Back in Oz, Headed to NZ, Earthquake Permitting

We arrived safely back in Australia after a long 45 hours of travel from Hoi An -- flights to Saigon, Bangkok, Melbourne, and then Cairns -- the joys of frequent flyer mile traveling!

On arrival, we learned that fellow SSCA cruisers had been seized hostage in the Indian Ocean, and the recent 13-fold increase in boat/ship kidnappings/hostages is causing us a lot of sleepless nights and thinking about our next passages ... and we were hoping to take advantage of our planned 20-day camper-van trip around New Zealand to ponder our options ... and then, this morning, we heard about the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck downtown Christchurch, our initial destination on our planned trip.

We have friends in NZ who are currently visiting Christchurch and we hope they are OK; internet service and phone service are disrupted.  As things stand, we take a morning flight to Sydney -- about 3 hours by air -- and then we hope to have a connection to Christchurch; as of now, the airport in Christchurch is closed.

We'll keep folks posted -- we're OK, and please say a prayer for the four sailors on Quest, seized by pirates and sure to be experiencing a horrible situation.