For the second year in succession we are fortunate to be spending our Northern Hemisphere winter in a New Zealand summer, thus avoiding not only the weather, with a storm in Marmaris and snow in the UK, but also any prospect of being able to do much maintenance work on the boat.
We started our trip with a brief stay in San Francisco on the way over. This allowed us to catch our breath and see something of this beautiful and interesting city.
On arrival in New Zealand, in mid December, we stayed with John's daughter Jacqui, husband Rowan, and the two boys Oscar and Fergus. They have now moved in to their house, which was moved in March 2008 onto its present site in two halves. It has now been extensively refurbished to the point where it is more than habitable, but much work remains to be done.
Mo and I lived in the caravan parked beside the back door, while helping out where possible with rubbish removal, paint stripping and re-painting, and latterly with putting up plasterboard (Gib in Kiwi-speak). We also provided some child care assistance and took the boys out on trips occasionally.
John's son, Mike, and Lisa are still working on their house, and during this period we were able to help with putting up the 'Hardigroove' lining on their sitting room ceiling, which is double height and required a scissor-lift to make it possible. They too have moved in with limited accomodation.
We all visited Lisa's parents for Christmas Day, and enjoyed a trip out to inspect the farm on their quadbikes before returning north on Boxing Day.
Click here for last year's experiences.