Party in Pahia

We were happily invited to the "Moonwalker" welcome home party last night in the town of Pahia. "Moonwalker is a catamaran that has just completed a seven year circumnavigation with Russell, Corine and the relatively recent addition of Brisa (a two year old). As one card said, they left with two and came back with three! They are from this area so the party was a great mix of locals, cruising friends and family. It was a potluck/barbie with lots of cold brews. The small, very lovely home was packed and luckily the weather held so everyone congregated on the patio.
It was a great feast and we met so many interesting local boat skippers, fishing charterers and boaters. A Maori family also came that are friends of Russell's and Corine's and they did a very moving Maori greeting. The young 13 year old did the greeting and his father translated – it was very spiritual about the earth, ancestors and the gathering. Then they did a song and the traditional "haka." The Maori's greet each other with a forehead to forehead/nose to nose greeting (Hongi) as well, and it was very nice to see this family greet the folks they knew in this way. The 13 year old was an interesting mix of Maori and "typical" 13-year old. Dressed in a baseball hat on backwards, shorts and t-shirt, he then did this Maori greeting in the native language and it was very well spoken. We are sorry we forgot our camera but it will remain a lovely memory.
The party was great fun and it was nice to mix with some local folks as well as see some cruisers we hadn't yet run into since getting here. Our friends Irene and Chris from "Cuttyhunk" who also are home after their completed circumnavigation drove up for the party. There was this group of New Zealanders who circumnavigated and have completed their trip in about the same time frame. They also started the "Drifters" radio net in the Mediterranean and that was the radio net that Michael became a "net controller" for here in the Pacific. We took a picture of the gang of net controllers (well we took it with someone else's camera so we hope to get a copy."
We had several nice sunny days and today it is raining and gray again. We are hoping the boat mechanic shows up today (Bone's was found) – but we still haven't heard from them. We may head into Kerikeri this afternoon with Mike and Karen.
We've now been in NZ two weeks already – and still lots to get done.

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