En route to visit our friends David and Sheila (Catenza) in Whangarai, we spend a day in Auckland, sorting out a few boat items and going up the Skytower, which we hadn't done before.

We resist the temptation to do the jump!

An afternoon is spent at Kelly Tarlton's aquarium.

A couple of days at Sheila and David's superb house overlooking Whangarei harbour and Catenza's mooring is a welcome and relaxing interlude, with walks on the beach and a chance to catch up on news since we last saw them in Musket Cove.

We are again at Riet's for Christmas and New Year, catching up with her friends and having a relaxing time.

The new year is seen in in style, complete with piper!

We drove to Wellington on a grey Sunday, intending to take the ferry on the Monday. However a violent storm hit the Wellington area on Sunday night, causing extensive flooding, landslips and general disruption. The ferries were cancelled and the next available sailing was on the Wednesday. Our friends therefore put us up for 2 extra days.

Once over the ferry the route took us to Blenheim and then to Greymouth on the west coast, where there was once again severe rain and the only accommodation available was some 30 km outside town.

With more bad weather forecast for the west we cut our losses and headed back over Arthur's pass to Christchurch.

Christchurch seem very much modelled on Oxford and Cambridge, there is even punting on the river.

We hoped to take the cable car up the hill outside Christchurch for the view, but it is closed because of high winds. We go to Lytleton instead, visiting the signal station.

We take a detour out onto the Banks Peninsula, visiting the town of Akaroa, with a decidedly French influence, before staying at a homestay at Okains Bay on the north coast. The road down from the top ridge is so steep that we are concerned whether our old car will make it back up.

In the village at Okains Bay there is one of the best museums of maori artifacts in the whole of New Zealand. Well worth the visit

Then it's down to Timaru and Oamaru for penguin watching. The yellow eyed came ashore just before dusk and climb up quite a long way to their nests . There is a hide to watch them from and a volunteer takes a small group near to one of the nests for a (fairly) close up.

Watching the little blues is rather more commercialised. This is done from a viewing centre, set up like a theatre and there is commentary. The nesting site is artificial and is closely monitored. They comeashore about an hour after dusk, but do not seem to mind the lights.

The route to Wanaka takes us through Tekapo, where we spend three nights overlooking the lake.

This is a base for a trip up to the foot of Mount Cook and the terminus of the Tasman Glacier. From the viewing area you cannot actually see any ice,as it is all covered with rubble.

On the day we leave the highlight of our stay in Tekapo is a flight over Mount Cook and the glaciers, for which we have excellent weather

On the way from Tekapo to Wanaka it is a short diversion to the clay cliffs at Paritea, where the clay has been eroded into deep ravines and pinnacles.

From Wanaka we take short trips up the river, on both sides and down to Queenstown. On the northern side of the River Dart from Wanaka, we pass through the village of Paradise and up to the campsite at the end of the road.

The road over the hills between Wanaka and Queenstown is one of the highest in New Zealand passing one of the smaller ski areas, Cardroba. A short diversion from this road takes in the historic gold mining town of Arrowtown, very touristy

We much prefer the smaller town of Wanaka to the more commercialised Queenstown

We leave Wanaka early as we need to be at Manapouri by noon. The route takes us over the hills to Queenstown, down the side of Lake Wakatipu and then over the plateau to Te Anau and on to Manapouri.

The scenery becomes increasingly bleak as we head over the plateau.

At Manapouri we check in for our cruise on Doubtful Sound, then move the car up to the long term car park.

The overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound commences with a boat ride across Lake Manapouri to the site of the hydroelectric power station, then a coach trip over the hills before we finally board the actual cruise boat.

The cruise takes us down to the mouth of the "sound" (it is not actually a sound - a sunken river - rather it is a fiord, carved out by a glacier). We see penguins and seals on islets near the mouth. It has not rained much so the waterfalls are not very impressive, but there are a lot of them.

The boat then turns round, past the site of a recent strength 7 earthquake on Spectacle Island, which caused a major landslip, and anchors in one of the sheltered arms of the fiord. There is a choice of a guided nature tour in the tenders, or kayaking. We opt for the guided trip.

An excelent dinner is followed by a nature talk and nightcaps.

The next morning the boat goes up one of the other arms, switching off all on-board noise so that passengers can experience the silence of the wilderness.

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After the return trip to Manapouri we head north through Te Anau and up the road to Milford Sound. This is a most impressive route over the Fiordland mountains. Although it is summer there are still snow drifts beside the road, particularly at the entrance to the tunnel at the top of the pass.

Milford Sound, although much more visited, is significantly smaller than Doubtful Sound.

By the time we get there it is fairly late in the afternoon, so we do not take a boat trip, satisfying ourselves with photos of Mitre Peak.

Later in the year when we were in the UK we saw an almost identical photo in the Daily Telegraph claiming to be near Rotorua.  We got no reply to our email pointing out the error.

There is a path along the base of the cliffs leading to an impressive waterfall

The route to The Catlins takes us down to the southern coast and through Invercargill.

The back road through this area passes some fairly undeveloped areas.

Cathedral Cave is a huge sea cave on a beautiful beach only accessible at low water through Maori land for a small fee.

Jacks Blowhole is a very large collapsed cave, 55 metres deep, 144 metres long and 68 metres wide, 200 metres from the present shoreline.

Running short of time we drive direct from the Catlins to Christchurch, stopping only briefly in Dunedin.

The next day we move on again to Kaikora.

Kaikora has well-organised tourist attractions, based on marine wildlife. The deep trench close inshore produces ample nutirents.

Just outside the town is a large seal colony. It seems as if there is a "duty seal" acting as a subject for photographs.

The whale watching is very well organised and gurantees a sighting, or your money back.

The whales are sperm whales. They spend about 10 minutes on the surface then dive down into the trench, staying down for about 40 minutes.

In about and hour and a half we have four sightings of three different whales

After the whales we move on to smaller marine mammals, a large group of Hectors dolphins.

North of Kaikora we pass a seal nursery, where young male seals congregate. Close by there is a stall selling crayfish, which we buy for our hosts in Wellington.

The ferry trip back to North Island is uneventful, with good views of the Queen Charlotte Sound and Cook Strait. As is typical the Cook Strait is windy.

Our friends, Steve and Margaret Watson, who we worked with in the late 70s in Algeria, make us very welcome in Wellington.

There are dragon boat races in the harbour, with lots of supporting stalls and entertainment.

The cable car up to the botanical gardens is an easy way to get good overall views.

Doing the tourist thing we visit the Lord of the Rings exhibition in the national museum, Te Papa. This gives a fascinating background into how the film was made. We spent so much time in there that we did not have time to see much more of the museum.

We also went round the parliament building. It was indicative of how low a terrorist risk New Zealand considers itself to be that we had got to within about 20 feet of the sitting chamber before anyone took our bags. We had to hunt around to find someone to give them back.

With Richard having to be in Auckland for medical tests we drive stright back to Tauranga. The next morning Richard has to get a split tyre on the car fixed before driving to Auckland. He makes it in time for his appointment though.

A few days later, with another medical appointment for Richard, we are again in Auckland.

By coincidence it is also the time of the Auckland Boat Show, for which we get free tickets from the company doing our screen.

The Pasifika festival is also taking place over the weekend. This is a large cultural festival featuring most, if not all of the South Pacific nations. There are dance, song and art displays.

It was really good good to see so many people enjoying themselves with family and friends without the influence of alcohol!

The route from Auckland to Tauranga passes through the Kagangahake Gorge. In past times this area had a thriving gold-mining industry served by a railway and sizeable town. We have driven through thge gorge several times without stopping. This time we stop and take the scenic walkway beside the river, past ruined mine workings and through the disused rail tunnel (1 km, torch recommended , which we didn't have).

Richard has his operation in Auckland on 25 March 2004, is released from hospital some two weeks later, stays a couple of days with friends of Aunt Riet's in Auckland (where Susan has been staying while he was in hospital) before Susan drives him the 5 hour trip down to New Plymouth for two month's convalescence. Susan did not allow him back on the boat for this period, but visited herself to check everything was OK.

Shortly after we arrive in New Plymouth it is Riet's 80th birthday and a party in a local hotel for her many New Zealand friends. Susan makes the speech for family as Riet will be having other parties in the UK and in Holland.

No sooner has Richard reasonably recovered than Susan decides to take the opportunity for overdue bunion surgery. She starts with the right foot, done in Tauranga under local anaesthetic. As she is on crutches for the next two months, with no weight bearing we remain at Riet's, with it being Richard's turn to spend some time at the boat, checking on the progress of the various jobs that are in hand.

When Riet sets off on her visit to Europe we house sit.

In mid-August we head off to the UK for a two month visit. We stop over in Japan, Kyoto on the way out and Tokyo on the way back.

Travelling with someone on crutches seems an excellent way of getting priority treatment through airports, as a wheelchair is available, together with someone to push it and gain access to the head of queues!

Towards the end of our UK visit we fly to Spain for a week-long reunion with most of the boat-owners we left Gibraltar with in October 2001, extremely well organised by Barry and Christianne (Coco de Mer).

In early December the Dutch community in and around Tauranga stage an enaction of the arrival of Sinter Klass and his assistant Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) from Spain. Traditionally he arrives from Spain to Holland by boat. In Tauranga his journey is somewhat shorter, from the Bridge Marina to the town quay. Volunteers have been sought to provide the boat, which unfortunately we can't do as we can't get under the intervening road bridge.

It is an extremely well-attended event with many children and adults dressed in traditional dutch costumes. Sinta Klass sets off in a horse-drawn carriage for a tour of the town, preceeded by a police car. A very good precursor to Christmas.

Once again we spend the festive season with Riet in New Plymouth.

On leaving New Plymouth Riet was persuaded to come with us back to Tauranga. We took the Forgotten World Highway (SH43) from Stratford to Tamaranui, which passes through remote areas of Wanganui National Park and is real rural New Zealand. Riet had not done this trip before, but it is one of our favourites.