From Town Basin Marina, Whangarei, NZ
We are FINALLY waiting for weather to leave New Zealand for the season and head to Fiji. After 6 weeks of solid boat work, we're certainly ready for a change of pace! Plus, it's Fall here and the leaves are changing. It's actually quite unique in that there are fall colors but also big shrubs full of new blossoms like it's mid summer. We're eating rhubarb like crazy, along with new crop mandarin oranges & Fuji apples, but we keep buying avocados too. The market is heaped high with every kind of lettuce you can think of. There's winter squash too. I don't really get it but the farmers I've talked to say there is just a very long growing season here. We plan to head down the river to Marsden point today to wait for the magic words that we can go. We'll use a weather router- Bob McDavitt to help us since this area has pretty complicated weather systems and we hope not to get the same kind of beating we got coming down here, but fully expect we will!
The boat went back in the water like nothing- all was smooth and we really liked Norsand Boatyard. We got a lot done there and they run a pretty efficient business. This was the first boatyard we've ever been to where you have to collect all your gray water. So any sinks you use while living on the hard have hoses connected to jugs below that you have to empty every couple of days. There are so many sailors living there at any given time since we have nowhere else to live when our boats are hauled out that I can see why they have you recycling everything including your gray water. But, the place was spic & span and you didn't get that all too familiar toxic waste dump feel that you get in some yards. It was good to be out of there and back in the water.
Of course once we got launched, the projects just continued. A bunch of stuff broke as well, such that we spent the first few days just trying to keep up with what had broken that day. I mean, even the coffee maker burned up. We're now on our spare which is really scary since we can't get any 110 appliances here or anywhere for a long time. Jon reported that he just had a nightmare last night that the new coffee maker broke. He'd have to figure out how to fix it and deal with a cranky wife until he did! But now, we've got all the major projects done and everything is put back together- sails all aboard and on, new whisker pole on, mount for a prod to fly the spinnaker installed, the spinnaker is in the aft cabin along with our bikes (pretty full in there now!) and we are all provisioned. As they say in Kiwi, we're looking pretty "flash" with these latest improvements.
We drove to Opua yesterday to return the car and saw lots of friends. It felt so odd to be there where we first pulled in to NZ 6 months ago. So much has happened since then. The time flew though. We have pretty much decided that we'd like to come back here next season which says something for this place- it is an amazingly beautiful country with so much to offer in terms of wildlife and open space but also yacht services and just a great place to live for a bit. They actually fix things here too. It isn't a throw away society so when it comes to boats, it's a very good place to get things done. We've certainly made our donation to the economy and now we must get back to the islands where it's cheaper to live and you can't spend money fixing anything since there's nothing to fix it with! We'd considered staying through the winter here to work some and it almost happened but then the funding fell through for the contract Jon nearly got so now we think we'll try in earnest next season. It would be nice to make a few bucks here if it works out.
It is 1200 miles to Fiji which is 8 days and some of those will inevitably be difficult. But the bright side is we'll be headed back into the tropics and it will get warmer each day. Lots of boats are already there and they say it's been hotter than anything. Meanwhile, we've got the heat going here, wearing jeans and jackets if the sun isn't out. We're definitely ready to get out our dive stuff, do some fishing and get back into our cruising life again for a bit.
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05/11/2013
Hi all, Heather has been going through some of our videos. This is one of the Galapagos sea lions, they really are a riot to watch.
Here is one of the sheep at Slope Point.
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From Norsand Boatyard Haulout
It's like Groundhog Day here. Every day we're under the boat all day, lately it's been going round & round it with paint. One day blends into the next. It's almost done. We've got 5 coats of barrier and 3 coats of black bottom paint on. It looks good! We had the guys jack us up today so we can get to the last little spots under the keel. It's supposed to rain this weekend so that'll be interesting but no matter what, we need to be ready to splash on Tuesday.
From Norsand Boatyard Haulout
The bowsprit is back on with 6 coats of varnish, 2 to go once we get launched. It looks like a piece of furniture. We have concerns that the wood wasn't dry enough before they carved it since we see little cracks at the tip but there's nothing to do now except keep recoating it every time it opens up until it doesn't do it anymore. I certainly don't want any more maintenance than we already have.
From Norsand Boatyard Haulout
We reconnected the furlers today & the sailmaker is coming Monday with our sails. We had some replaced and some repaired. Rudder is back up and steering quadrant connected. Prop Speed was put on today so hopefully it's slick finish will prevent any growth on the prop. The anchor came back re-galvanized. Every time we've taken anything apart, we've tried to replace the bolts & nuts, either polish the fitting ourselves or get it serviced by a stainless shop since we found some crevice corrosion in some or fine cracks in others that needed addressing. We've got a bunch more to do but things are shaping up. Good thing, because we're getting kind of fatigued. Plus, it would be nice to have a chance to heal up all the scrapes, sprains, cuts, blisters, splinters & aches we've accumulated.
We said goodbye to Richard & Ali since they launched a few days ago and had another shot at a farewell dinner with Slip Away here on our boat. They've now shoved off for Fiji. I find myself thinking back to November when we all arrived here. It was Spring and we were so incredibly happy to finally be in NZ. Everything lie ahead- all the exploring, boat work, going back to the US for a visit.... and it's all HAPPENED! I can't believe how fast the time went. We're definitely not ready to leave here yet! And some boats can't even leave if they wanted to. We got some terrible news this week that friends of ours had their boat fall over in the yard when a jack stand gave way. The whole 46 foot boat came crashing down with them in it. They were to launch the following day and were all provisioned for cruising. We were just sitting on their boat a couple of months ago remarking at how it's one of the most beautiful we'd ever been on. Now it has extensive damage. And there are several catamarans that have significant issues with their hulls so they're saddled with costly repairs and cannot leave either. It's not a bad place to be but you sure do feel stranded when everything isn't OK with your boat.
I finally took a few pictures of what we've been doing to the boat. There are numerous other smaller things but these are the major ones. It'll be good to be afloat again.
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