Nigel’s sister, Susan, had been in touch earlier in the year to say that good friends of hers were visiting New Zealand and would we be able to show them a few sights?

Of course we were delighted to show off our beautiful backyard.

A few messages and calls later we had discovered that Claire and Ian were in Auckland to visit their daughter and new grandson. They only had small window in which to visit us but would love to go out on the boat.

A plan was hatched and despite the beautiful blue skies showing in the photos it was nearly scuttled by the weather.

Because of a really tight time frame Nigel had taken the boat from its mooring and anchored in Urquhart Bay. As soon as Claire and Ian arrived we transferred to Taihoa intending to have a day of sailing and find a suitable anchorage for the night.

No sooner had we got on board than the heavens opened and unleashed one of the most impressive thunder and lightening displays we had ever seen. Since we were anchored close to two other boats with taller masts than ours we decided stay where we were until the storm had past. The theory being that lightening would strike the taller masts before ours.

Fortunately everyone emerged unscathed and skies quickly cleared to give us a perfect afternoon. Well, almost perfect. We had blue skies and calm seas but not enough wind to actually move the boat. So we had a gentle scenic cruise and spent the night in a beautifully calm Smugglers Bay.

After another gentle cruise back to the mooring the next morning we took our usual loop walk past the gun emplacements and along the ridge to get a bird’s eye view of our previous night’s anchorage.

And then it was time for them to leave. Far too short a visit guys. We hope you enjoyed it and we hope we can meet you in Cornwall one day.