Travel the South Island, New Zealand. Round trip in 7 days: Christchurch, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Wānaka, Manipouri, Te Anu, Dunedin and back to Christchurch.

Queenstown Church

After spending a great, action packed, few weeks with my folks from California, and driving a rental car 1089 miles (length of California) here’s a few fun facts of our own South Island, New Zealand experience. (Turn up the sound in the videos for the full effect)

The inquisitive Kea

The most lush and loudest forest was seen/heard was near Lake Te Anue, biggest waterfall seen; in the Milford Sound, tallest building and best views: Sky tower (1076 feet) best town: Wanaka, best beach: Palm Beach, Waiheke. The funniest bird: The Kea, most common house: common white painted with pickets, prettiest flower: Hydranga, most interesting building: Ponsonby Hotel/Post office (built in 1911, was robbed and the postmaster was murdered). Best lamb served: Mudbrick Winery, on Waiheke island. We took two sailing adventures here on Kalea. The wind and weather was perfect, great to share this experience with my folks.

The most evasive wildlife: Kiwi bird, most fun activity: 1,000 sheep crossing the highway, cutest couple: my parents, largest tree seen: bottle brush in Auckland. Fun Trip for sure!

A little fun fact, Kathy has family heritage from New Zealand! The below book was written by her great, great grandmother on her father’s side. It is the endearing story of Esther’s parents from Scotland, who sailed for 3 months to Dunedin, in 1875. While traveling the South Island, Kathy and her own Mother, Sue Krevitt read aloud this story, recounting the steps the ancestors took, the places they lived, the gardens they walked through, the farmlands they planted and the old little towns they lived in. Going to settlers museums, cemeteries, churches and libraries. Searching the names and facts of Kathy’s heritage was a highlight!

Another book was written by Esther’s husband, soon to be read. Both books will soon be electronically scanned and preserved.

KALEA video tour-Outremer 49, we love her so far!

Hi folks! This is the tour we promised everyone. We are sitting in an Auckland Marina, enjoying the lively city. We are busy fitting the boat for our needs. We had to learn to drive on the left side of the road, with our rental car, 😵‍💫. New Zealand is beautiful so far.

We have been doing a few boat jobs, have some bits of fun in the big city, and a ton of shopping. Kalea had some basics, but not the full Monty. Thank goodness Amazon Australia has most of what we need, they ship to NZ too.

So we were walking around Westhaven marina yesterday and dropped in a local Yacht Club for glass of wine. I looked up and said Holy Moley,
I looked around again searching for the name of the Club and it was the “Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron”. LOL


Right above our heads on the balcony was the Americas Cup!!!! Too fun and so random. The club walls were covered in hundreds of years of sailing history and trophies. The New Zealand folk take sailing very seriously and we were amazed how open the club was and how much the community is involved.
We had a very welcoming visit with a few of the members and one invited us back to see the Sail GP races here next month from the club restaurant.
Yup, gunna do that, after the holidays!

Outremer 49, our new home!

WE DID IT! 🤪😳😃😂. We are again boat owners!!!!
SV Kalea is officially ours! We had a few stops and starts but the deal finally went through today.
This boat we have drooled over for 4 months, 2011 Outremer 49.
A big thank you to Grant and Sam that are helping make the transition smooth. They are local New Zealanders, from South Africa. They sail from NZ to Fiji every sailing season to surf and live the life, in the fast lane!

Now to explore New Zealand in style…

Kalea means “happy” or “joy” in Hawaiian. Well, we sure are that! Keep pinching ourselves. We actually got lucky and found our great cruising friends who sailed all the way from Mexico with us on our last boat, Sea Bella. They were out here in Auckland for the day! They helped us celebrate our day and new life in NZ for the season.

From left, Kathy, Addicus, Adam, Scott, Jason, Candice, Ingrid.

Now, back to the new boat to finish off our contract, hand over the keys and discuss boat systems, processes, survey… all good! Better yet, all done and official.