Latest from NZ

Hi all. Sorry that I have not been very good about updating the blog recently. I have a good excuse though.... John is on the computer every night looking at sail boats. We have spent the last couple weekends looking at boats and have somewhat narrowed down the design that we are interested in. We are looking at around 28 ft that is more of the cruiser style then the racing style. We want to use the boat for weekends around the Gulf. Looking at boats usually means me taking a 5 min cursory view of the layout and interior condition and John spending an hour examining the bilge and motor and intricate details. We found one that we were interested in but unfortunately someone beat us to making an offer.

In the last couple weeks it has turned to a full fledged winter in NZ. The ski fields have finally been able to open, there have been record lows in the South Island and sailing has been cancelled the last couple weekends for John due to gale force winds. In another 4 weeks we should be well on our way into Spring. I noticed the magnolia trees were actually in bloom already.

Last night we went to the USA vs Canada ice hockey game. The US and Canada NHL are putting on 3 expedition games in NZ and the funds are going to Christchurch. There are a few local social hockey teams teams around but there are not any professional level teams in NZ or Australia. The game was held in Auckland at Vector Arena for a sold out crowd of 10,000. The organizers had to import a $4 million ice rink for the matches. Most everyone at the game was either dressed to support the US or Canada. Sadly, the Canadians out numbered the Americans by 2 to 1 (don't forget Canada is another Common Wealth country) and Canada ended up beating the US in sudden death OT. Overall though, everyone had a good time and hopefully hockey will come back around again.

The NZ dollar is the big news right now. The NZ dollar is running around 85 cents to the US dollar. Basically, the value of the US dollar has gotten so low due to the horrible economy and the NZ economy seems to be charging ahead. There is talk that the NZ dollar may be on par with the US dollar in the next few months. This is great for the importers but bad news for the exporters and those wanting to take a holiday in NZ.