We've arrived!!!

Dear all,

 

After my rant about arriving on a bank holiday in Fiji, you’d never guess what we’d done again in Vanuatu!! Yip, Monday 30th July is Independence day, and a public holiday in Vanuatu!!!

We are all very glad to get here and relax. The island looks and feels very Caribbean, the anchorage is good and we all slept very well last night is despite the late night / early morning partying from the adjacent shore!!

 

Hope everybody is well at home and enjoying the Olympics,

 

Lots of love,

 

Ocean Lady

Bye bye Fiji, Vanuatu here we come!!

Hello Everyone

 

After leaving Musket Cove we went to a little village that we had previously

visited, Margaret had bought a few gifts for them, some old school books,

and had printed off some photos of them that we had taken on our last visit

which they were delighted to receive, and was really lovely to see. They saw

our boat moor up alongside their beach and actually remembered us from over

a month ago. The ladies made us some bracelets out of pandana leaves as a

souvenir.

 

Tuesday we set off for our first offshore passage to Vanuatu.  It took us

around 6 hours to get to the reef pass and this was a delightful sail, wind

at 18 knots force 4 on the beam, we could all handle this we thought!! We

had a tricky exit through the reef pass with another yacht entering on the

transit line, showing wrong running lights and then shinning a bright torch

in our eyes!! Great!On exiting the pass night descended upon us and bought

with it hurricane force winds (note it wasn't a hurricane, just winds

reached up to force 11) lightening and torrential rain!!! Day 2 continued

much them same, slightly lighter winds the storm sail remained up, and still

torrential rain, weather that wasn't at all predicted. We were delighted to

wake this morning to the sun shining, and finally we were all able to have a

shower! the good news is Ocean Lady keeps us nice and safe in such strong

weather! well done her!!!

 

Tonight Stu is cooking lamb chops and roast potatoes, moral is all good on

board!

 

Hope all is well at home

 

Ocean Lady

 

Bye bye Fiji, Vanuatu here we come!!

Hello Everyone

After leaving Musket Cove we went to a little village that we had previously
visited, Margaret had bought a few gifts for them, some old school books,
and had printed off some photos of them that we had taken on our last visit
which they were delighted to receive, and was really lovely to see. They saw
our boat moor up alongside their beach and actually remembered us from over
a month ago. The ladies made us some bracelets out of pandana leaves as a
souvenir.

Tuesday we set off for our first offshore passage to Vanuatu. It took us
around 6 hours to get to the reef pass and this was a delightful sail, wind
at 18 knots force 4 on the beam, we could all handle this we thought!! We
had a tricky exit through the reef pass with another yacht entering on the
transit line, showing wrong running lights and then shinning a bright torch
in our eyes!! Great!On exiting the pass night descended upon us and bought
with it hurricane force winds (note it wasn't a hurricane, just winds
reached up to force 11) lightening and torrential rain!!! Day 2 continued
much them same, slightly lighter winds the storm sail remained up, and still
torrential rain, weather that wasn't at all predicted. We were delighted to
wake this morning to the sun shining, and finally we were all able to have a
shower! the good news is Ocean Lady keeps us nice and safe in such strong
weather! well done her!!!

Tonight Stu is cooking lamb chops and roast potatoes, moral is all good on
board!

Hope all is well at home

Ocean Lady

Back in Fiji

Dear all,

 

Just to let you know We are all back safely in Fiji enjoying the delights of Musket Cove, an exclusive resort. Stu and Laura went off and hired some stand up paddle boards this afternoon, which was a giggle.

 

We are planning on heading to Vanuatu early this week once we have cleared out of customs.

 

Hope everybody at home is well,

 

Love Ocean Lady

 

New Zealand - Part Two

Dear all,

 

Hope you are all well. New Zealand has been treating us well. Once we left Queenstown we headed over to the east coast, where the temperature was much more comfortable (being above zero!!) We headed over to Oamaru to see the boulders that have been created into near perfect spheres.

 

Oamaru Boulders

 

From here we headed up the east coast back to Picton and back over to the north island. On reaching the north island we headed up towards Lake Taupo where we enjoyed some naturally heated hot spring pools. Before heading up to the Coramandel coast.

 

Cathedral Cove, Coramandel Coast

 

The view from the top of Mt Maunganui, Coramandel Coast

 

Again another stunning part of the country and so stunning that Stu decided to propose to Laura! Fortunately she said yes. We then headed back to Auckland where Claire had a surprise for us, a meal in the revolving restaurant in the sky tower. Sky tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere overlooking Auckland. The food was magnificent and a great surprise. Thank you Claire and Paul for making an already special day just awesome!!!

The view from the sky tower

 

We have now had a great weekend chilling in Auckland and sorting bits and bobs out ready to return to Ocean Lady this week.

Messing around in Devonport

 

Auckland as viewed from Devonport

 

Hope everyone at home is well,

Love Stu and Laura xxx

 

 

Photos from last week:

 

Every corner has a wow factor, just one of the many lakes we have seen.

 

State Highway 6, a great road trip

 

Fox Glacier

 

More Wow factors

 

Lake Wanaka

 

On the coach tour to Milford sound, cold and snowy – perfect

 

Milford Sound

 

Milford Sound – absolutely stunning

 

 

 

 

New Zealand - part one

>> Dear all,
>> Sorry for the delay in telling you about New Zealand but once again we have been very busy.
>> After an early flight to Auckland which took just over three hours we were met by Laura's friends Claire and Paul. They have been so welcoming and have lots of knowledge of NZ. Claire and Paul have lent us their campervan and after a few days in Auckland to enjoy a proper bed ( the first time since October) and home comforts we headed up to the Northlands and Cape Reinga. The way to describe New Zealand is 'exciting' and 'wow' every turn has a new view that is as good as as the last, if not better. The number of times our breath has been taken away is countless. There are hundreds of photos to plough through and pick our favourites so photos will have to wait for another day.
>> After a few days doing the northlands - anywhere north of Auckland we headed back to pick up Paul and Claire. After a heavy night in Auckland city enjoying the bars around the viaduct the four of us headed down south to Ohakune for an overnight stop before heading down to Wellington for Sunday evening, Paul and Claire flew home for another week at work while Stu and Laura waited for the Monday morning ferry across the Cook Strait. Apparently captain cook didn't even sail across the cook strait so we don't feel like cheats!!
>> On arriving in Picton we took a nice drive along Kenepuru sound before meeting up with stu's friend from uni, Ian. A great evening was had chatting and catching up before retiring to the campervan in Ians driveway.
>> The following day we headed down state highway six towards the Fox Glacier. This has to be one of our favourite roads of all time, the views were amazing!!
>> After a long day driving we dropped into a local pub to check that there ale was ok:-)
>> The following day we did a glacier walk up the fox glacier which was fantastic - again photos to follow.
>> Since the glacier walk we have continued to head south, there is snow on the roadside, frost every morning and beautiful snow covered mountains on the horizon. Today we have been on a coach tour to Milford Sound and a boat ride out to the mouth of the sound. Once again extremely beautiful and photos to follow.
>>
>> Hope everyone at home is well,
>>
>> Lots of love,
>> Stu and Laura
>> Xxx