Thoughts

We have seen and done so much over the last 20 weeks. Our family has spent every day of this time together, sharing incredible experiences as well as challenges (getting a 9 year old to do schoolwork outside of school is like pulling teeth!!) and we think we have grown as a family, as a couple and as boys. There is a great, wide world out there with so much to see. We're glad we are able to at least open a 'window' to that world for them, to crack open the door to what's out there and in doing so, help them appreciate how wonderful it is to live in the Gorge.
Next year Liam will be in high school and extended trips will no longer be as possible due to schoolwork, team sports, or who knows - he may no longer want to travel with his us or leave his friends for too long! We are glad we took the time to go on this adventure. We are very fortunate to have been able to and we appreciate that. Our memories will last us a lifetime.

Raiatea Lodge Hotel

Sunshine, air conditioning, solid ground under our feet....these were some of the highlights of the last days we spent on our extended vacation! We stayed in a beautiful hotel looking out at the ocean, used their kayaks to paddle over to a nearby motu and snorkel, swam in the pool, and caught up on schoolwork.
We are all looking forward to going home at this point, a little nervous maybe, but looking forward to seeing our friends, family, the cat and our house that we have spent less time in than we've been gone on this trip!

Bora Bora

We were sick of the rain and tired of bumping into coral heads and after a brief snorkel stop, we headed back to the base where we had started out. Ahhhh, a night with air conditioning, dinner out with a great jazz band to listen to and no worries of dragging anchor as we were safe in the marina!
Then we set out on our biggest crossing yet - to Bora Bora! It wasn't so bad until we were in a little squall, but at least we saw blue skies through it and knew it wouldn't last long! We made it around the reef and into the lagoon where we picked up a mooring ball in front of the Bora Bora Yacht Club. I think Yacht Club here just means a restaurant that has mooring balls and maybe a hose for water! To pay for the mooring you have to have dinner there - and Tahiti is the most expensive place we have ever been to! A burger with fries will put you back $22US!! But we were all in favour of a night out and it was way too deep to anchor so we stayed!
The next morning we made our way around the island within the lagoon to my favourite anchorage. We traveled across very shallow waters, making our journey slow going, as I stood on the bow calling out coral heads and a few passing rays. We put down our anchor along with a few other boats on a sandy bottom bay off of a little motu (island/cay) on the reef, in the shadow of the peaks of Bora Bora. When snorkeling out at the reef we saw some great fish and a couple moray eels. Later when Mike went he saw same black tipped sharks! He was happy that he was still in the dinghy at the time!

Taha'a to Raiatea

We stayed in a quiet bay on Taha'a and in the morning headed to a couple of motu for a 'drift' snorkel. The current moved swiftly from the ocean, between two islands and into the lagoon. We swam through this channel carried by the current, trying to take in all the beautiful fish and coral along the way without bumping into it! Nigel was waiting in the dinghy in the lagoon for us, in the pouring rain! It was easier to see the fish underwater than to see Nigel in the rain!
Afterwards we took a mooring ball at the Hibiscus Club, which was quite a unique place, with Leo the proprietor, an interesting person. He welcomed us and served us the best meal we'd had so far -a complete lagoon fish (a large jack fish I think) surrounded by plantain, sweet potato and taro, enough to serve the entire group of 6, starting with sashimi and salad and followed by Creme brûlée!
The next morning Mike, Rose, Rory and I took a taxi 'tour' of the island in the pouring rain!! ending up at a pearl farm for a 'tour' in the pouring rain!! Back at the Hibiscus Club afterwards, Leo talked Mike into donating money to buy a rescued turtle so that we could take it aboard the 'Jolie Brise' and release it into the freedom of the lagoon! Mike and Rory named the turtle 'Spot' and after Leo tagged him for research purposes, we wrapped him in a wet towel, motored out of the bay into the lagoon and, fins flapping, set him free!
Tired of the rain, we headed back to the base in Raiatea!

Bora Bora to Taha'a

The next day the boys and I snorkeled around the coral heads in the bay before we headed back the way we came, stopping to snorkel on coral shelf on the way. We stopped briefly in the main town of Viatape for provisions before heading past the big cruise ship in the lagoon, to our anchorage for the evening. We chose a mooring ball in front of 'Bloody Mary's', a famous restaurant, and were glad we did because that night we had thunder storms and were whipped around on the mooring ball!
We motored to a motu for some snorkeling the next day but returned to Bloody Mary's for the night again, this time going in for dinner. It was pretty fancy with prices to match but the only celebrities we spotted were Rose Blackwell and Mike Hauty!
The next morning we made the crossing to Taha'a. They seas were not calm and it rained most of the way so most of us remained below in our cabins, not moving unless we had to!

Huahine

An anthropologist named Paul took us for an island tour of Huahine, showing us maraes (ancient places of worship built by the Polynesian people where they had human sacrifices!), the museum, ancient stone fish traps, great views of the island which is effectually two islands connected by a bridge, and the sacred blue eyed eels, which do bite as Mike found out! Paul explained to us the history of French Polynesia and Huahine as well as the political, social and economic situation of today in such a way that even the boys were interested in the stories of Captains Cook and Bligh and we have to remember to watch 'Mutiny on the Bounty' when we return!
We had a couple of rainy days in Huahine and then headed back through an opening in the reef, across the open sea to the other side of Raiatea, to a bay with a river flowing into it. We met a local, paddling his outrigger canoe, who invited us to tour his family's plantation the next day which we did. We headed out in our dinghy in the pouring rain! The river was shallow and almost like a cave along some stretches where the vegetation hung far over the water from both banks! We followed Jim to a little dock where he showed us a small garden with pineapple and sweet potatoes, and a hillside covered with noni and coconut trees. He showed us greenhouses full of vanilla plants, then led us further up the river to another area with ginger, bananas, papaya, breadfruit, cocoa beans and star fruit, which Rory ate a bunch of! After some fresh coconut juice, we followed Jim to his friends place, who picked us some grapefruit, guava and lychees. Despite the rain we were all very happy with Jims tour; his English wasn't great but we managed to learn quite a bit and the coconut juice was cool and refreshing!

Tahiti

We arrived in Papeete, Tahiti and flew to the island of Raiatea the next day. We stayed in a little self contained bungalow on the beach and went swimming immediately upon arrival to escape the heat and humidity. There were kayaks and snorkel gear at our disposal which Rory made quick use of! At the end of the pier was a zip line out over the water! That was great fun for the boys, sometimes even at the same time!
We hooked up with Rosé and Mike the next day, provisioned and then joined them for dinner at the restaurant at their hotel which included a Tahitian dance and music show. It was a good show even though Liam, Mike and I were all chosen to partake in the audience participation part of the evening!

Sailing!

On Saturday, April 27th, we set sail! We left the harbour and motored over to a couple of motu (islands) beside Taha'a, staying within the lagoon the whole time. After dropping anchor the boys went snorkeling, Rory's new favourite sport!
Next day we made the 3 and 1/2 hour crossing to the island of Huahine. We went through a pass in the reef, crossing from dark blue ocean waters to the turquoise waters of the lagoon within the reef. A group of dolphins greeted us upon our arrival before we dropped anchor in the bay near the town of Fare.
We dinghied over to the reef for a snorkel session and Mike spotted a moray eel we all got to see, as well as tons of beautiful fish. On the way back the dolphins were out again but this time entertained up us with flips, tail spins and jumps!

Good-bye New Zealand

After traveling up the west coast we arrived in Auckland to spend our last two nights with our 'New Zealand family', Karen, David, Lauren and Helena White. Their hospitality and the friendship they shared with us during our time here has made this trip more memorable and will remain with us forever.

Karen managed to whip up a Sunday night roast beef dinner on a Tuesday, and on the Wednesday we cooked dinner for them and the Duffy's as a small thank-you.
Our last night in New Zealand was spent with good friends, some old and some new, sharing stories, laughs and New Zealand wine one last time before we flew off to Tahiti.

Hopefully it won't be 20 years until we see them again, we would love to show them beautiful Oregon!

Northbound

Our travels around the South Island are winding to an end. Fall has really arrived now, bringing grey, rainy days. Luckily we had sunny weather through almost our entire trip, right up to Kikoura, our last 'destination'. The locals and our friends tell us that we've had an incredible run with the sun - this has been their best summer-fall ever, because of the drought.
We've been making our way slowly up the east coast, staying on beautiful beaches that remind us of Oregon - mostly because of the weather! The hikes we've been going on have been shorter and we come back soaked by the rain, but there are still awesome views to see, we just can't see as far as on the clear days but the clouds and mist make them quite dramatic.

By highway, its only about 20 minutes from Blenheim to Picton. Because we have the luxury of time, we were able to spend two days taking the scenic coastal route. Half of the road is metal (gravel), half sealed (paved) and winds up and down the hills dropping into numerous little coves and fishing villages looking out into the Queen Charlotte Sound, part of the Marlborough Sounds. We stopped at a DOC (dept. of conservation; very basic) campsite and spent the night, checking out the hike to the viewpoint and beach walk to the rock arch. Today we drove the remainder of the route, stopping at scenic outlooks - looking out at what we admired on our way to the island 7 weeks ago from the ferry.
It's bittersweet leaving the South Island, a place that is hard to describe with words alone but we are looking forward to seeing our friends the Whites and the Duffy's, and we still have our Tahiti adventure ahead.

Kaikoura

We are enjoying this town so much we decided to stay for our third night! Kaikoura sits on a peninsula with the snowcapped Seaward Kaikoura Range rising, as if from the ocean, behind it. When we arrived it was cloudy and raining but we woke up to a gorgeous sunny day yesterday so we went for a hike along the coast and cliffs of the Kaikoura peninsula. We climbed up hills from which we could see whales spouting in the distance and seals on the rocks below us.
On the way back along the coast to town we stopped at a little BBQ seafood vendor and tried paua (abalone) fritters and whitebait fritters for our first time, and some great seafood chowder. Afterwards, the boys, including Nigel as usual, played tag at the coolest park in NZ so far!
Today we skyped our families, got haircuts and then went to a very small, non commercial sheep shearing show, to watch the sheep get haircuts too! It's amazing how much wool comes off these animals!
The best part of the day was watching the baby seals play in the waterfall at Ohau up the coast from here! Hundreds of baby seals too young to go out into the ocean, clamber up this fresh water stream about 300 meters, over rocks and logs to reach the pool at the bottom of the falls. In the waterfall pool there must be at least 30 baby seals. They play, swim, jump, twirl, twist, fight, all the time skillfully avoiding collisions. They are so fun and happy it just makes you smile.