Author: Pam
Kiwi are an icon, and an oddity. These flightless, nocturnal birds are the national symbol of New Zealand and its people. For more information about the Kiwi bird check out this Bank of New Zealand link http://www.kiwirecovery.org.nz/AboutTheBird/. Our first week has been incredibly busy, you could say we hit the ground running, quite literally.
With the purchase of Starship came a commitment from Frank and Rachel to spend some of their time in NZ helping to move some of our equipment and show us as much as possible about the boat. This process began with the invitation to stay in the v-berth once we arrived. We have not slept on Tournesol since our last day at sea and it looks like we never will again. We are very excited about Starship, but it is also very bittersweet.
We have been getting up with the roosters and making the most of each day. The first order of business was to move our Ray Marine radar system, which took nearly five days to complete the installation. With Frank’s engineering background we ended up with a better installation than we had paid top dollar for on Tournesol. The most exciting component of the installation is the display is now mounted at the wheel. This should be a huge improvement. On Tournesol it was installed down below and sometimes it would be impossible for the two of us to be in three places at once, at the wheel, on the bow and down below. The new placement will allow us to use one of our most vital tools even more effectively.
The next project was to move out life raft. Starship came with a perfectly good and up to date life raft, but ours was partly sponsored by Viking Life Raft and we felt more comfortable with our known entity. In the end our life raft fit better than the one originally installed on Starship. We also switched the Monitor windvanes, the one on Tournesol is the newer model.
The rest of our days were spent going through some of the lockers aboard with Rachel and trying to get a sense of the gear they are leaving behind. We will have our work cut out for us merging two fully equipped cruising boats. Actually, Starship is more than fully equipped, but that is what you get when the owner worked for West Marine before leaving. In between all of the above I started the arduous task of washing every piece of bedding and clothing on Tournesol. It seems it is what you do when you arrive at a marina after not having access to a washer and dryer for over a year. There are two washers and one dryer and loads and loads of laundry. I am not sure when I will be done with it all, but it sure feels good to have everything clean and smelling better.
We have visited Stumpy’s regularly for lunch for fish and chips. However, once I discovered they had marinated Green Lipped mussels, the fish was out and the mussels were in. We also went to town one evening for dinner at Danger Danger and had the $6.00 steak dinner. It is possible that only a place with a huge moving buffalo head will have a six dollar menu. Of course Scott found the head quite entertaining. Otherwise, there has been no time for exploring town, except for a couple of visits to the grocery store. So far I have visited two, Pak n Save and New World. New World is a really nice store and invoked a WOW when I walked though the door. It is very nice to have so many food options and to have a refrigerator (with a small freezer) to put it in. I am very excited about cooking, especially in the much bigger galley on Starship.
On Sunday nights at the Marina there is a cruisers BBQ. You bring a dish to share and your own meat to grill. The marina has a covered area with a BBQ and picnic tables. It was a great way to meet more of the Riverside Drive Marina residents since we have been mostly only traveling the few feet between Tournesol and Starship. The marina is small and very cozy (the boats are very close together), but the people are really nice and it is about a fifteen minute walk to town. I think we have made an excellent choice for our home in NZ.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment