A sleek motor launch pulled into our bay this morning with Bill & Johanna Strassberg aboard. We had been trying to fix a rendezvous for the last few days and finally our plans coincided for a walk around the coastal paths and posh Waiheke wineries followed by tea and scones on board Shimshal. We first met Bill at our Scottish BBQ in 2019. We then met them both near their home in Maine when we did our wintery cycle ride to Canada in 2022. It was wonderful to catch up again here in NZ on a fine and blustery.
An ex-tropical cyclone, well east of NZ, is blasting strong southerly winds up the east coast and blocking our progress south towards Nelson. So, instead of battling against the weather, we have cancelled our South Island marina reservation and booked ourselves back into Whanagerai from mid-March. We will leave the boat there (at Riverside Drive) and fly down to Christchurch for a land based trip to Nelson and the Marlborough Sounds. That gives us 2 more weeks of idyllic cruising around Great Barrier Island and other gems in the Huaraki Gulf. All good!
