We are into a new year of adventure

I went back to work yesterday, and by 2pm it felt like I never even had a break. I don't want to start off my very first post for the year on a negative note, and since I've been laying a little bit low over the last 2-3 weeks as far as updating this blog is concerned it doesn't mean I've not taken photos of our adventures of that time. So to get myself started back into the rhythm I'm going to have to do a bit of catching up on my editing and posting. I've been shooting in RAW image format since May 2013 and I must admit its quite a bit more work than just processing straight JPG files. But the good news is that I have been learning a lot and expanding my editing skills, and that is always a good thing (even if sometimes it feels like a whole lot of effort for not much gain). What I do know is that I want a new camera! I have pretty much outgrown the Nikon I've been using, and I've extended the usage by getting a 50mm prime lens half way through 2012 when I was itching for another camera. But now I'm just frustrated with the camera's capabilities, and I'm ready for an upgrade. Yay, something to be excited about and look forward to. Anyway...

Motoihe Island

We sailed there on 27th December and stayed the night. It was fabulous to get out on the boat for a stretch.

Rakino Island

I love how we have so many options for sailing and anchorage in the Hauraki Gulf. The next day we sailed over to Rakino Island. We anchored at West Bay in the late afternoon to shelter from the wind. I tried my had at fishing too. In the past we have not been successful at all, but not this time. After throwing back a few under sized ones I finally caught a keeper!

The winds picked up and it howled all through the night. In the wee early hours (I think it was around 5:30am) we were awoken by a thud. The wind had come around overnight and the boat that was anchored close by was now hitting us! What was strange was that they had all their crew onboard in their wet weather gear and with their engine running, and the skipper was telling Jef that he couldn't get his anchor up because ours was over it. But they hadn't bothered putting any fenders out, and I reckon they were motoring up close to us to try and get their anchor free and bunted us. It was bucketing down, and here I was trying to clip our fenders to our boat stanchions when it was barely light enough to see anything and the rain was hitting me so heavily it actually hurt. Jef pulled up the anchor line a bit and all of a sudden our boats parted. Luckily no damage was done, but boy oh boy that was a bit scary. Our first "incident" on the boat.

That morning it was still drizzling but the sun started to show itself. It was Kien's birthday.



Jef pumped up the dingy and we went ashore.



We went over to Woody Bay on the other side of the island.













We stayed another night in West Bay. There were people who moved around to Woody Bay thinking it was going to be calmer there, but we had such a peaceful night.

The following day we decided to head back to Auckland. The weather was turning. We could see the dark clouds coming even through we were sitting in beautiful blue skies and sunshine. We sailed straight through them, into the wind doing over 7 knots with the boat leaning like anything. It was exhilarating (and a tad scary for a novice like me). Good thing Jef is a seasoned sailor.