We just spent six days in the Bay of Islands after planning on being there for two. Pretty typical. We stayed in a little cottage on the water that belonged to a Dutch couple, Yon and Berl. We guess that they're in their 80's, but they sure have heaps of spunk left in them. We loved hearing Berl's stories about rowing out to rescue entrapped dolphins and watching Yon ride up and down the hill on his motorbike. We made them lots of cookies in exchange for the free lodging, and I think everyone felt they got the better deal. At least we hope..

Day two we went swimming with dolphins for two hours at Elliot's Bay. The local surfers who were there said they had only seen dolphins a handfull of times at that spot, and they had never seen them stay and play for more than a couple minutes. The dolphins must have an affinity for nice American girls. They probably would have let us ride them if we weren't so scared.

Day three we went to opening night at our friends' swanky restaurant. We helped paste the menus together the night before and celebrated our first Guy Fawkes day with fireworks on the beach. The next day we discovered how much we enjoy row boats and ping pong, and I don't think we did much else. We made up for it yesterday, though, when we went fishing all day for snapper. We went out in the morning and caught our lunch, then went out in the afternoon and caught our dinner. Learned how to fillet (pronounced fill-it). Dad will be proud. We caught 10 keepers and countless undersized survivors and one 20 pound monster.

Now we're back in Whangarei (pronounced Fangarei) with the Olsen family, and it felt a little like coming home as we pulled up to the house. Eastern rosellas greeted us on the drive up the gravel road --

as well as Louis, who later in the night donned a bright green skirt and dress jacket for dinner. We proceeded to make a feast of enchiladas SLO style. We got to see our dear friend Yammy, the Olsen's (temporary) pet they have named after his two best qualities: being a lamb and being yummy. Their last two lambs were Yoda and Lambington, but as the kids confidently explained to us in the car one day, they have a good life on the farm now. Poor Yammy. One day he too will be on that farm.