And Now It's April

Like a thief in the night, March came and went and we're now a quarter of the way through the year.

March had it's ups and downs, with Doreen's birthday (only 12 months to the pension) being an up and more work and money to be spent on the boat (sorry children) being one of he downs. In between, the great summer weather we've been having this year continued and the NZ cricket team maintained their tradition of being totally useless. Aside from all that it's just been another month in the lives of a couple of aging babyboomers.

The problem with the boat is mildly serious with very slow leaks in both fuel tanks needing to be fixed. Problem is the tanks were put in the boat before it was fitted out and the galley, navigation area, battery compartments and companionway steps have all been built in over the top of them. A bit like the old song about the thighbone being connected to the hipbone really. Anyway, to cut a long tale of woe short, the tanks need to be taken out and either repaired or (more likely) replaced with new ones. I shall leave you, dear reader, to envisage the task ahead.

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On a brighter note, we went out to The Poor Knights (not to be confused with our daughter and son-in-law, The Rich Knights) Islands on a friend's launch last Sunday and as the other Knights will know, it was well worth the trip. The islands are a wildlife sanctuary about 12 miles off the coast of Tutukaka and a well known dive location which draws visitors from around the world. Fishing is not allowed there and consequently the water is teeming with fish (mainly snapper) that are quite tame and almost eat out of your hand. The island scenery is quite spectacular and well worth a visit. The islands are obviously the result of some violent volcanic activity a long time ago and are full of caves, some of which are big enough to take a boat into.

And that's about all the news for March.

This coming Friday (Easter Friday) we're taking off for a week with friends on their boat for a bit of a break at Great Barrier Island. Should be a lot of fun.

So until May.........

March Already

The unimaginative title reflects the fact that not a lot of interest has been happening here since the last post in February. There aren't even any photos to put on but I guess there's nothing to say a blog has to include photos.

What's happened on the good ship Irrepressible since the last post? Well, there has actually been quite a bit of progress on a few long running projects.

To start with, the forward cabin bathroom is finally finished after many months of on again, off again work. Even if I say so myself, I think it's turned out really well and has transformed that area of the boat. The final step was to install a holding tank (for the uninitiated, a holding tank is a tank that untreated sewage goes into until you're in an area where you can legally dispose of it). It's not that we actually intend to use it (they're revolting things that end up smelling like, well, sewage I guess), but more and more the authorities are requiring them to be fitted as a pre-requisite to entering a marina. So, we're now legal even if we don't use it.

Another project that I finished recently was refurbishing the aft bathroom. Previously the shower drained into the engine bilge before being pumped over the side resulting in a smelly bilge in hot weather so I built a new shower sump under the shower floor which now pumps directly into the sea. Much better. I also removed the toilet, fitted a new set of gaskets and seals, painted the bathroom and put it all back together. So now we have two nice shiny, sweet smelling bahrooms.

While all this has been going on, Doreen has been remaking all the squabs (upholstery) in the saloon. While they were all in very good condition, the design of them made sitting on them quite uncomfortable so they have all been pulled apart, the foam inners all recut and reshaped, the material recut to fit and then sewn back up again. Quite a major job in the confined space of a yacht but the end result is much more comfortable seating.

In between all the work I went away for a few days on a friend's boat, up to the Cape Brett area for a few days fishing, plus the usual weekly (when the weather is good) day fishing trips.

Doreen, as you might have guessed is fully occupied with her family research and frequently away visiting rellies or scouring libraries and museums. Yesterday was her birthday and I drove her down to Warkworth and left her at the museum / genealogy centre there while I carried on down to Auckland where I spent the day browsing chandleries! All in all, a very pleasant day.

The tenants who have been in the Blenheim house since we moved onto the boat moved out at the weekend and we've just heard today that new tenants have signed up for the next 12 months and move in next week. From that you may infer that our plans are to stay on the boat for at least another year. Hopefully by then the property market will have picked up a bit and we'll probably consider selling the property and buying something up here close to Tutukaka.

And that pretty much covers the news for the last couple of months. It doesn't sound like much when condensed into a few paragraphs but we do seem to be quite busy most of the time.

Till next time..................

FEBRUARY ALREADY

How the time flies when you are having fun.
We had a quiet Christmas here at the marina at Tutukaka and on Boxing Day headed North with another couple on their boat who berth opposite us. We didn't go far - spent the night at anchor in Whangaruru Bay.
Next day we started off early to travel to Whangaroa Harbour but developed engine overheating problems so sailed to nearby Whangamumu Harbour and the boys had to get dirty in the engine room. At first there appeared to be nothing wrong but eventually found that seaweed had got into a bend in the water intake area. The joys of boating !
It was not all bad. We girls fished and we were treated by a pod of dolphins coming into the bay and making a spectacular show-off display of themselves. There was stil just time to get to Whangaroa so we went for it and got into the West Arm at around 7pm.
We had a very pleasant time up there. A lot of boats from "E-Street" (our wharf finger) at Tutukaka Marina arrived, not really planned that way but it was good to see the New Year in with the people we know. Everyone gathered on "Divine Decadence" - the huge yacht that is tied up at the end of "E-Street" usually. They had people with dive gear aboard so there was no shortage of scallops, mussells etc.

We came back for a few weeks because I had an exhibition at the Matapouri Hall (next bay north of here) that I wanted to go to which was done by a friend who belongs to the Geneoalogy and History Societies. Really well done and I met some of my fellow Clements descendants that she grew up with and who live around about. On the right is one of them - my second cousin Jeanette who showed her old family photos at that table which were mostly about timber milling in the area in the early 1900's.

John had to attend a Marina Management Trust Meeting (yes, he got elected onto it) which was a week after that. By then others were also coming home to Tutukaka.




In the meantime a couple of Australian friends Bob and Sandra Sutton arrived back in NZ after having had to return to Australia so that Bob could have an operation. A friend of theirs, Jim, flew out from Australia to join them. After a week at Great Barrier they called into Tutukaka on their way to the Bay of Islands but only stayed a night because we decided to go north with them after insisting that they see the Whangaroa Harbour before sailing back to Australia. They thought it looked like Jurassic Park and enjoyed the fishing - they are very keen fishermen. We went back to the Bay of Islands with them and put the anchor down at a different bay each night. We spent one day ashore at Russell where we had lunch at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel (very old).
Erin and Ivan caught up with us and we all enjoyed a very pleasant evening on board their yacht "Masada" (bigger than the 'Queen Mary' !) with the guitar and ukelele singing everything from Waltzing Mathilda to How Great Thou Art.
We left them all the next day because the weather forecast was not great and we wanted to get back before rather than after the bad spell.
Suttons are now waiting for the right weather across the Tasman Sea to sail back to Australia and will clear Customs at Opua.


The Suttons yacht "Ray of Sunshine" with Jim at the wheel and Bob in the red shirt in
Whangaroa.



So now the boats of "E-Street" are all settled back in their usual berths and life is getting back to normal. Ken has managed to erect the hard-top to his boat that he has been making for some time now so the "Tutukaka Thinking Mens' Drinking Club" can sort it all out in some shade.
Here is John and Ken arranging the agenda before the others arrive.

Season's Greetings

Well it's that time of the year again. 2008 has come and nearly gone and it seems only a short while ago we were up in the Bay of Islands last Christmas.

It's been an interesting year, our first full year on the boat and we've escaped relatively unscarred (mentally and physically). We've learnt a lot, mainly about how expensive being self funded retirees is but also about living together (reasonably harmoniously) in a confined space. All in all it's been an enjoyable year and we have no plans to return ashore in the foreseeable future. The fishing has been one of the highlights for me and we usually return with a good feed.


The last few weeks have been quite busy with Doreen off on family research trips to the Hokianga in the North and Auckland in the south. As for me I've been building the bathroom in the forward cabin. It's been a long process (I started it about six months ago) but it's now virtually finished other than a bit of painting and I must admit I'm quite pleased with the outcome.








We received a lovely Christmas Hamper from our daughters the other day (thank you girls), also some very nice Christmas Cards made by our Essex grand-daughters plus their school photos, all of which now have pride of place in the saloon.



























Well it's Christmas Eve today, all the shopping has been done, the boat provisioned and fuelled and all being well with the weather we'll try and get away on Boxing Day. Most people in the marina will be away so Christmas Dinner will be just the two of us on board (roast chicken) but I'm sure we'll be thinking of you all.

So it only remains now to wish all our family and friends a very happy Christmas, a bright and prosperous New Year and may 2009 bring all that you would wish for.

Voting Day in New Zealand

Today we did our civil duty and went out and voted at the local Ngunguru Hall. All a bit low-key really after watching how America does it on TV.

We have been back for a few weeks now from Brisbane but we have been keeping our heads low because we have been quite unwell with the Brizzie-Bug that we thought we had escaped. But no, the nose starting going the second day I was back and now John has it as well. He says - on I have no idea what authority - that it is mutating quite rapidly. It only started out as a boy-cold, then went to woman-cold and now that it has got to him it is full blown man-flu. I'll fix him - I shall make him go to the Doctor.

Two of our immediate boat neighbors have gone into Whangarei to have their boats out of the water for work to be done. It all seems so quiet and open with them gone. One lot is due back today but the others could be away for months with serious hull problems.

We managed to achieve something that so far we have only been talking about. We decided that the Ford Escape was not the right sort of car for us with all the running around that we do, especially with the cost of fuel these days. So we let it go and have replaced it with a Suzuki SX4 which is the model up from the Swift. There it is in the picture. Very nice and very comfortable and uses a little less that half the petrol.

We also looked about for an old roomy van so that we could store our stuff in it and that John can use sort of as his mobile workshop or for carting large and dirty things. It was a nuisance having to go into Whangarei to get things we wanted from the storage shed. It looks quite smart in the photo but it is fairly rough. However, it goes well and has a Warrant of Fitness.

Our friends the Boyles are back from their trip to the Islands. The boat went through Customs last Tuesday but they are staying at Opua for a while so will catch up with them later. We won't be going anywhere until these colds are gone. Have also just heard that the Goings have just left Tonga for home.

Another achievement is the Radar finally getting fixed. Two months ago 20 metres of new cable was ordered from Japan (all under Warranty) and finally this week 10 metres arrived ! By this time the original serviceman had left and the person that inherited this had to go all the way back to Whangarei to pick up the forgotten bits plus a junction box so that we did not have to wait another 2 months for the right sized cable. Good to have that done at last.

In Brisbane

As usual it's been a while between posts and as usual I haven't really got any good excuse other than laziness.

Anyway, here we are again in sunny Brizvegas. Well, it's sort of sunny now and then, yesterday it poured with rain all day and the odd shower again this morning but on the whole it's a much better proposition than what we've been putting up with in NZ for the last three or four months.

We had an early departure flight from Auckland (Tuesday week ago) leaving at 6.10am which meant a midnight departure from Tutukaka. The drive down was good though, hardly any traffic and we arrived a good three hours before the flight left. We were met at the airport by Zane and Liam who seemed to remember us from our last visit in April. He hadn't changed much, just a bit bigger and a bit more livlier.

Angela was at home feeding James Sydney when we arrived and our arrival seemed to go completely unnoticed by James but I guess he had other things on his mind.

(I seem to be having trouble getting these photos where I want them today but I'm sure you get the drift).

Life has settled into a pretty orderly routine over the last week or so. Doreen spends quite a lot of time in the laundry and amusing Liam and my jobs are to cook dinner and take Liam to nursery school on Thursday and Friday. In between we've managed a couple of trips to Chermside with Ange and James and had a nice BBQ at the Masons last Sunday.

OK, I know. I'm on a diet now.

A quiet moment.

A noisy moment.

A busy moment.

All things considered, things are humming along quite smoothly and we're really enjoying catching up with everybody again. This weekend is Father's Day and the Knight's, Masons and Warren families are all meeting up at the Victoria Park Golf Club for a Father's Day breakfast tomorrow morning.

Another Storm Coming

Well we survived the big storm of a few days ago and are now battening down the hatches again for another one, due to arrive this afternoon. Apparently the next one won't have quite such destructive winds but is likely to have more rain than the last one.

The last storm slowly built up over Saturday morning with the barometer steadily falling to an incredible low of about 969.

The winds were quite impressive with a peak of 86 knots (160 kmh)at the harbour entrance. The windspeed meter on the the boat peaked at 62 knots (115 kmh) which was more than enough to keep us on our toes and keeping an eye on the ropes.




The reason I was out on the jetty in the photo above is that our TV satellite dish had just been ripped off the pole. The wind was so strong it broke a weld on the bracket holding the dish up.

Apart from the weather life goes on pretty routinely. There are always jobs to do on the boat and what with fishing usually once a week and helping friends with jobs on their boats I manage to keep reasonably busy.

Julie arrived safely in Auckland on Saturday and (weather permitting) we'll go down to Auckland tomorrow to pick her up.

Well that's about it for now, the rain has set in so I might just watch a DVD or two. Doreen is in Whangarei doing whatever it is she does in there so the boat is ALL MINE for the day!