51!

This time last year we were in Auckland for the celebration of a big birthday. This year it's a quieter affair but lovely nonetheless.

We anchored last night in the Kerikeri inlet, at the north end of the Bay of Islands, and enjoyed a wonderful sunset. This morning dawned cloudy and drizzly but the day improved as we sailed south back towards Russell, the small port town that was briefly the capital of New Zealand and, apparently, a den of inequity back in the 19th Century. We'd planned a meal at the Duke of Marlborough, the oldest pub in NZ (1827) but the south-westerly wind made the anchorage a lee shore (the wind blowing the boat towards the shore) so we opted to return to our mooring in Opua and had a fab meal aboard instead.