Feb 15 - March 1 Ahh New Zealand. What a magical place. We coast hopped from Bay of Islands to Aukland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Picton, Christchurch, Dunedin and Milford Sound.

Here are my highlights:

-The Art Deco Festival in Napier where the whole town dresses up to match the local Architecture. Vaudville in the bandshell on the beach and vintage cars chug and toot up and down the streets

-Visiting Hobbiton! Hobbit Houses and the Green Lantern Pub. What more could a life long fiction junkie ask for

-Having tea and a garden tour with the woman who resuscitated the incredible Larnach Castle in Dunedin

-Riding the Cable Car in Wellington

-Kayaking in the majestic beauty of Queen Charlotte Sound

-Experiencing Quake City in Christchurch

-And last but not least, gliding up Milford Sound, awed by the dramatic landscape and doing a little spin by the waterfall at the end before we floated on out again.

Then there was the wild ride across the Tasman Sea to Hobart. Twenty-something foot rollers. Try teaching an art class in that! But this ship is full of troopers, and we rocked on. I loved it.

Hobart was also fantastic. More kayaking, this time along the waterfront to the city’s inner harbour, where we had fish and chips delivered straight to our boats! So fun. Afterwards we wandered the Salamanca Market, full of great shops and galleries, then tucked into a classic British pub for a pie and a pint.

Day two was for the MONA, The Museum of Old and New Art. It is for sure the coolest museum I’ve ever visited. The design of the building is a huge part of the experience, the thought put in to how a person arrives and moves through a space. I’m glad to be going back there later this year for more time there. As for the art, it is radically diverse. And, without wanting to sound like a grade niner, let’s just say I know a lot more about the potential varieties of female anatomy than I did going in. Fabulous.

A two day sail, a quick stop in Eden, then we had the absolute pleasure of sailing in to Sydney Harbour where this segment ends and our next begins.