Category: sv evi

  • New friends and boat projects

    New friends and boat projects

    We met John, Caroline, Dalton & Hall from Charleston, South Carolina on SV Nogal, and enjoyed a few days of dinners together and lots of kid play time. When they pulled up the anchor Sunday morning Tomu said, “aww, they’re leaving already?” And Jade has said repeatedly, “I miss our friends Dalton & Hall.” We…

    Continue Reading…

  • We finally cut the marina cord…

    We finally cut the marina cord…

    and are living life at anchor in Matauwhi Bay, near to the town of Russell. This means that we take the kids across the channel in the morning with the dinghy. There are always less waves in the morning than the afternoon. The kids are all keen to take turns driving the dinghy, and trying…

    Continue Reading…

  • Happy Halloween!

    Happy Halloween!

    Well, here in New Zealand they don’t really celebrate Halloween, though there were a few parties at restaurants including costume contests (we didn’t go to any). Jade did some Halloween worksheets/coloring in school because she had a substitute teacher. Margeaux from S/V Lion’s Den organized all the boat kids in the marina to decorate trick…

    Continue Reading…

  • Boat christening party

    Boat christening party

    On Saturday evening we had friends over to christen our boat. There is a lot of superstition among sailors that it is bad luck to change a boat’s name, and there are lots of rules to be followed about proper re-naming. We had some appetizers and drinks in the cockpit, then everyone went out to…

    Continue Reading…

  • First night at an anchorage

    First night at an anchorage

    As we get to used to living on a boat and learning all the systems of this particular boat, there are a lot of firsts. Thursday a week ago we were going to go out for a docking lesson for me from Amanda, a Kiwi sailor who is quite famous. She was the rigger on…

    Continue Reading…

  • Weekend fun

    Weekend fun

    Continue Reading…

  • Out with the old…in with the older?!?

    Out with the old…in with the older?!?

    If you’ve read my blog profile (as Han so endearingly penned) it accurately mentions “Riki is looking forward to not driving a car.” With mixed emotions, I inform you that we purchased a minivan! After a few days of daily driving a loaner wagon from our friend Ted, this beauty fell into our lap. We…

    Continue Reading…

  • Public School for the Win!

    Public School for the Win!

    On Monday, October 9th, Tomu, Jade and Luz started school at Paihia School! It was a big relief when the Principal agreed to let them attend school. I had been emailing with her back and forth since July about what type of visa they would need, and it wasn’t clear that I had ultimately procured…

    Continue Reading…

  • Settling in

    Settling in

    Well, we’ve been in New Zealand for two weeks today, and it feels like we are getting the hang of life here. The first week plus was a bit rough — so many bags to unpack, but first we had to clean the cupboards of mildew. The kids played a lot of War. The Bay…

    Continue Reading…

  • 30 hours of travel

    30 hours of travel

    We made it to SeaTac, managed to check our 7 bags of 66 lbs each all the way to Auckland (for free, thanks to Riki sweet-talking the agent Ricky!!) , made it through security, and breathed a sigh of relief at the gate. I figured I would need all my strength and patience to make…

    Continue Reading…