Sitting in the cockpit of Kalai quietly anchored
in Opunga Cove on a still December evening, sipping on a fine
Marlborough Pinot Noir and listening to a little Billy Joel on the
stereo... it's a tough life!
Just over 48hrs ago we were frustratingly delayed
for two hours before leaving Melbourne Auckland bound on a full A380.
Then it was grab the El Cheapo rental Sunny and wind through the
familiar streets of Mt Roskill as we headed north to Whangarei and
then out to Ngunguru for a delayed Christmas eve dinner at Nanny and
Pa's. Traffic was relatively light (unlike Friday 27th where there were 20km queues outside Warkworth on the main road northbound from Auckland!). It was great to see Barry looking so well after his heart attack just a
few months ago.
Christmas day was a sleep-in morning after the long day yesterday and then preparations began for dinner, with a couple of walks, opening some presents and the essential baking of pecan pies... Marie and Ron from over the road joined us later in the afternoon for drinks and we then had a great feast, including the pies!
Boxing day we re-packed and left around 10am to travel to Opua, stocked up at Countdown before arriving to cloudy skies around midday. Kalai looked in good shape, albeit with a slimy looking bottom.
Everything was soon packed away, though evidently I have to make more room/get rid of some of my "essentials" for other crew members to have access to storage space... (its on my to-do list as we speak...)
No reason to delay, even though medium-fella wanted to remain on dock and access wi-fi, we set off for a day-sail to Russell. Engine started first kick and is so much smoother now with new prop and engine-mounts aligned properly.
Well, the day kept getting better and with a fair breeze and headsail set, we decided to keep going and cruised on out to a favourite anchorage at Opunga cove with a dying westerly ensuring a calm night.
Great to be back on board!
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