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| Beautiful Countryside Near Maungaturoto |
Time is marching on but that ruddy job jar is still ever so long!
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| Non-skid Paint Going On |
The deck is all but finished and we have now hauled out to do some bottom repairs and paint the badly needed anti-fouling. Before even starting across the Pacific, we were already vastly overdue for bottom paint and had arranged to haul out in Panama but their equipment broke down with no sign that it would be up and running by the time we wanted to leave. We simply had to keep diving and scraping in order to maintain a decent speed. In fact, that was our 40th wedding anniversary present from Phil and Di of Matira; they dived down and scraped it for us while in the Marquesas.
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| Calypso Settling Into her Cradle |
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| Waiting to be Power Washed |
We’re waiting for a new headsail that is being made in South Africa. A sail made there out of the same Dacron fabric as quoted here and flown out to Auckland is working out to almost half the price; it simply doesn’t make sense but we’ll take advantage.
Our thoughts are definitely leaning towards returning here after this current cruising season. It seems criminal not to have toured the countryside and we can’t, in all honesty, claim to have ‘done’ New Zealand at all.
However, we did have had one absolutely marvellous outing. When we had to purchase another windlass, we bought one through Trade Me, New Zealand’s better answer to America’s eBay. The chap who sold it to us later sailed up to the Bay of Islands where we met him and his wife, Steve and Heidi, very briefly. When they returned home from their holidays, we received an email inviting us to take a break from boat work and spend a few days with them. We accepted!
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| Me, Out On an Evening Stroll |
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| Apples for the Taking |
Steve drove up to collect us and took us down to his home near Maungaturoto where we were given a wonderful welcome with incredible hospitality. They live in a beautiful area with dairy, sheep and beef farms all around them. Gorgeous outlooks no matter which way you turn.
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| Paul (Still a Kid at Heart) |
Heidi took us around the vast Kaipara Harbour on the west coast, giving us a little of the history as we went as in days gone by, huge square riggers used to enter the harbour to deliver and collect supplies prior to the roads being built. These days, it’s primarily used for fishing.
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| The Rings Show the Girth of the old Kauri Trees |
Next in this wonderfully educational tour was a trip to the Kauri Museum. The Kauri is an enormous tree that played a significant role in the history of New Zealand in the past. It’s not as tall as the giant redwoods but larger in girth, lived to thousands of years old and provided beautiful hard golden wood, outstanding for furniture and carving. The museum walks one through the felling methods, the tools used, finished products and life as it was in earlier days. The tree resin was also of significant value and this was exported throughout the world. The solidified resin, amber, was on display as rough nuggets and beautiful jewellery.
Sadly, greed saw the demise of the magnificent Kauri tree and the only remaining specimens are safely tucked away in a reserve not far from our anchorage where botanists are attempting to propagate them and increase their numbers.
The education continued. We were then taken to a dairy farm to watch the milking of 300 cows. The cows were amazing. They happily walked onto a circular platform that floats on water and rotates. They appear to have a pecking order and accordingly, everything seems to run very smoothly and efficiently. They’re then hooked up to the equipment, milked and when finished, the equipment drops from them and they simply back up off the platform when they’ve done a full 360 degrees. Very clever.
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| Waiting Impatiently to Be Milked |
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| Steve with his Haul |
The same farmer also has sheep and cattle for beef but, as it wasn’t sheep shearing season and watching beef get fatter is a little like watching paint dry, he just explained the procedures. All very interesting for a couple of ex city dwellers.
We also got the chance to help out at a sheep/pig/chicken spit roast when Steve was asked to help carve for a wedding. all in all, a wonderful break with overwhelmingly generous and hospitable hosts. Steve and Heidi, thank you so very very much.
The weather is getting really quite chilly again so definitely time to move on. In the meantime, back to the grindstone.
PHOTO GALLERY:
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| Lush Greenery Everywhere |
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| The Old Butter Wharf at Whakapirau |
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| Indicating the Tree's Growth Through History |
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| Debbie the Milkmaid |
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| Debbie'sView |
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| The Next Lot Coming In |
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| The Finished Product - Cold & Creamy |
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| Heidi and Steve |
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| Looking Out Over Whangerei's Anchorages |
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| A Beautiful Rainbow Lorikeet at a Local Shop |
