I can’t remember how many times I’ve driven past the little brown sign on State Highway One – pointing down a lonely narrow country backroad, enticing me with three simple words “Kaikoura Coastal Track”. Every time I’ve either been heading off on another adventure, or racing home to throw some washing in the general direction…
After boarding the train in London at Kings Cross Station platform 9 3/4 we clickity clacked our way across a patchwork quilt of farms and villages. Church steeples poked their way out from behind hedgerows surrounded by boxy brick houses. We passed stunning seaside towns and undulating countryside. And after a very relaxing four hour journey…
As I stepped off the plane in Heathrow, a strange sense of belonging swept over me. This was home turf, my birth country. A place that I have only lived for a short part of my life, and that nostalgic feeling came as a bit of a surprise. London is a REALLY long way from…
When the alarm went off at 4.30am, I realised that staying up partying on the boat until 1.30am means you don’t get enough sleep to feel refreshed and ready to go. Will we ever learn? Still it had been a fun impromptu evening which had started with a flight delay in Christchurch, meaning we’d had…
The heat and humidity of Singapore hit me in the face like one of those hot wet towels they hand you when you get on the plane. But once you’ve acclimatised it is an awesome place for a couple of days stopover when you happen to be travelling from one side of the world to…
I think it was the excitement of finally seeing the Americas Cup in person, I guess I just got a bit carried away… but when the auctioneer slammed down the hammer and said ‘SOLD!’ it looked like we were off to Bali! We were at a fundraising event for the Pleasant Point Yacht Club. Their…
I am so lucky to live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but sometimes us locals can start to take our stunning surroundings for granted. One example of this is the Tranzalpine Express, one of the most scenic train journeys in the world right on my doorstep. Every morning on my…
Crossing the Auckland Harbour bridge in our taxi, seeing the ocean glittering below and the horizon pierced by hundreds of masts escaping the confines of their berths and heading out to sea for an Easter adventure. It is easy to see why Auckland has the nick-name “City of Sails”, and we were about to join them.…
It is a huge honour to be invited to speak at the Women Who Sail Australia annual conference – The Gathering in April 2018. I joined the Women Who Sail Facebook group back in early 2014, and discovered an incredible network of female sailors all over the world. Then I joined the Women Who Sail…
A flotilla of leaves floats downstream On the inky black water of the Otakaro How serenely they sail out of the past And in to their future Behind me (A poem on the Oxford Tce steps of the Otakaro Avon River) If you substitute the word ‘leaves’ in the top line for ‘sailors’ then this…
Astrolabe Sailing 