Still in Devonport w/Graeme & Elaine & little Ben. Graeme had plans to take the day off and fish w/some friends today but ended up not being able to get out of work. So Pat went in his place and has just come home laden with fish. It's snapper for dinner tonight!!! Elaine and I had a relaxing day and visited Auckland Park...and ate ice cream.

Tomorrow begins a new phase of our journey as we head off to stay with our first 'Helpx' family. We're taking the bus to a small town called Raglan about 2.5 hours from here. We'll be staying w/Matt & Jane and their family while helping them out with various gardening/handyman things for about 5 hours a day. We'll see how it goes!

After that, next Wednesday the 17th, we head off again to Masterton which is quite far down on the South Island. It's another 'Helpx' thing with a lady named Maggie who we'll be helping with her small vineyard for a week.

After we leave Maggie's, and if the weather holds, the plan is to go 2 hours North again to Tongariro National Park and do a hike. Otherwise, we'll head straight to Wellington and get the ferry over to the South Island.

We've also made contact with a couple who runs a really cool looking winery/vineyard on the South Island. We'll head there in early March. Their place is in the middle of nowhere, about 4 hours South of Christchurch. Check out www.sublimewines.co.nz. Stay tuned!!

We've learned lots about NZ so far. One thing is that the names of the towns are very hard to pronounce, and that the letters 'Wha' are actually pronounced like 'fa'. So here are a few for you to try to say..."Whakatane" and "Whakapapa". Yes...it sounds like you think it does! ...and they make apologies on the weather forecast!

Bye for now! Not sure when I'll have internet again next but will write when I can.