So...we came home and had a great reunion with Angus. He was in fine fettle and full of tales of his training and travels. He's certainly learning lots. We all got involved with helping convert an old sail into a shade sail for his campervan, which looks like it will be a great addition. We also caught up with a few folk and did some of our favourite local walks, including the Kaituna and Farewell Spit, gathered mussels from the shore and enjoyed being at home.
We took the heat exchanger off the engine again and sent it away to get some more TLC, with a bit of a longer timeframe than the last, rushed job. Hopefully this will be a permanent fix. I had an infection that has now cleared up and we took the opportunity to get our Covid booster shots and a much needed haircut for me (mullet no more).
We are now in the midst of a weather event. Tropical rain has arrived and we have had 200mm of rain so far. No flooding here, as the ground was so dry, it has sucked it all up. We are hopeful that some of our recently planted trees will recover as they were struggling in the heat when we got home. We did a bit of a clean up and plant in the garden ahead of the rain. We have also done more adventuring from home - up the trap line beyond the Kaituna (amazing scenery - see gallery), several swims in several rivers, walks on the beach and even lunch out.
We are keen to get back to the boat and continue our adventures, but a very unsettled weather pattern may see us having land-based adventures for a little while longer.