TWO WEEKS WORTH.

Having left Whitianga we had three reefs in the main and reefed in the genoa and  had a good sail in a lumpy sea with winds gusting at about 35 knots at times and the odd rain squall coming through.  We then dropped anchor for the night in the most sheltered bay we could find, Sandy Bay in Port Charles but still with a bit of rolling sea coming in.  The following day was forecast with good 15 knot winds in the right direction, sadly we ended up motoring much of the way as this wind did not happen.

We arrived back at Gulf Harbour Marina to await the arrival of THE OVEN!!  It arrived eventually on the following Monday, had a bit of delay with clearance and then sat at the DHL depot, they then said it was on its way and that we would receive it soon, but we needed a definite date as everything closes down for Easter.  After finding out that it was not going to be delivered to the marina until after all the offices had closed we decided to drive down to the delivery depot and pick it up ourselves.

Meanwhile, we headed off to Sydney for a wonderful family wedding in Pittwater, perfect weather, a beautiful wedding with the Bride deciding her dress should be 'Christian Dior New Look' it was lovely with the adult bridesmaids also wearing coballt blue retro dresses as well.  The wedding took place in the garden of her parents in law under a tree, dancing and dining after at a nearby hotel.  It was lovely to see some of the family and catch up on news, also Jonathan's sister managed to bring the post out for us, lots of late Christmas cards!

We spent Friday night at a new friend's house where she had organised a fantastic dinner party for us and other friends we had met on Great Barrier Island via our old friends the Grays, a riotous  evening with lots of laughs and fun, fortunately we stayed the night as neither of us were in a fit state to drive after.

New oven in and fitted and now we are ready to start heading north to The Bay of Islands slowly.  But will be returning here at the end of the year as we have not seen enough yet and would like to head south a bit as well.