In October, we headed to New Zealand for a couple of weeks with our fabulous Kiwi friends. I’ve posted about them before (see the post from October 2022) when we hosted them in the US after COVID. NZ is one of our favorite countries, and this trip the Kiwis paid us back for their US trip. They took us from Auckland inland to Lake Taupo for golf, fishing, and fun.

Next we drove over to Napier to visit WilliamsWarn, a fascinating home brewing equipment company we’ve invested in. We met a hilarious guy who’s built a museum of collectibles inside a home-brew bar of questionable legality. It’s unlocked, always open for anyone, and after pouring yourself a draft beer, you just add a hash mark next to your name in the log. So fun!

From Napier, we all sailed back to Auckland on Halloween and went to the Auckland horse racing track for Melbourne Cup Day with more friends. Eight of us placed over 50 bets, and not a single one was a winner! But it was a blast and our last day with the Kiwis.

After two wonderful weeks in New Zealand, we flew to Sydney, Australia, for a THREE day birthday party bash for our dear Aussie friends, Zoey and Kathrine and their fan club.

And finally, we made a relaxing few days in Fiji to recover from all the craziness!