Beautiful Opua Home

The last 3 days in NZ we stayed in a unit underneath the home of Brian and Joan Hepburn.  It is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been.  Brian built, and is still building, most of it and Joan does the interior and garden decorating. The view from their deck is of the Opua Marina in the Bay of Islands.

Auckland to Ridgecrest

Kokako on Tiritiri Matangi

Air New Zealand Nov 8  The aircraft was a new 777.  Interesting features: The safety message was a video featuring characters from The Lord of the Rings  - funny and riveting.  The bathroom had wallpaper which was a bookshelf with very interesting titles on the spines of the books such as how to fly airplanes, Nude Skiing in New Zealand by Seymour Butts and Stargazing.  Each seat had a video touch screen with a huge number of viewing choices.  The eleven and a half hour flight flew by.  ;).  At LAX we found Norelle Shlanta waiting for the same flight to Inyokern.  She gave us a ride home from IYK and it was fun to catch up.  Ellen Janetzko met us at home with breakfast for the next morning.  Good friends! Gracie was in the house when we got there but she was not at all happy to see us.  She pouted all night and half the morning but is now back to her usual cuddly purring self.  Sheryl promises to give me blog lessons so the quality of my blogging should improve before the end of  the year!  I am going to send a few photos at a time of our sailing before we had internet access.  By the way, nearly all the superb bird photos are by Barry.

Home 2 Days Ago

Sunrise in Opua Marina with another 
Wauquiez, Destiny. Virtually all Wauiquiezs 
have the same wide, blue sheer stripe.

 



Last Minute Visitor and Work

Red-billed Gull Abundant native

Does Barry look cool with his hat 

on backwards or just hard working?                              

Fireworks

Nov 5 Guy Fawkes Night   We have fireworks tonight to celebrate Guy Fawkes getting tortured and hung for plotting to kill King James.  I must say that the 4^th of July is a much happier and more uplifting reason to celebrate with fireworks. 

Technology Friends Food

The Technology

Before leaving the US we were told to “unlock our SIM card” in the cell phone.  We have no idea what that means but I called up Verizon and told them to unlock my SIM card and a few minutes later it was unlocked.  We needed cell phones in New Zealand and so we went to the Vodafone store (Vodafone is the equivalent of Verizon) and told them Lynne needed a SIM card for her iPhone.  They physically took out this tiny little thing the size of a pinky nail and put in a NZ one.  The SIM card came with minutes, data and messaging.  Now my iPhone works in NZ just as it did in CA with telephone, instant messaging, receiving emails from all our accounts (except sailmail) and connecting to the internet (like Google maps).  To us this is truly amazing.  Of course, the people in the Vodafone store who set this all up were under 30.  Barry took the opposite approach and bought a $19 cell phone that is just a phone.  At the same time we bought a USB “stick” (mobile broadband) which connects our computer to the internet just like in the US.  We have a secure internet connection  wherever we are in NZ .  We have enough gigabytes to listen to Radio NZ (like NPR) streaming.  The news we are getting here on Radio NZ  about the US election is news, not hysteria.  Speaking of  elections we can get our ballots by email, see the voter pamphlet and pros and cons and everything on-line that the CA Secretary of State and Kern County sends out and then we can vote and send in our ballot by email.  This is good.  The voting process took about 20 hours at least of our time and required the help of a genius daughter who used to work for the Sec of State and was willing to call Kern County for us.  Hours of help from both Vince and Sheryl. 

The Friends

When we left New Zealand in 2008 Barry cried because he thought he would never see his Kiwi friends again.  Our NZ friends are those kinds of friends.  And, so, when we returned, and the old friends saw us,  huge smiles of recognition spread across their faces, they shouted our names and gave us hugs. This is good for our souls and good for our health!  We have also made some new friends.  When we first bought our boat in Seattle in 1996, Michael Gray was the president of the Wauquiez Owners group.  Since arriving in Opua Oct 6 he has been here on Destiny right near us in the marina and he has become a true friend.  Ditto Melanie, Puggsy and Diane. 

The Food

New Zealand is food heaven for people like us.  The produce is absolutely fresh and abundant.  We especially appreciate the selection and availability after having been cruising for 5 months in areas with no soil or not enough water or where everything is imported.  Fish with fries in expensive French restaurants and coconuts  go just so far.