New Plymouth sits on the southwest corner of the North Island of New Zealand, facing the Tasman Sea. We made port in the early morning marine fog, which quickly burned off to display a beautiful cloudless sky. The port is a major timber distribution hub and natural gas processor. Looking at all the hundreds of piles of logs, we were reminded of the last time we were in New Zealand, back in February 2020. At that time, every NZ port that we visited had timber piled up everywhere. We asked a local worker what was going on and they said China, the largest importer of NZ lumber, had stopped taking delivery. We knew there was a virus going around in China, and when we heard that, we suspected it was much bigger than what the press was indicating. Three weeks later, the U.S. went into their Covid lock down.

We spent the morning on an excursion out to the Sugar Loaf Islands, to observe wildlife aboard a vintage rescue boat, built in 1953 on the Isle of Wight in the U.K. The mahogany boat has spent the last 33 years providing tours of the Sugar Loaf Islands, and while the water was a bit choppy, we loved every minute of the journey. There are five uninhabited islands and several sea stacks that make up the Sugar Loaf Islands Marine Protected Area. We saw gulls and cormorants, and sea lions with their pups. There was a view of Mount Taranaki, an active volcano that last erupted in 2007, from almost every vantage point.

In the afternoon, we went into town, walked around and had a delicious fish and chips lunch. There was a nice open-air market for local arts and though the population of New Plymouth is 89,000, the vibe was very small town and friendly.

Next stop tomorrow: Picton, NZ.