Marlin capital of NZ

Whangaroa Harbor is considered the marlin capital of NZ, and I guess scenes like this are the reason why. We got to see this beast being weighed in when we returned from a couple days out on the boat with our friends Ryan and Sherie from Duluth, MN. We were lucky to get some decent sun and just enough wind to blow us over to the Cavalli Islands for a night out. We feel really lucky to have friends that are willing to come so far to check in with us. Thanks Ryan & Sherie for making it up here in your crazy van!

This blue marlin weighed in at over 300 pounds. I found out that this is a "pretty good size" but by no means a trophy fish. Looks huge to me!

Cannonballs and various cookie eating contests both proved to be popular activities.

Ryan and Martin overlooking the entrance to Whangaroa Harbor.

Winds were light enough that we got to fly the spinnaker for a couple hours on our return to Whangaroa Harbor.

Happy New Year!

We were delighted to have visitors for New Year's Eve this year. Our friends Grace & Guy Evans came down for a visit from Utah. We were psyched to see them and spend some time catching up. We're also grateful that they agreed to haul our mountain bikes down (yeah! first dirt ride in a year today). We endured some pretty rainy weather initially, but had good times nonetheless. Luckily, the sun broke out over the weekend and we got to spend a couple days on Pau Hana in a beautiful bay in Whangaroa Harbor. Now they're off to adventure around the south island in a van. Thanks for coming Guy, Grace & Chestnut!

Rainy day activities included visiting a Kauri forest near our place. Kauri trees are the biggest and oldest in NZ, some are more than 1,000 years old.

Rere Bay, Whangaroa Harbor
There's a river that you can paddle up at high tide into an estuary that's full of birds and fish.

Entrance to Whangaroa Harbor from the highpoint on the Duke's Nose. It's about a 20 minute hike from the water with some easy 5th class climbing to get to the top. Team Evans & Martin pulled it off in flip-flops.

Grace Rich (soon to be Evans)

Guy in Rere Bay