And in the blink of an eye, it’s all over. We went back to the UK for 4 months. 7 years of gallivanting irresponsibly had caught up with the Bank of Dave and Helen so pennies (and pounds) were needed for the empty coffers. That’s why there has been radio silence for a while. Hello again.

Here I sit back on Grace in Nelson Marina in South Island New Zealand. Dave is playing with new self tailing winches. The sky is blue. The sun beats down its powerful rays. There’s a stiffish breeze and summer is on its way. It was getting rainy and windy (an understatement given the recent weather the UK has had) so running back to an upcoming summer was an attractive prospect.

Summer in the UK was fun though. And work did take place. Including….. an International Summer School at Reading University, erecting Tipi’s, decorating a skanky student house, some landscaping and some gardening, a day putting up sheds, being a car parking attendant plus some event and training work. We were very grateful for parents letting us stay and litter their personal space in Hexham and Blyth.

We snuck in some UK travel and fun times too. A lovely week in Cornwall, a week in the Thames valley plus seeing lots of friends and family along the way. We miss you all.

What next you cry? And even if you don’t I’m about to tell you. Well in the immediate future we need to finish putting Grace back together, having taken all the sails off and pretty much emptied her contents into a storage unit …..just in case. She behaved impeccably on a mooring in the haven in Nelson harbour while we were away. The new canvas work has started and the upholstery renew starts next week. Job’s delayed from before we went back to the UK.

Once we’re all shipshape we’ll do some sailing around the Marlborough Sounds and Able Tasman area then we’ll be looking for a weather window to get down to Fiordland and Stewart Island. Grace will need to be in great shape for a trip south as it’s pretty remote.

So that’s us for now. Do say hello. X