As you have noticed I have been away and have not done much in the way of updates. It is now time to get started again. In about 2 weeks we will head out to Fiji from the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. It has really been an exciting time for us this off season here in New Zealand.
We started our time ashore by flying home for a couple of weeks during Thanksgiving. We told everyone that we would fly into Virginia and stay with my sister and Barb's brother. Eeveryone made it out to see us except Bill , my son, who could not get away from work. It was a great time seeing our families and catching up on what's happening in the world. After a couple weeks home we flew back to New Zealand and began a journey of seeing the country by boat. After about 6 weeks of cruising in and out of little harbours and bays down the east coast we parked the boat in Auckland and headed, by air, to the South Island.
We teamed up with another cruising couple, Marsha and Earl May, and spent 30 days land cruising by car. There were 3 high points for me. A cruise thru the Doughtful Sound. A breathtaking trip made even more special by the fact that there are probably only 60 days in the whole year when the weather is clear and you can see the tops of the mountains . We got to experience one of those days. My next place of interest was Hayes Hardware store in Invercargill. This is the home to Burt Monro who held the fastest motorcycle records at the Bonneville Salt Flats for many years. You might remember the movie "The Fastest Indian". If you haven't seen it rent it, great true story and Anthony Hopkins looks and acts exactly like old Burt, so the locals say. I digress, the motorc ycles are pretty cool but the real treat is the hardware store. They had everything you could ever wish for in a hardware store. I felt like Tim the Tool Man in hardware heaven. The girls were not that impressed but Earl and I could have spent a whole day there. My next place was the Speights Brewery in Dunedin. What more do I need to say. Take the tour and belly up to the bar.
After a month on the South Island we came back to Auckland to do a quick check on the boat and then off to a wedding in Sri Lanka. In our first season cruising we met Andy and Melissa on Spectacle. They had invited us to their wedding and it was going to be hosted by the Sri Lankan Cricket Team in Sri Lanka. That would be like having the New York Yankees host your wedding in the US. It is a very long story
how Andy and Melisa became friends with these guys but it happened and we ended up going to the wedding. What an event! I have been to a good many weddings in my day but nothing could equal this. Five days of food and party. What a terrific time was had by all and it was amazing to see 90 people, friends and family, from all over the world show up. In addition to the wedding Barbara and I stayed 4 days in Kula Lumpur, Malasia and 3 days in Melbourn Australia. You couldn't be in 3 more diverse cultures than those 3 places. That brings us to the end of March and back to the boat.
For Easter we had the great fortune to be invited to stay with Billie and Grant at their Beach house . To get there it would be a 4 hour trip by car but we did it by air. Grant happens to own a helicopter so it only took us 30 minutes to get there. Billie did all the design work and had the house built. When she showed the plans to Grant he said he looked at them and thought all the measurements were in feet but found out later they were all in yards. What a beautiful home overlooking Opita Bay on the Coromandel of New Zealand. It is one of those homes with a great big front porch that you can sit on and watch the ocean and never get tired of doing so. What great friends we will really miss them.
After the Easter weekend we got a few things done on the boat (a leaky toilet ugh, and a salt water leak on the generator). Everything was now in order and we headed to Whangerei Harbor for provisions and then up to Opua in the Bay of Islands to wait on good weather to head to Fiji.
It has been a fast 6 months and we have seen and done more than we intended. As we get ready to leave New Zealand we leave behind some truly great friends and we hope to some day come back to visit . For now we must move on we have only covered about a third of our route with many more miles to go.
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1 comment:
Bill wants to know how you managed to be promoted to Captain on your boat. He is still just Chief Engineer.
Glad you enjoyed the season in New Zealand. Will keep you in our thoughts and prayers as you make that passage back north to Fiji.
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