Originally posted on December 25, 2014, by cruisingrunner
We are spending Christmas anchored near the small town of Russell in The Bay of Islands in Northern New Zealand. I am absolutely in love with this town. There are about 50-60 boats in the anchorage, mostly small local sailing boats on mooring balls. It seems like there are only a handful of international yachts anchored here like us. The town of Russell has a population of only about 800, and there’s plenty of history here, but my favorite part has to be “The Strand.” The strand is the walkway along the waterfront, and those of you from the South Bay back home are familiar with your own strand. I spent many hours running on The Strand at home, and now Russell is giving me a little piece of that at Christmas time. I ran on The Strand this fine Christmas morning, but in contrast to home, it’s only about 3/4 of a mile long, so there were a few laps involved. As long as we don’t have boat work to do, I’m hoping we can make Russell our new home base as opposed to Opua, and The Strand can become part of my routine.
Merry Christmas all!
-D.
Gresham Family Exodus 