Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Aunty Catalina
I didn't take this photo. Obviously. But here he is, Baby Sebastian. Copywrite the father, in every sense.
Friday, 1 February 2008
Whangaroa Race 25th Jan (Waitangi to Whangaroa)
Whangaroa Harbour is a beautiful and massive fjord-like harbour, 35 miles up the coast from the Bay of Islands - a scenic cruise (albeit through bumpy seas) past rocky coastline, long exposed beaches and through the gorgeous Cavalli Islands. We raced up there in six hours and came triumphantly last (well, we were on an old cruiser with only three crew, one of whom didn't have a clue what she was doing tum te tum but she learnt a lot I'm told). On the sail back down I swam in the Cavallis a matter of miles from the spot where a record-breaking Bronzie had been caught the previous day in the mouth of the harbour; I couldn't shift the idea of shark-infested murky waters, so my heart had more of a workout than my body. No good photos as it was a bit rough, but finally I've captured some of the infamous New Zealand mail boxes.
Friday, 25 January 2008
Moorings and truck motors
What an unprepossessing title. But that's what my life is about at the moment. Moorings and engines.
First of all, moorings: I am now the proud owner of one quarter of a concrete block. Shortly, when I gather the outstanding $750, I will be on the real estate map, in the form of a four-tonne piece of concrete and a pile of rusty chain lying in the deep mud off the desirable shores of Te Whahapu Bay. This photo here is not the new mooring, but it is one I encountered whilst having a little dander about in my canoe off Paihia beach a couple of weeks ago.
And as for engines, well, the houseboat runs on a 90hp Isuzu diesel engine. This engine has probably done many many thousands of hours in a HGV before it started its retirement years in our boat. Unfortunately, the supposedly reconditioned engine wasn't so much reconditioned as taken apart and put back together again without much thought as to the 'condition' bit. Turns out that a barely functioning piston was put back in and shards of metal have progressively been thrown round the engine. Oh, I don't know - may be it wasn't a piston, perhaps it was a valve...whatever, it didn't look too healthy, even to my glazed-over eye. We're inhabitants of Waitangi right now. About two k 'down the road' from our normal mooring in Paihia, shown here:
First of all, moorings: I am now the proud owner of one quarter of a concrete block. Shortly, when I gather the outstanding $750, I will be on the real estate map, in the form of a four-tonne piece of concrete and a pile of rusty chain lying in the deep mud off the desirable shores of Te Whahapu Bay. This photo here is not the new mooring, but it is one I encountered whilst having a little dander about in my canoe off Paihia beach a couple of weeks ago.
And as for engines, well, the houseboat runs on a 90hp Isuzu diesel engine. This engine has probably done many many thousands of hours in a HGV before it started its retirement years in our boat. Unfortunately, the supposedly reconditioned engine wasn't so much reconditioned as taken apart and put back together again without much thought as to the 'condition' bit. Turns out that a barely functioning piston was put back in and shards of metal have progressively been thrown round the engine. Oh, I don't know - may be it wasn't a piston, perhaps it was a valve...whatever, it didn't look too healthy, even to my glazed-over eye. We're inhabitants of Waitangi right now. About two k 'down the road' from our normal mooring in Paihia, shown here:
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