NZ Land Logs 52, Year 2: Reprieve from the Rain
Date: Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Weather Today: Sunny Day; Rainy Evening
Location: Whangarei, New Zealand

We got a reprieve today. Instead of rain, we had a beautiful day. The day ended with rain, but not until after 5:30, so we got in a full day of boat work. I finally finished cleaning and polishing the underwater metal and Mark put on the first coat of #3 epoxy on the waterline. We put on three coats of #1, and will wait until tomorrow to put on the second coat of #3. Then it will be time to sand and paint the green waterline stripe. That painting will probably not happen tomorrow as heavy rains are predicted with 75 kilometre winds–not a good outdoor workday. The forecast shows rain now through Sunday, but I suspect that after tomorrow we will have periods of sunshine between rains when we can get some work done. Right now it looks like it will be next Wednesday before we get back in the water. We shall see.

Late in the day Marie of Ranger stopped by to see if I would like to go to the store with her. Since we don’t have a car, all of the cruisers here that do are always offering to take us into town. I had finished the metal work, so I got dressed and went into town with her. When we returned, Mark said Tom of Quantum Leap had stopped by and invited us to join him and Bette Lee in the covered barbeque area for Galapagos rum drink. Who could pass up an invitation like that? Not us. So we drank $4.00 a bottle Galapagos rum and and talked with other cruisers who came to cook their dinner. We had flounder and chips and great conversation. When we returned to Windbird, it was time to check email. We got an email from our daughter Heather telling us that there are some new pictures of Sam on their Picasa site. Sam is giggling and laughing now and they were able to capture a smile for us. They also got a picture of him with his Easter duck that quacks. Very cute. We then checked our son Justin’s blog and found that he has returned from his honeymoon in the dessert and has posted logs and pictures from the wedding day and honeymoon. He and Jo are doing great, although Justin almost got carried out to sea today by a rip tide while trying to surf off Venice Beach. Thank goodness for the Coast Guard. I am posting a couple of pictures of Sam from Easter weekend and of Justin and Jo at the wedding and on the honeymoon. If you would like to read more about Justin’s honeymoon adventure in the dessert you can go to http://narasopa.blogspot.com/. If you want to see more pictures of Sam you can go to http://picasaweb.google.com/jedgold/. I think I would have a really, really hard time being out here cruising without technology. I miss my kids so much, but when I can see pictures of them from just a couple of days ago, it helps. Heather emails almost everyday and keeps me up-to-date on Sam’s progress and Justin’s blog site keeps me informed on what’s happening in his life. This is something cruisers ten years ago didn’t have. I’m glad I’m cruising now, not then.

070411 Web Pics–Kid Update
From 070411 New Zealand–More Epoxy