Family come to visit and tour New Zealand

Greetings. The last 2 months have been filled with a number of family paying us visits and lots of travel through this temporarily adopted country of ours. First Linda's oldest son, Andy and his lovely lady, Bronwyn dropped in after spending some time in Australia. They borrowed Pat's car, toured around the North Island then came back to our shack in Whangarei for a week of relaxation before Bronwyn took off for Thailand and Andy returned to Victoria. My eldest, Kristy was next as she flew in from Korea where she is on a yearlong quest to teach the young Koreans to speak Engrish. Sorry, couldn't resist-Racist!!! First however, Don Pedro needed our attention as she had not been hauled out for 17 months and badly needed some TLC. Pat and his friend, Dave waxed the hull while Robert Auklet(famous boat painter who has painted the hulls of the last 4 New Zealand America's Cup contenders) and his crew spray painted the bottom. I had won a raffle for having this done by them-first time in Don Pedro's history that Pat and I didn't have to paint the bottom. YAHOOO!!!
After Kristy and Linda helped with the haulout( wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off), the two of us headed off to the wine area of Hawkes Bay on the North Island, rented bikes and rode 18 Km thru the vines, tasting, lunching, buying and getting a bit of exercise along the way. We also criss crossed the island visiting Lake Taupo,(largest NZ lake and 1 of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere), funky, laid back Raglan(surf capital made famous in the film, Endless Summer), Rongoriro National Volcano Park where Mt. Doom(The Lord of the Rings) is located. Check out Kristy's trekking outfit, a summer dress and flip flops on a lava rock path. She is a Fashionista. Then on to Gisbourne(surprise, surprise, more wineries), Auckland to pick up Erin(she flew in from Montreal) and back to Whangarei for a farewell get together with Linda and Pat. Thats Erin doing her Ms. Napkinhead immitation. Linda's youngest son, Adam also arrives at this time from Victoria and after being with us in Whangarei for awhile he heads to Auckland to spend time with Bronwyn before she flies off to Thailand then joins Linda, Erin and I to tour the South Island after seeing Kristy off to the airport for her return to Korea. Sounds confusing I know with all these comings and goings.
Kristy and I had a great time travelling together and I appreciated the time with her so much. I get to visit with both of them so seldom with this trip and the fact that they are now living their own lives so far away that every moment is so precious and treasured.
The photos are in reverse order of the text but by now I am confident that you can figure it all out. As there are so many photos, I am doing this in 2 postings. Hopefully the next 1 will follow in the next few days. Love to all, be cool in this screwed up world-it will return to normal. JL, hang in there my friend, you are in my thoughts daily. DI, write me!!! Theresa, thanks for your help with the blog. John