How do you hide a 100-ft. yacht?

Answer: Don't ask Bip.

Back in Auckland after a 10-day road trip around New Zealand's subtropical Northland. Our travels brought us to countless sandy beaches, down windy country roads and through innumerable rolling green hills speckled with cows and sheep. We spent three days in the touristy Bay of Islands, timing it well as the season is starting to wind down and crowds were thinning slightly. I tried again to swim with dolphins but this time was foiled by the presence of nursing calves. Oh well. Some things have to remain on my bucket list so I have things in life to look forward to, I suppose.

Another highlight of the trip north was getting to see New Zealand's famous kauri trees. After days of sunny green pastures and gleaming beaches, it felt so great to be in the cool forested shade. We did a few hikes of varying lengths in the huge kauri reserve on the west coast to appease my hiking-lust and even got to see Tane Mahuta, a kauri estimated to be 2000 years old! Most of the old-growth forests have been harvested first for spars and later for timber, so it was a pretty special thing to get to see a number of very, very old trees.

We're back in Auckland now for a few days at least, trying to adjust back to the sight of people, cars and pavement (all of which were at a minimum in the sparsely-populated Northland). Last night we were lucky enough to go on a sunset sail of the harbor on-board a sleek Thompson 30 with a bunch of friendly Kiwis. The breeze kicked up just as we tacked at one point and we got a free bonus of a man-overboard procedure: one of our crew members slipped right in-between the lifelines and splashed into the water behind us! Fortunately we were in capable hands and our skipper had her back aboard within 30 seconds. It was a beautiful sail and it was great fun to hang out with some really friendly folks. Today we tried to find a yacht Bip knows of that we were told could be found at a marina just down the coast, but unfortunately had no luck. We're impressed that Kiwis are able to hide their yachts from prying Americans, no matter how huge they might be.

Plans for the future might involve taking a train right down the length of the North Island to Wellington. I'm certainly feeling a bit overwhelmed by this city after such a placid excursion into the countryside. Hopefully we'll get to connect with Donna and Nat and Betsy before we fly out in just over a week. I'm really looking forward to Willamette and then Alaska- it's just around the corner!