NZ Land Logs 42, Year 2: Justin’s Getting Married . . . No April Fool
Date: Sunday, April 1, 2007
Weather Today: Overcast and Rainy
Location: Whangarei, New Zealand
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I had a son. Today I have a son and a wonderful prospective daughter-in-law. Yesterday I had a dog, albeit that the dog has lived with our son Justin for the past four years. But at sixteen years of ago, going on seventeen, Freckles had to be put to sleep yesterday. Add to that all of the new information we have gathered today from fellow cruisers about options for the next cruising season, and things get just a little overwhelming. Just last night when I wrote my log, we were headed to see “Happy Feet” at the community open-air cinema and life seemed to simple. We enjoyed the movie and found the walk home in the dark to be no problem. The moon is almost full and it really lights up the evening world. The news about our dog Freckles was expected, but it is still very hard to part with a dog that became a family member. Freckles went out in style being buried by Eagles Rock in Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles. She was the cutest cocker spaniel you’ve ever seen and Justin took great care of her. Thank you, Justin.
And speaking of Justin, he is now engaged to Jo. That event also took place in Topanga Canyon, only a couple of days before Freckles was buried there. We met Jo while we were home in the Us and think she is the perfect match for Justin. We are so happy for both of them. Congratulations, Justin and Jo. Now we just have to figure out how we can get home for a wedding or how we can get them to meet us out here for a wedding. Stay tuned for that one.
Now that brings me to the next topic . . . Where in the world are we going to be in the next six months to a year? How are we going to get home and when? I keep saying that we just aren’t sure what we are doing next, but now we have the incentive to make that decision and will work hard in the next week to make some decisions. Tonight we went to the marina barbeque and had some great conversations with cruisers from all over the world. You can tell that it is time to leave here and the energy level is zooming. Everyone is talking about where they are going, so it was a perfect opportunity for Mark and I to mentally record the itinerary of many boats. Safina, our neighbor from across the dock, is a boat from Montreal. Jean-Pierre and Colette will be leaving in the morning and their itinerary sounds very close to one we have been favoring. Leave here and go to Great Barrier Island down toward Auckland, sail north to the Bay of Islands and wait for a weather window, sail to Fiji, then Vanuatu and maybe the Solomons, then to New Caledonia, and finally to Australia for the South Pacific winter. Head to Indonesia and Thailand then the Indian Ocean and South Africa during the next season. Felix and Monika of Makani came over the for the barbeque tonight. They are leaving here and going straight to Australia and then on to Indonesia, Thailand, the Indian Ocean, and through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean this season. Then there is Scott and Pam on Starship. They are leaving here and going to Australia, then to Vanuatu and back through the Torres Strait to Indonesia and Thailand. Then there is Windbird. Sorry folks, we still don’t know where we are going! Maybe tomorrow . . .
Our last thoughts tonight are with Sigi and Christie of Pleite from Germany. They are from Germany and were our neighbors in Nukulofa, Tonga, last October. Just two weeks ago they got their boat ready to head out for the next season and left Opua up north to go to Great Barrier Island down near Auckland. They were in a river anchorage at Warkworth, just north of Auckland, and while sigi was working in the engine room, a fire broke out with such intensity that they had to abandon ship. We learned about this today from someone who had met them while they were in Opua and had heard about their plight. These people from Kerikeri got on the internet to see if they could locate them and came up with our website since we had mentioned them in a log last October. They wrote us looking for information about Pleite. We immediately went to our German friends here at Riverside Marina and came up with a phone number and updated information on their whereabouts. Sigi and Christie have lost everything, but it is most heartening to know that there are people out there searching for ways to help them. Sigi and Christie, our hearts are with you, as you work to rebuild your lives.
