Day 409, Year 1: New Zealand Weather
Date: Friday, December 1, 2006
Weather: Temperature Hovering Around 60, Rainy Periods Mixed with Sunshine
Location: Whangarei, New Zealand
The weather here fascinates me. One minute you are burning hot and then the sun goes behind a cloud and you are really chilled. Today there were periods of rain and then we would have beautiful blue skies and sunshine . . . and still it would rain. I kept looking up into that blue sky trying to figure out where the rain was coming from, but I think it is truly just liquid sunshine. The only dependable thing about the weather here is that it certainly will change in the next couple of hours. And even with all of the weather uncertainly, I see why people fall in love with New Zealand and never leave here.
I spent the first half of my day today doing laundry. I had gathered every possible cloth item on the boat to wash and it took five hours of loving labor to complete it all. Riverside Drive Marina has two washers but only one dryer. I had all of the wash done in an hour and a half, but the drying took almost four hours. So now everything on Windbird is clean and I can start on the next cleaning project.
While I was doing laundry, Mark was working on our propane system trying to get me back up and running with a stove for cooking. He also installed the new battery charger that he bought yesterday. We are hoping this charger will keep things running while we are away visiting in the US. He was successful in his installation of the battery charger, but not as successful with the propane system. In the afternoon, we walked all over town looking for a new solenoid for our galley stove, but there was not one to be found. Tomorrow we will work on ordering one of these, but in the meantime, Mark has rewired things so that I can use the stove for cooking.
This weekend there is a country fair in Whangarei. It is on the outskirts of town and a little too far to walk, so I’m not sure we will get there. But I’m hoping a cruiser with a car will give us ride. We were told that there are lots of animal exhibits. I would love to get a closer look at the New Zealand sheep.
