Had breakfast on board, a nice full English, don’t think i’ll be seeing many of these at sea !! Said goodbye to Dave and Annie who were heading home south of Auckland. Poric had some jobs to do so dished them out to the crew, i got to strip and paint part of the furler, go half way up the missen mast to remove the light fitting and wash some lines. That earnt me two beers, a beef stew and a couple of glasses of red. Discussed our journey ahead and time at sea then it was an early night, 10 o’clock seemed to be the norm as there is little to do after dinner on a boat apart from read and write blogs. Night all.

Saturday looks like it is going to be a day of rest, not only because there were friends on board but it looks like this is the norm. Had a good wander around town and found a few bars, got talking to a local guy who had lived in New Z all his life, his father was English who had been in the RAF, been captured during the war and was a POW in Singapore. Seemed like a nice guy but then started talking about Vietnam and his experiences, started talking about all the immigrants and what was happening in New Z. Time to make a quick exit !! Spent the rest of  afternoon on the boat and had a meal with the boat owners, crew and Dave and Annie. Pounded the town and went to a few bars, found a bar with some live music and stayed until midnight. All the youngsters were just starting to come out for the evening, time for bed for me though.