Landlubbers for Five Weeks

The eleven days we spent on "G-Force" quickly passed and it was time to ferry what we needed over the next 5 weeks over to apartment 209 in Oceans Hotel which was to be our temporary home.  We had been looking forward to it as a sort of "holiday" from living on boats.  It is a lovely apartment situated on the top floor at the end of the building so we were close to the bank which is covered with native bush.  We saw and heard a lot of wild life going about their bsiness.                                                 

 A couple of photos - towards and from the kitchen. A staircase behind the kitchen goes up too an upstairs ensuite bedroom and large store room

The views over the marina were fantastic.  I used to enjoy watching the day get light in the mornings sitting in bed with a cuppa.  This pohutukawa tree was still in glorious bloom when we moved in and during the day the birds and the bees came to feed on the honey from the flowers and there was a pretty red carpet underneath from the falling needle- like petals.  There were many tui birds who also liked to feed on the flax flowers on the Village Green over the road.  One summer rain storm finally did away with the last of the pohutukawa flowers.

One beautiful morning sunrise.

Looking out over the Village Green - well half of it because there is as much again at the left of the photo.  This is popular for picnics and ball games and it can be hired as a venue for wedding marquees, markets etc.  The annual "Wine Tour" concert is set up here when it comes to Tutukaka (last one was 3 weeks ago sorry no photos) and as you can see helicoptors can land (by permission from marina management only). It is also used on fishing competition days as an overflow carpark for the cars with boat trailors.

During our time here we managed to arrange the purchase of our next boat.  We had been watching the market while waiting for "Irrepressible" to sell so we knew what was available of the sort of boat that we wanted and were delighted to get our first choice.  It is a very live-aboard-friendly power boat with all the creature comforts.  No sails !!  We saw the actual boat a year ago when we went and stayed with Dave and Bev near Picton so it has not been bought sight unseen.  The biggest concern now was to get the boat here before our time at the apartment expired because it was booked out to someone else after then.