Sad to see you go (for now).

The new, almost finished, drawbridge.

We had to leave by this weekend since they will be closing the bridge for five days starting Monday in order to put the drawbridge part in place.  Lots of other folks are scrambling to get out by the end of the week, so we opted to leave a little early and beat the rush.

We had a nice ride downriver and out to Marsden, which is just a half mile or so inside the bay from the ocean.  It was great to get Charisma back out and running.  I was a bit anxious at first, not having driven her in the six months we’ve been in New Zealand.  But by the end of the two hours it was back to business as usual.  I even managed to back her into the fuel dock to top the tank.  Backing is always a bit hit or miss on a full keel boat.  Went off nicely though.

As far as the top off, we got a bit of a surprise.  Charisma is supposed to have a 100 gallon fuel tank.  The previous owner expressed some scepticsm about that number, so I have in turn given it a healthy margin and planned as if she only held 75 gallons.  Imagine my surprise when upon filling up after completely emptying the tank when we cleaned it last week-when I found she actually only holds 70 gallons when topped off to the brim!  Wow. I’ve in fact had a couple times when I’ve used 65 or so gallons thinking I had a safe margin. Well, that’s why we carry an extra 10 gallons in jerry jugs.  They are my “just in case” plan for if our fuel economy changes or there’s a fuel leak or something. Looking in the log, I saw one post by the previous owner that they put in 69 gallons.  Talk about close calls.

At the dock in Marsden.

Under the category of “You’re never really ready to leave”-on the way downriver, we took the cover off the compass and found it mysteriously low in fluid.  There’s a bit of a bubble at the top.  I’m going to have to take it apart and fill it.  I imagine there’s a fill hole on the bottom, but since this is another project I’ve never done, we’ll see.  A boat-owner’s work is never done.

It's always something...

So…bottom line for now.  Looks like there might be a weather window opening up next Tuesday or so.  We’ll continue to track it, but it the low that’s coming across from Australia continues as advertised, we wait until it just passes over and leave with the southeast winds heading north.

Sometimes I think about how I am half way around the world away from “my people” and then a day like today happens.

We are getting ready to leave New Zealand. We are headed out of Whangarei tomorrow morning.  We arrived in New Zealand six months and two days ago.  Wow.  Where did the time go?

We sold our car back to the Cars for Cruiser guy yesterday and so are on foot today.  Bob and I walked into town to cash the check and run a few errands.

As we walked along the river we noticed an incoming sailboat-which is unusual because most people are headed out.  We took a closer look at the name and it is “Reality” from San Francisco!  Okay, just that is cool, but it is more fun than that.  I was alerted to watch for “Reality” by my friend Lynn Dunn.  This is her cousin who has been sailing for years and we are now set to cross paths!  How could we resist?  So Bob and I found “Reality” having just docked in Town Basin and introduced ourselves.  Very small world.  And we walked away excited to have met some new friends who we are pretty sure we will see again in Fiji!

We had lunch at a little café where we have become regulars after only five visits.  Matt and his partner own the place and are from the US.  Immediate friends when they heard our “accents”.  A great bowl of mussel chowder and a sincere good bye and good wishes and we were on our way.

We got back to Charisma and spent the afternoon packing up the dinghy and paddleboards and getting ready to depart.  And really trying to get stuff put away so that Janette and Alistair (of Riddlesden Bed and Breakfast fame) could see Charisma at her finest. (The first time they came aboard I had directed them to go say hi to Bob while I went to church.  Oops – I forgot the boat was a mess due to provisioning in progress). And Charisma is looking good!  Just in time for Charismas with our favorite Kiwis (imported from Scotland).  Heartfelt hugs and a promise to see them again in November ended our time with them.  What great people who really made our experience in New Zealand special!

And speaking of great people (see, it just keeps coming!)… we have procured extra crew for our jump to Fiji!  True!  Since Orcinius is still undergoing “construction” and unable to head to Fiji with us, John has agreed to stay here in New Zealand and oversee the project while Lisa joins us for our sail to Fiji! Poor Bob!  Ann and Lisa on the same boat for how long!  Stay tuned for many stories to come!

(From Bob:  OK, Ann and Lisa-Wow, I may be overwhelmed!  But, I’m looking forward to the company and camaraderie.  And this means John will fly up and join us for a while in Fiji.  Fun!  We’re still hoping Orcinius will make it back in the water in time to actually sail up there, but at least we’ll enjoy the company of our good friends for a while as we explore this new area.

Also, Lisa made a beautiful, handmade, cross-stitched, bookmark for Ann as a going away present.  Check it out).

John and Lisa with Ann

The beautiful bookmark Lisa made for Ann

OK, one last thing for the “boat geeks” who made it this far in today’s post.  What does it really take to finally be able to leave.  A bunch of boring, simple stuff like: deflate and fold the dinghy and paddleboards, fill the water tank and jerry jugs with fresh water while we have lots of it, tie the folded dinghy down with the 130 % jib onto the foredeck, secure the jerry jugs, do some final charging of electronic devices while we have dock power, secure loose stuff down below, do the last load of laundry–the list really goes on and on and you are never really ready.  Tomorrow, ready or not, we’ll leave around 10AM for Marsden which at least gets us back down the river we came up all those months ago.  From there we’re only a short mile to the ocean, so no worries about the tides, current and bridges that we have to deal with to go down-river.  We will be free to go out and do some “shakedown sailing” or if the weather opens, just leave.  Well, we still have to clear customs, but that’s another story…