Hibiscus III, Town Basin, Whangarei - 14 April 2010
Starting to feel the chill in the air and so thoughts naturally turn to Fiji and warm balmy evenings where beanies and socks are not required! We talked to Dan and Martha in Solodamu a week or so ago and were relieved to hear that all is well in Solodamu, luckily having escaped the cyclones that have hit Fiji this year. Can't wait to see you guys - hopefully June! Jack and Spike are growing (as always) and continuing to enjoy fishing, even if the fish are smaller than Fijian ones! Jack and Spike with breakfast

Lars it's been great to hear from you (even if you're already half way down a bottle of whisky) and we all miss you like mad – and know that you and Sam are going to have a ball when Sam gets to Europe soon. Also looking forward to reading about the Ministry of Laughs and the Big Days Out on the boys blogs!

Pete has formally been enrolled at Victoria University to study for his PhD – and so now starting the process of formally documenting the role of sailing in the Fijian village of the future as a tool for climate change adaptation, and he’s been inundated with fascinating academic papers on all manner of things (some of which I confess to have never heard of before ). Starting also to finally get into gear in terms of physically heading north – Hibiscus now has a clean hull and no leaky hatches! It’s been fun catching up with Chris, Ina and Malia on the water too – and introducing them to some of the top spots we know in Northland – Andrea’s manaakitanga is renowned (thanks mate!) and looking forward to spending more time with the Ratbags in Fiji again this year.

More later - Ali