
days. Unfortunately, she hasn’t sold yet, so we will have to make new plans. We
dropped her asking price again, to a more than fair $129,000, so if you know
anyone who is interested in a well-maintained, lovely catamaran that is ready
to go cruising in the Pacific islands, let us know!
:-) Details about “Irie for sale”
can be found on
www.catamaran-for-sale.com
See you back in French Polynesia!
 |
| Arno loves cameras, just like his daddy! |
 |
| Liz handing Arno his favorite toy |
 |
| The Sky Tower in Auckland; Mark and I keep calling it "the Needle" |
 |
| Walking towards Mount Eden, seen in the background |
 |
| Mt Eden's grassy crater and the city center in the distance |
 |
| Suburbs of Auckland, seen from Mt Eden |
 |
| View from the top of the volcano |
 |
| Arno, king of the flat! |
 |
| Church near Albert Park, Auckland |
 |
| Rail workers fixing a joint |
 |
| The container port of the city |
 |
| Mission Beach - not the prettiest, but nice as a city beach |
 |
| Saying goodbye and thank you to our friends Axel and Liz, who are going on a holiday with Arno |
On our days off, when the weather was pleasant enough, Mark
and I did some walks in and about town. One day we climbed Mt. Eden, one of the
50 dormant volcanoes in Auckland, for a nice 360 degree view. Another day, we
walked all the way from the city to Mission Beach, along the windy waterfront. We
even went to the cinema to see Mad Max –
Fury Road! The last time that happened was five years ago, when we saw Avatar in a movie theater in St. Martin
and our friend Ed, on SV Nini watched Darwin for the evening. Every day, until
they left on vacation, we also spent some quality time with our ex-cruising
(SV Gudrun) friends/accommodating hosts and enjoyed the company of their five month old son Arno. He is
such a pleasure to cuddle and be with! 
The weather, although pretty rainy, has not been too cold
recently, which is great. Or, we have gotten used to 15 degree temperatures (upper
50s Fahrenheit) and wearing long clothes and a jacket! In between rain showers,
we manage to walk to the grocery store, and this weekend we hope to visit one
of the islands in the Hauraki Gulf. We’ll take our umbrella. It will be quite
the shock to our bodies again when we head back to Irie in Moorea, in a few
days. Unfortunately, she hasn’t sold yet, so we will have to make new plans. We
dropped her asking price again, to a more than fair $129,000, so if you know
anyone who is interested in a well-maintained, lovely catamaran that is ready
to go cruising in the Pacific islands, let us know! :-) Details about “Irie for sale”
can be found on www.catamaran-for-sale.com
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