Lunch at Russell, Lilo and Curry in Ngunguru

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. 
Water Rat, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. 
 Psalms 107:23-24

If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble. If it happens to be an auxiliary cruising boat, it is without question the most compact and ingenious arrangement for living ever devised by the restless mind of man--a home that is stable without being stationary, shaped less like a box than like a fish or a girl, and in which the homeowner can remove his daily affairs as far from shore as he has the nerve to take them, close hauled or running free--parlor, bedroom, and bath, suspended and alive. 
E. B. White

Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.” 
Robert Henri

All good things... here in Ngunguru I'm re-packing my bag, travelling home considerably lighter than the 30kg I arrived with two weeks ago, and feeling somewhat lighter in soul!

It has been an exceptionally enjoyable time, with a stretch of constantly fine days in the mid-20's and only a couple of brief showers at night.  Sailing breezes mainly out of the SW-NW quarter, calming down as evening fell.

Yesterday Barry and Ruby bravely ventured north to Opua, carefully sharing the driving in Barry's longest stint since his heart attack some weeks ago.  I showed them over the recent improvements on board, then we ambled back down the dock to the Marina Cafe for a fresh brew.

The day promised much early on and we elected to motor out the harbour, Barrington on the helm, to anchor off picturesque Russell for lunch...

.A brief shower sent us scurrying into the saloon to finish our filled rolls, fresh fruit and hard-boiled eggs.

Weighing anchor we motored at first and then unfurled the headsail in 6-8 kts of westerly to coast gently on a rising tide back to Opua.

Cleaning up and packing completed, we set course for Ngunguru in the nick of time with a heavy band of showers negotiated south of Kawakawa before the weather cl;eared again through Tikipunga and out to the coast.

Today dawned fine (again!) and a few trimming and maintenance jobs were completed to help the octogenarians manage their delightful little home in the retirement village. A vege plot with strawberries ripening nicely lies behind the creek nestled at the foot of a hill where elevated water tanks provide good pressure to taps.

 

We managed to discover some useful items among the treasure trove that is Barry's garage - many garnered from a succession of boats owned over the past few decades... just in case they might come in useful - as indeed some will, including this genuine rubber "Lilo" air mattress (modeled elegantly on the garage floor by Nana Ruby), which I'm told will be on the yacht for some serious Christmas floating around a quiet bay by the mother of our children!

Cooked one of Dad's special curries for tea tonight - even enough left for tomorrow night's repast!

Off into Whangarei in the morning and then the Naked Bus to Auckland and on the 1850 flight to Melbourne.

Looking forward to getting back home, though I hear there are some maintenance jobs and other issues lying in wait!

A final word of wisdom from Ralph Waldo Emerson...

"The wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor..."