From the Marlborough Sounds to Tauranga

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

Well it is some sea miles ago that I last wrote so for a bit of an update as to what we have been up to.

It was early December when we left the South Island and headed north again. We motored to the edge of the Marlborough Sounds and dropped anchor just inside in a sheltered bay for the night so we could catch the out-going tide in the morning. We had the inter-Island Ferries passing all night which look like floating hotels going by. At 6.00am we were up anchor and off out into Cook Strait. It was a little lumpy but we had a good wind and made the crossing in 4 hours. We then spent 2 weeks in Wellington catching up with family and friends, doing the rounds of all the local yacht clubs with our SEAWIND info packs, visited the Wellington Museum to see “The Colossal Squid” – a 4.2 metre long squid weighing 459 kilograms caught in the Southern Ocean last year. Don’t really want to come across one of those in our ocean travels thank you, and, I even managed to do my Christmas shopping with Brigitte’s help as she flew down from Auckland to join us for the next leg up the coast. We met another lovely couple on their catamaran who were making it ready to do off shore passages. Hope we cross paths with them again in warmer waters.

Merry Christmas from Napier

Dear One And All

This is our Christmas Greetings to you all. I have not worked out how to send one of those lovely E cards yet and now we are living afloat emails are now our new Christmas Cards.

WISHING YOU ALL THE MANY BLESSINGS OF A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS

AND

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

We are spending our Christmas in Napier with my Dad who will be 99 wonderful years young on the 27th Dec.

Love and Best wishes

Alec Ann Murray and Brigitte

Nelson back to Picton

Hello One And ALL

Well the time has come for us to leave our winter home in Nelson and start heading North again. We had been there four months and the local boating community were really starting to make us feel at home. We met such a nice group of likeminded people who shared their homes meals and expertise in the boating and fishing fields with us. We had many great days and a contrast of different weather where we sailed and motored the beautiful Tasman Bay National Park, or out in Tasman Bay, having lunches or sipping wine in a setting sun with people we were either introducing the SEAWIND to, or with new friends we had made, or practicing the ‘hove to’ in 35kts of wind!!!. Alec feels the more practice at some of these things the better. He is more than likely right but as for me, well I just wanted to keep sailing and get back to port and not muck around!!