Most of the first five weeks were taken up with looking for a boat for our adventure. We hired a very rusty Nissan and toured the country’s marinas and harbours, becoming very familiar with the road North from Auckland up to the Bay of Islands, but along the way we did managed to fit in some exploring.  Early on we invested in a little tent which became home. Tom cunningly managed to choose beachside campsites which just happened to be near good kite surfing spots he had heard about, in case we ever had a spare moment. 

We also managed to line up some sailing - within a few days of arriving in Auckland we met a lovely guy called Graeme who offered us a sail on his boat, Lavinda.  We joined Graeme and his wife Lois for a beautiful cruise up to the Bay of Islands, before heading around the top of New Zealand and down the West coast to Nelson on the South Island (a 4 day passage).    It was great to get on the water and realise that things were fairly similar over this side of the world.  Although the wild Tasman sea we had prepared ourselves for was unusually placid and calm, so much so that we couldn’t resist (Well, I had to be pushed) a quick swim off the boat in the middle of the ocean.  Imagine my horror when a few moments later, safely back on board, we saw a shark fin circling close by - check out the photographic evidence!

At the beginning of February we squeezed in a quick trip south just as we were trying to finalise the deal with buying our new boat, Kokamo.  Some relaxation in the hot springs of Rotorua prepared us for walking the Tongariro Alpine crossing the following day, through some awesome volcanic scenery. 

We climbed up to the crater of Mount Ngauruhoe which was a three hour schlep up and about a 45 minute descent, once I had got the hang of the scree running.

Then back in the car for a road trip north, for the survey and sea trial of our boat to be........