Back in NZ - Rooms with a View
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sun 18 Sep 2011 11:39
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Back in New Zealand after a 39 hour door-to-door journey from
the UK. It's wet, windy and cold - much like a UK winter! But Spring is around
the corner and we hope the temperatures will start to rise soon. The UK Summer
was one of the coldest since the early 1990s, but was still warm with sunny days
and it was good to see the countryside in all its glory. We had forgotten
how abundant and green the trees are in Surrey and Hampshire. Along
the lanes and many main roads, leafy branches were
overhanging and overlapping in the middle, creating a tunnel of green
under the canopy. For all its great scenic beauty, we haven't seen anything
quite like that in NZ.
It's been a very hectic summer for us and sorting out all
our worldly goods, stored in our apartment after our house
move before we set sail in 2008, has been a full-time job. We
completed it with just 2 days to spare before our return
flight to NZ. The apartment is now empty and eagerly awaiting a
tenant! We also had a certain event to attend - the wedding of the
year, our son's! It was superbly organised with 120 people
attending and it all went according to plan. Liz had a new posh frock
and hat and it was a lovely day. Jonathan's bride,
Louise, looked stunning in a beautiful wedding dress and Jonathan
didn't look half bad in his suit and tails. Luckily the weather was good
and the reception started with a steel band playing in the sunshine - a reminder
of the Caribbean.
After 3 months unattended on the hard in Tauranga the boat was
fine, apart from one of the windscreen panels being shattered (like a car
windscreen). It's a specially moulded curved shape in toughened glass
and having checked, getting it made in NZ will cost a fortune. So it's
now a wait for a replacement window to be shipped from Sweden that
will take 4 to 5 weeks (and only cost a small fortune!). Inside the
boat the dehumidifier was still going strong, having been running continuously
for 3 months unattended. So no hint of condensation or dampness of any
kind, and everything looks in good shape.
We now have to start work, sanding and antifouling
(painting) the bottom. It's more complicated than it sounds as we use 3
different types of antifouling - a hard white on and just above the
waterline, a hard blue from the waterline down to about 18 inches
and a soft (ablative) over the rest of the hull. Then there's the deck to
sand and, as ever, a long list of other jobs to do before she goes back in
the water. However, before we start,there's just a small matter
of supporting our country in the Rugby World Cup. So it's a walk
into Tauranga this evening to see the game live on big screens in one of the
bars. Hope they do as well as Ireland.
 Overlooking Portsmouth Harbour, UK - the view
from our apartment.
It is a great view
and we can see (although
not in this picture) the history
of the British Navy - HMS Victory
(Nelson's flagship) to the left,
HMS Warrior (the first British
iron clad warship) to the right
and current Navy
frigates and helicopter carriers
in the
middle.
 Overlooking Tauranga Harbour and Mount Maunganui,
NZ - the view from one of the rooms at the marina.
They have 2 rooms available and we stayed
in one the night before we flew home and a couple of
nights
when we returned.
 Overlooking the boatyard and Mount Maunganui
- the view from the porthole in our aft cabin.
 Aurora B in the yard.
 The side panel of the windscreen, shattered just
like a car windscreen - could have done without this!
 A stunning day!
 A stunning couple!
 A stunning dress!
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