Back 'home'!
29 January 2007 | Opua, New Zealand
Jo
Well we made it, and we're back in sunny New Zealand again, having hopefully missed some pretty poor weather here.
Extricating ourselves from all our 'stuff' at home was no easy task, the longer we were there the more ugly problems reared their heads! But at least we got new tenants into our London flat as we left, a big relief.
Giles was too held up with problems to enjoy the last week I had in Sussex, looking after brother Jamie's three children aged 18 months to 6. Back to school runs, and combining well with spending time with my mother, who lives very close.
We flew back spending a brief day in Tokyo on the way. First impressions were not helped by grey rain, but the people were unsmily and looked totally exhausted. An extraordinary underground system whereby each line is paid for separately, made changing trains highly confusing! We would however have loved to see more of Japan.
Since we've been back, we have re-engaged with all the jobs waiting to be done, it's extraordinary how in six weeks you forget! Things have corroded from lack of use in that short time the gear lever, had solidified, as had a couple of blocks on the boom, but our sails have been overhauled and are back on, and we have just bought a new dinghy and outboard, which we had been promising ourselves right the way across the Pacific. 'Hot Chocolate', our very old Avon, which we bought a year ago in the Caribbean, after our original was stolen, and an equally ancient outboard, has done us proud, but we don't feel that she would have survived much longer. Bailing out and pumping up before each trip had become more and more necessary. We will hardly know ourselves now, it will be rather like me driving a new car, which as most of you may realise is not my natural state!
However nothing is ever simple, and buying a new dinghy has made us rethink our davit arrangements, and make enough deck space to store it on board, particularly as this one is a little RIB, with an aluminium bottom. So we have embarked on moving our mainsheet block, in order to make enough space for the dinghy, and drilling the deck to relocate the block. These things take time and angst, and were the problems that we have confronted the Ashworths with on day one!
At least they have been spared the comedy of us taking first one then another dinghy out to our mooring, where we tried each on deck for size!
It is lovely to see James and Carolyn, and hopefully we will set sail at least into the Bay of Islands with them tomorrow, the sun is still burningly hot, and Opua Race week is on, everywhere is buzzing.