MANA -- I MADE IT! Settling into my new home...

I expected prettier.

I expected mountains, snow-capped and wildflowered. A sparkling sea view across to the Marlborough Sounds. A charming suburban spread.

My first impression was not impressed. I was surrounded by brown scrubby hills going gray-yellow in the distance. Houses crowded between bush on the hills. A line of rowhouses in J. Crew autumn palette hunched incongruously opposite the marina parking lot. The scenery reminded me of Southern California, of Catalina Island. I prefer the deep greens of my Pacific Northwest homeland, and was disappointed.

Eric hadn't received the message I left with his mother, and Jim had to get back to his boat, his girlfriend, and his life, so I was alone. The skies were gray, and the wind howled. There's a Maori musical instrument that produces a sound like wind humming through sailboat rigging; my first night in Mana, a ghostly Maori orchestra playing millions of these instruments serenaded and haunted me.

What had I done? I had arrived safelyÉtoÉmy new home? I was full of doubts and anticipation

Over the next two days, the wind blew the skies clear and wore itself out, I was reunited with Eric, and I had explored Mana and Wellington. I had discovered lovely trails for powerwalking and running, tasted yummy curries at one of Wellington's many Malaysian restaurants, and made a few friends in the marina. Rain had even added a tinge of green to the hills. The world was full of beauty and promise.

Distractingly so. I tried to focus on the list of projects that had cropped out of the last passage, or been left over from old lists: fix engine oil and water pump leaks; replace starboard upper lifeline and inner forestay - cracked swages; replace allen screws in Aries transom bracket; galvanize anchor chain; polish stainless; lube winches; attack leaks around chainplates and opening ports; find hydraulic oil leak in autopilot.

I got a local mechanic, Murray, to take the lead on the engine projects. I took care of the winches. The rest of my time I spent with Eric or in the Mana Coast Guard office playing in cyberspace.

I'm not sailing anywhere. Boat projects can wait.

But I must admit that I do miss the cruising routine. More than that, I miss my cruising family. I was ecstatic to see Josh and Nelia Caledonia, Francis Banshee, Myron Endurance (itinerant crew), Dennis Bandit (also crew), and Sandy, my Canadian surfboy crew, all of whom stopped in mid-road-trip. If only I could get George Moonshadow down here, then I'd really feel like I'd established the "Home for Wayward Sailors Southern Chapter"!

In April, when the other cruisers prepare to head north for Tonga, Fiji, and destinations undecided, I'll be on the road. I'm joining my folks - Dad and Stepmom, then Mom and Stepdad - on two road-cruises; we'll be touring the South Island from the end of March through the beginning of May. By the time I get back, most of my cruising family will be off.

I wonder what I'll be doing?