The other day Trish and Graeme got a new kite. It is for kite surfing which they figured they could do here and in Australia. Quinn was tooling around on his coaster bike in the field where they were trying to learn how to fly the kite. The next session with the kite will be over the water, that should be fun!!


One of Trish's friend gave her a whole bunch of beautiful second hand baby clothes. After we had sorted them out, Trish could not resist putting her in one of the cute outfits and we had a photo shoot. The lighting wasn't great, so the lighting director (Quinn)decided to add some much needed extra light. (thus the flashlight in Trish's face)
June had her first bath at home and she was not impressed. She is eating like a true Lange and after she has finished she is just satiated. She just lays in Trish's arms her arms hanging down. She is so relaxed and calm, so far she has been a wonderful baby.

Relaxing after a busy day
Trish got home safely on Monday night. The whole family was very happy to see her. It has been a very busy household ever since. Quinn seems to be adjusting quite well. He would not let his Mom out of his sight the next day but that is perfectly understandable. He is not sure about Grandma. Sometimes she is useful, like when Mom is really busy and can't come then occasionally she is allowed to help him out. The other day he went on a ramble outside and started pulling at something that had some pink itchy insulation behind it. I told him he couldn't do that. He was not impressed and after several minutes trying to figure out a way to get what he wanted he gave up and went in the house. I opened the door for him and he squeezed in then pushed me away and shut the door. Fair enough, I had spoiled his fun and he didn't want me around. I headed around to the other side of the house to let myself in the front door and the little monkey was already there trying to make sure that big bag grandma wasn't going to get in HIS house!!!
June is doing great, the health nurse was here yesterday and weighed her and she is up to 5 lbs, 10 oz. and the nurse was very happy with her weight gain. She is, off course,as cute as a button with lovely auburn hair. She is very tiny, but has long limbs, with very long fingers. I haven't gotten a good look at her feet yet but she has lovely small ears. My grandmother has these monster ears with huge lobes and I was always afraid one of my children would get them. So far I don't think that gene has surfaced in any of our offspring!!
Trish' garden is flourishing. Her flowers are all blooming and her veggie garden is growing at a great rate. I hope to have a nice salad with her garden lettuce tonight as well as fresh herbs.

Mom is looking at the camera but the guys are busy looking at the car!!

Well, I guess internet baking is not my forte. Yesterday I looked up a recipe for bran muffins online and then copied it down and cooked them. Well as you can see the results were not stellar. I kind of wondered when there was no flour involved in the recipe and actually went back to the computer to check on the list of ingredients, and sure enough I did not see flour. The results were very tasty but did not hold together very well and at the moment they are in a bowl. I consumed some for breakfast as a cereal substitute. After I had scraped all the cooked stuff out of the muffin papers I went back to the computer to check again to see if there really was flour and sure enough, hiding between the baking powder and the egg there was the required 1 cup of flour, I can't believe I didn't catch it the second time I looked. Oh well, I may try them again, meanwhile Graeme does not really believe I can bake!! Quinn on the other hand shoveled some of the tasty bran/craisins/sun flower seed mixture into his mouth and wanted more.

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Trish and June in Trail

I am in Windermere, BC awaiting the return of Trish and June. They should be here sometime on Monday. Last night they were to do the car seat test. They were going to put June in the car seat, while she was still hooked up to the monitors and see how she did. If she managed all right, Trish and June would be left on their own for 48 hours to see how they managed on their own and then they would be discharged on Monday. Trish would then drive home with June. It has to be about a 4 hour drive if not more.
Quinn and I are going to get reacquainted today, he seem to remember me this morning so that is a good thing. We took a trip down to the garden to check it out. Things are growing but there are some weeds to be pulled so I guess that will keep me busy today.

We have had a busy weekend. On Saturday we helped out down at the boat yard. We were responsible for putting in a Fraser 42, launching is stressful anyways, but when it is not your boat it just adds to the stress. Everything turned out fine though, the engine started and after clouds of black smoke came out, it settled down and got us to the mooring. We were not happy with the engine temperature after it had been running for awhile and not knowing whether that was normal or not, we have decided not to use the boat while it's owner is away. He has offered it to us for other times in late July and perhaps after a few more lessons on the running of the boat we will feel more comfortable about using it.
We were invited out to a Skills Canada demonstration of what the students have learned on Sat. night. The skill was cooking. We were treated to a sumptuous 7 course meal. It was astounding, first was a cheese and fruit plate, then shrimp cocktail, delicous home made tomato soup, a sorbet to cleanse your palette, whitefish with wonderful homemade tartar sauce, then beef tenderloin and to finish it off strawberry shortcake. That is Yellowknife for you, something unique and different going on every weekend. I think I may attend a concert put on tonight featuring one of our boating buddies daughters.
Today we volunteered at the annual Midnight Sun Triathalon. Once again it was raining but it wasn't as cold as 2 weeks ago when we volunteered at the track meet. It was interesting watching all ages swim, bike and ride.
This afternoon our grandchildren, Cassidy and Elijah came by. They are heading off on summer holidays soon so are wanting to make some spending money. They sorted our recycling, walked to the bins to put it in, then we rolled Grandpa's stash of coins. They each made $6.00 for their efforts and seemed quite happy with that. We headed to the Co-op after that and bought ingredients for smoothies. The cherry yogurt with the fresh strawberries was a hit all around as we slurped up all that goodness. What fun.
I am flying to Calgary on Thursday to be with Trish, Graeme, Quinn, June and Moocha, I will arrive in Windermere on Friday. Trish and June may or may not be home by then, but since I have to be back on July 6 to be here when Barry heads in to the hospital I thought I should get there pretty soon. I am sure June will be able to hold her own by then. She is now out of the isolet, breathing on her own, now she has to be able to hold down a good feed of milk before they will let her go home. I can't wait to meet her!!

Heather called, she is safely in Tulita. She said that have a decent place to live and that the plane ride up there was long. They went up on a small plane. Tulita is located where the Mackenzie River meets up with the river flowing out of Great Bear Lake.
I met with a bunch of ladies I used to curl with and against and was asked to curl in the Senior ladies with them. The only hitch is that the Senior National playdowns is at the end of March. It is in Ottawa, which would be a lot of fun, but that would mean I would miss a good part of the NZ summer and have to stay in the cold NWT until the end of March. HMMM. Barry is willing to stay as long as I want. I guess I will write a list of the pros and cons and figure out where my priorities lie.
Launch day is tomorrow, hopefully it won't be too windy, it is not fun to see those boats waving around in the breeze when they are launched. A fellow who lives in Hay River and does not use his boat much said that we could sail his boat any time we wanted this summer. He sailed across the Atlantic a few years ago, sounds like I won't be hurting for boat to use. That is great.

NEWS FLASH
Unbelievable, Barry's surgery has been scheduled for JULY 7, 2009. HORRAY, YIPPEE unbelievable. i am doing the happy dance all around the living room, otherwise known as the entertainment center and the library!!!!

Life is good!!! Barry and I went to see the doctor today. He is a candidate for a new hip and they are going to schedule him in for surgery. That is just wonderful news. We still have no idea when it will be but it will be sooner rather than later and we should be able to be back on the boat to make the run to Fiji at this time next year. I can't tell you how happy I am. Barry will not have to live with the pain he has for too much longer. Oh wow, we must have someone looking out for us!

On the boat front, we have been asked to launch a 42 foot boat on Saturday and then been given free use of the boat until the owner comes back on June 25. He is a very trusting sort, I spent about 3 hours with him yesterday going over the boat systems and writing down all the ins and outs of starting the motor. I think I have it down, it is just checking to see if the 8 new thru hulls he put in are leaking that has me slightly worried. He is a pretty careful guy so I am sure his workmanship will be outstanding. He has a brand new furling genoa on the boat which should be fun to see how it works. I may go down and put the main on today, depending on the wind of course.
I don't think I have mentioned that one of our friends has a laser that he said I could sail in the Wed. night races. Seeing as how I have never sailed a dinghy by myself, this should be a great experience. I guess I will find out what kind of a sailor I really am. I am not looking forward to the first time I go for a dunk though, that water is going to be freezing. Now I am wishing I had bought a heavier wet suit than I have. I hauled the wetsuit all the way back from NZ with plans to do this so I had better stick to my convictions, I really am a northern girl, born and raised in the north so I laugh at cold water HaH!

Big news, Trish is engaged. A very ecstatic new mother called me the other night and said she had a lovely diamond ring on her finger. Graeme was very happy to see his new daughter again and Trish said that Quinn was very pleased to see her. They are ensconced in Bob's fifth wheel and loving it. They are parked by the playground so they can watch Quinn play from the trailer. He also has his new coaster bike with him and the area is paved so they are all happy about that. A coaster bike for those of you not in the know is a bicycle without pedals. They just push it around with their feet and COAST when they want. I will be interested to see him on it. Last I heard was that Baby Girl Martin was still doing fine. Hmmm, any bets on how long it will take them to name her??????
We went for a drive out to a lake about 30 km from town yesterday. It was a lovely day, the leaves are still not out here, but are getting ready to pop. From the top of the hill I could see leads in the ice, but it still looked pretty solid. It was warm enough today to walk to the library to use the computer with just a short sleeve shirt on, so things are warming up. I have applied for 2 jobs so far, I am getting bored, today I was such a housewife, doing the laundry, going shopping and even ironing Barry's shirts. If I get supper ready for when he walks in the door from work he will think he has died and gone to heaven. OH JOY!!

Here is a picture of Baby Girl Martin, courtesy of my brother Bob. He lives just 4 hours from Trail . Yesterday he drove his fifth wheel trailer to Trail so that Trish, Graeme and Quinn can have somewhere to live. Graeme is driving to Trail today so the whole family can be together. Hopefully Trish will be able to get some rest and Graeme will get to see his baby girl again. I am sure Quinn will be very happy to see his Mom again as well and visa versa.
All is well on the YK front. Barry and I went garage sailing today and got some good stuff. Still need a broom and vacuum according to Barry but I find that I really don't need those things, hee hee hee!!!

OUR NEW HOME, AT LEAST FOR THIS MONTH

The closet,notice the slightly skewed doors


Check it out, a bathtub, Woopee!!

The entertainment center


Patricia and Baby Girl Martin are in Trail, BC. They were flown there yesterday, the baby is fine, just underweight and she was having some trouble breathing. They did not have the facilities in Cranbrook to look after the baby if she got into trouble so they shipped her out. Trish said in Trail they have a nurse who is dedicated to the preemie babies. They admitted Trish to the hospital last night and she is going to be allowed to stay there for 1 more night. She thought there was a place in Trail for family members of hospital patients to stay, so she may look into that.
On our front, we are in a one bedroom apt, YEAH, we have a toilet, YIPPEE!! So far we have a foamy, 5 pillows and some dishes, 2 plates, 3 glasses, 2 soup mugs, 2 knives, 2 forks, 2 spoons and some pots and pans.
We shouldn't fall off of this!
Ian and Helen loaned us some sheets and towels, I have organized all our clothes into piles on his and her sides of the beds. We have a closet, with hangers, wow, space to actually hang things up, what a luxury, the boat’s locker to hang stuff up was really lousy and there was always the generator and 2/20 liter full water cans in front of it. I think I will have a house warming party and tell everyone they need to bring a chair, little would they know that they would have to leave empty handed. Oh yeah, I could ask them to bring something to eat and then keep the dishes as well, this idea is getting better and better all the time!!
The library


Ah well, Barry is enjoying work, I think but he is very tired when he gets home. His hip was really sore today and I asked why. He said he did some visiting on the first day, and apparently he walked up and down the stairs between floors a few times, what can I say!
Elijah and Cassidy our grandchildren said that their teachers would like me to come in and talk to their classes that would be fun. I must get in touch with them today. I probably won’t go to Windermere to help Trish out until she and the baby return home, that may be a week to 10 days.
I just went to get internet hooked up and it is not going to happen until next Tuesday and apparently there are no “Hot Spots” for Wifi in town, what a drag. I did call the library and they have computers, first come, first served, so I guess I will go there, and I will get a library card as well.

IT'S A GIRL!
Trish had her baby this morning. Baby Martin was tiny weighing in at 4 pounds, 15 ounces. She was 5 weeks early, she was having some breathing problems so she is in an incubator. Trish delivered naturally, after having a cesarean with Quinn her 2 year old.
I am hoping to get a place to rent today and get moved in PDQ so I can go down and help out. Besides that it is #$@%#$ cold here, much warmer in BC, near the 50th parallel.
Must go have a long list to get through today. Will keep you posted. Trish and Baby Martin are in the Cranbrook Hospital.

NEWS FLASH. Our oldest daughter has gone into labour. Her baby was not due for another 5 weeks so this is unexpected. I need to get us moved into a place and get down there, YIKES. I am so glad I did not start looking for paid employment!!!!!
I wanted to show you my tall grandkids and their Mom. Aren't the kids really big. It was so good to see them all and to find Heather looking so healthy. We went and saw the Disney movie Up, it is about an old man who floats his house away using balloons, a wonderful tale.
I need a letter from the gov. stating Barry's salary before I can do anything. Boy, they don't take any chances anymore, AND I have to pay $25.00 to get a credit check done. HMMMMM, civilization!!

Tonight I realized why we spent so many years living here. It is breathtakingly beautiful. I wondered down the lane behind where we are staying about 10:30 at night. I was miserable, feeling stress about finding a place to live, worried about imposing on friends, just out of sorts due to re-integrating into the normal North American lifestyle again. I walked out onto a dock and looked out over the half frozen lake. There was water around the edges, the middle was ice. It had rained yesterday and the ice was a patchwork of greys, with puddles of water accumulating on the top of the ice turning the white snow black, attracting today's sunlight. I looked back to where we are currently living, in the "shack" and saw a beautiful house and garage with marvelous symmetry overlooking the lake, the shack is to the right in the picture. The evening sun was just setting and the colour of the sky was that gorgeous northern blue that you get as the midnight sun sinks below the horizon.
I hurried back to get the camera to capture the moment, my spirits lifted and I felt ready to face whatever tomorrow will bring.

We have reached our final Canadian destination, Yellowknife, NT. Yippee, we made it, we landed in Canada over a month ago so it feels good to be at the end of this part of our journey. We are camped out in a friend’s “shack” as he calls it. It is a lovely shack and has all we need except a toilet! The “shack” is located at the back of our buddy’s yard. It is approx. 3 X 2.5m. It has a fridge (stocked with beer I might add) cupboards, counters, a closet and a loft. Ian lived in the “shack” for a year. The bed is in the loft, what more could a person ask for, well maybe a toilet but I am sure Ian and Helen will let us have access to the house to tend to our needs.
We have some apartments lined up to look at, we have found out we can sign a month to month lease. We are going to take a 1 bedroom place that is available immediately for a month. It is a walk up so would not be suitable after Barry has his surgery. Our daughter has some furniture in storage so we are going to look to see what we can use, so the problem of not having anything to sleep on should be solved.
When we arrived in town we went down to the boatyard to see how much ice there was, there was a lot, they won’t be launching for at least a week, if then. I was asked to help put up a new roller furling, mission partly accomplished, a cotter pin is still needed but everything else is fine. We met some old friends; it was great to see them.
We visited the 5 sets of friends and family we had planned on, a bonus being getting to meet our new grand niece, Avery, James and Kendra’s daughter. In Camrose we saw Pat Barbour, now Fields, and her daughter Shona. Years ago in Yellowknife we used to make wine. One night we corked one to many bottles. We labeled it and gave it to Pat, because we would all get in trouble when we were there playing bridge and she would want to open “just one more bottle.” Well that empty bottle of wine left Yellowknife, and went to Vancouver Island; we would pass it back and forth every time we saw each other. Pat gave it to us just before we left in 2006. It made it safely across the Pacific on Cat’s-Paw IV, not falling from its perch when we went aground in the Marquesas, or when we hit those big wind and waves on the way from the Bora Bora to the Cook Islands. Miracle of miracles it was not broken on the return air trip in our luggage. Pat did not have a clue what this thing was wrapped up in four layers of bubble wrap when I gave it to her. Now she is going to have to meet us in some exotic location in order to give it back to us!!
We saw our Mexican cruising buddies Sandy and Steve from Mungo in Edmonton.
We visited Barry’s Aunt Flo, she is in an extended care facility after not being able to get out of bed one day. She seemed in good spirits. While we were there, Barry’s Uncle Ben and his wife came to visit as well. Barry could not remember every meeting him. He looks remarkably like Barry’s Dad. He told me he reads the blog regularly, isn’t the internet amazing, people you have never met can keep in touch with you as little or as much as they want, wow!
Yesterday we went and helped out at the Yellowknife Track Meet, something Barry got started 19 years ago. It is great that it is still alive and well. I had a few moments yesterday when I wondered what on earth we were doing there. It was bitterly cold, a 15 knot wind, gusting to 20 and raining. I had a t-shirt, a hoodie, my down jacket and a rain suit on as well as my hiking boots. I put wool socks on my hands, I couldn’t find my mitts or gloves in the car, welcome back to life north of 60!!
We are going to see our daughter Heather and her children today. I can hardly wait.

We have finished our cruise and are now visiting with our oldest daughter and our 2 year old grandson. The cruise was an exercise in luxury. It was lovely to have all our needs looked after, but not one I want to repeat anytime soon. Barry on the other had loved it and would take another cruise anytime. A SWINGING BRIDGE IN SEATTLE I found I would rather be visiting the exotic places the staff was from in their home environment. DO YOU THING WE SHOULD GET ONE OF THESE ABOARD CAT'S-PAW IV???It was a great chance for the whole family to get together. One night at the dining table we laughed until our sides split, hearing stories from all the perspectives was hilarious. We both enjoyed getting to know our niece from England, Amanda. She is an interesting young woman, working in the wine industry in London. She worked for a year in Paris as a waitress and her explanations about differences in the dining styles of the French and English were very entertaining.

We left the cruise and headed west from Vancouver, we stayed a couple of nights with my brother in the interior of British Columbia. He has retired since the last time we were in Canada, so we got to see his new home in Okanagan Falls. There are falls there, although they are now controlled by a damn that the wine industry in the region uses to control the river for irrigation purposes. We were amazed at the number of vineyards, they were everywhere. Bob and I went for a lovely bicycle ride down the valley along Skaha Lake. The path is on an old rail line bed and is a much better choice, in my opinion than riding on the busy highway. The Canadian Ironman competition is run in Penticton which is just a ways up the road, so lots of folks use that highway to train for the race. Bob and his wife Barb were working at the polls for the provincial government, a lucrative few days work for them.

We are presently getting to know Quinn, our third grandchild. He is a very active, co-ordinated little fellow. He takes after his mother who used to have me running a merry chase at that age. He travels around the playground at a trot, his balance is unbelievable, both Barry and I kind of gasp at some of his antics. The other day he was teetering on the edge of a step (keep in mind, he is only 25 months old) he overbalanced and managed to step down without mishap. He climbs up the twirly slide; Trish figured his Dad has taught him how to do that but no, Quinn just figured it out. He is quite the kid.
We are spending May long weekend here, today Trish and I did a lot of yard work while Grandpa entertained Quinn. He was actually a great help as we spread some hay in the corral, spreading peat moss on the garden was also a hit, but we waited until he was sleeping to repot Trish’s bedding plants.
We will head to Alberta on Tues. hopefully to visit lots of other folks; so far I have managed to line up 6 different folks we want to say hi to. Barry starts work June 1 so our plans are to get to Yellowknife a few days before that. The ferry across the Mackenzie River seems to be running now.

We are on Vancouver Island now. We are staying with Barry's sister Sherran, her daughter from England arrived yesterday so she has a house full. We haven't seen Amanda since she was about 10 so it has been wonderful to get reaquainted with her as an adult.
We have been busy visiting with Barry's Mom and going to look in the "barn". The barn has all of our wordly belongings in it that are not on the boat. We have been sorting through our cold weather clothes as well as work clothes to try and decide what we need to go back up north. I finally found my parka today so I am a happy camper. One of the boxes had hosted a mouse family in it so it stunk and some of my clothes were slightly chewed. It gave me a good excuse to throw away a few items. I should have just taken everything I did not want to take with me to a good will store but we did not allocate time to do that. I am sure I could happily pitch half of the stuff in the "barn". I did manage to come across some of my cook books, which I dearly missed on the boat, so I will be able to feed us in style. The car is going to be packed!!
Barry's Mom has a new pet. It is a rag doll cat, she is very beautiful, a creamy white colour with grey paws. She has long hair and striking blue eyes. Her colour will change as she ages (her fur will darken to grey) and Georgie says that she notices changes weekly. Chat is only 8 months old and is a very inquisitive cat, she is quite playful and Barry and I had fun with her and her toys.
We head off for our cruise tomorrow. The cruise leaves from Vancouver and calls at Seattle, Port Angeles, Victoria and Port Alberni before returning to Vancouver. All of Barry's siblings, their spouses, Barry's Mom and his niece from England will be on the cruise. His sister suggested it and said we should have a fun get together instead of just meeting at funerals, good point.
I have been some re-entry anxiety, yesterday I went shopping for runners and left one store because there were too many people in it. I actually bought the second pair of shoes I tried on because I couldn't face all the choices there were. I am also worried about finding a place to live in Yellowknife. Barry has become the optomist and figures we will have no problems, there will be plenty of partially furnished apt. that we can move into, yeah right!!! It is funny when the roles change, I find his optimism quite hard to take, he must be crazy to think that way, is that how he views my usually sunny outlook on life???

We are in Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Canada at the moment. We are visiting our daughter Jennifer, her partner Mark and our grandson, William. William is a treasure, full of personality and mischief, just as a two year old should be. We have really enjoyed getting to know him. Jennifer is a whirlwind of action as usual, she cooked a turkey with all the trimmings when we first arrived. Yesterday we went out and picked willow so she could make some baskets in her spare time!!!!!

Jen had to work a couple of days we were here so we took the opportunity to drive around the Cabot Trail. Mark very generously lent us his new truck and we tootled around in great comfort. The leaves are not out on the trees yet so the true beauty of the trail was not in full bloom. The advantage to going now was that we had the place to ourselves, yeah. We did not have to fight the traffic or the crowds.
Jennifer has given us an old camera she is no longer using so we are once again able to visually record our lives.

William got a new wagon and after his Dad had assembled it, he had great fun pushing it around the deck. We went to the playground yesterday and had great fun on the slide, William did not like the swings so much, too confining according to Mom. William also really enjoys riding around on the lawn tractor. Jen and Mark have a huge lot, almost an acre of lawn, lots of mowing!
Today we head to the west coast to see Barry's family. We will be there for 5 days before going on a 5 day cruise with them. The cruise ship should be fun, a different sort of experience on the water.

WEll I must be in cruiser heaven. I have found the cheapest internet I have experienced for quite a while. It was $5.99 USD for 24 hours, WOW, what a deal. We paid $10.00/hour in our hotel in Auckland.
WE are on US soil at LAX. We have about 9 hours wait here so I figured I would try and see if there was any hotspots here. Not only is there a hotspot, there is a 110 volt plug in, something we haven't had for a year and a half, so life is good.
We fly to Toronto on the Red Eye tonight and then eventually get to Sydney NS about 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. I am a bit punch drunk, sleeping very little on the plane but I did get to see a bunch of good movies. There is way too much noise here to drop off to sleep.

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/winddancer/index.php?show=gallery&aid=5293&pid=93340

Here is a link to a picture of me taken by the trailer trash and posted on their blog. This family is from Juneau, so we have a lot in common.
We are not in Auckland, exploring. We are about to go to the Maritime Museum, which is supposed to be really special. The character of downtown Auckland is really interesting, with, fancy new age sky scrapers intermixed with wonderful old architectually interesting buildings. More later.

We have been having fun with our neighbours. They are getting a new motor put in their boat and were staying at a hotel. Over the Easter weekend the hotel was fully booked so they found this trailer to stay in. Well they are now known as "Trailer Trash". Last night after a rowdy game of dice, we hung up some old rags and ratty underwear on the boat stand that is in front of the trailer. We threw beer cans, wine bottles and a couple of empty rum bottles in front of their door. What a hoot, all the guys in the yard got a good laugh when they got to work this morning at 0730. You can see Cat's-Paw in the background. She is almost ready to be put to bed for a year or more. We are leaving on the 1100 bus to Auckland tomorrow, so we just have to wipe the boat down with vinegar to keep the mould down, put the outboard and the life raft below, finish packing and do some last minute laundry in the morning and then we are off. We are having dinner with a set of Canadian friends on their boat on Wed, then lunch with our doctor buddy, the one that has set up Barry with the specialist when we get home in June, on Thur. Then the flight out is about 9 at night. It will be a long day. I think we actually take about 24 hours to get to Nova Scotia, so we will be totally screwed up time wise when we get there.

Living on the hard is a unique experience. For one thing you have no toilet facilities on board, so everytime you have to go to the bathroom you have to cimb down and up a 20 foot ladder. Usually you would feel the urge, get up, walk down the hall and do your thing. No, not when you live on a boat that is 20 feet up in the air. If you have the need to use the head you walk up the 5 stairs in the companionway to get to the cockpit, then you clambor over the side and down the 20 feet of ladder. If you have forgotten the key at the bottom of the ladder, you go back up to the cockpit and fumble around inside the boat to locate said key and then if your bladder is still co-operating you climb back down the ladder and head for the toilet. This is presuming that your mate does not have the key in his pocket and decided that he can chat with the neighbours, go to the store, or fill the car with gas as you sit with crossed knees awaiting the key to the all important toilet facilities. I have not got it across to Barry that when I have the urge to go, I have to go NOW, it is not good that he thinks that after using the facilities, he can do the laundry, pay bills, make phone calls and then come wandering back to the boat with the key. Today I knocked on the door to the laundry thinking that was where Barry said he would be, he was not there, but fortunately a friendly cruiser was there and I could borrow her key so my kidneys did not have to suffer any more. At times you feel as if you are still in grade school, hand up, May I go to the Bathroom Mrs. So and So, it really is degrading and I am sure my kidneys and bladder are taking a beating this week. Oh well, only 2 more day and then I can go pee any time I want. I have yet to perfect the male skill of peeing over the side, I guess I just need to practise, Ah Me, the life of a cruiser.

Well we sold our little car, YIPPEE. I was worried that we would not be able to sell it before we left, but a fellow that works in the boat yard wants it. We bought it for $1000 NZ, four and a half months ago, drove it over 5,000 km and sold it for $600 NZ. Not a bad deal for him and for us. I doubt we could have rented a car for less than $100 a month. It has been a good little car but it needs some work, the CV joints are shot. We thought about keeping it until we came back but it would cost as much as we paid for the car to fix it up and they have a system here that makes it mandatory to have your car in good working order to be on the road. The car has to be recertified in June so we would have to do the work so SELL, SELL, SELL. We put the sign up on Wed. and it sold on Thur, how sweet is that!!

We are on the hard in Whangarei now. The haul out went fine and then after that things started going to #@%&!! We put the sails up to wash them after we had been hauled out, did not get a chance before and promptly got yelled at by the boat yard owner because a gust of wind could potentially pull the boat over. He was right, we were dumb but there was no need to yell quite SO MUCH! Then the next day I was trying to wash all the lines in the cockpit like I did last year, it was fun and I enjoyed squishing them around. This year I put the hose on and went below, waiting for the cockpit to fill up. About an hour before that Barry had commented that we really didn't need the bilge pump on any more, so off it went. Barry was at the sink in the galley and stepped back and water started coming up the floorboards. ^*&^&#^*&*@#$% There are 2 small holes in the cockpit that the wind vane lines used to run through, well the cockpit was full up to that point and all the water was just running into the boat. YIKES!! Fortunately, Barry's dire predictions of thousands of dollars spent on electricians did not come true and everything appears to be working, thank goodness it was only fresh water, not salty stuff.
I haven't managed to have a major screw up today so things are looking up.
Hope everyone enjoyed there Easter, ours was kinda crummy. We were out of bread, milk and eggs and then the propane gave out. That really kind of limits my breakfast choices. I had made some scones though, they had currents and candied fruit in them so we chowed down on a cruiser's version of hot cross buns.
My arms are sore from cleaning sails and scrubbing decks and the cockpit cushions so I am going to stop blabbing now. We fly home a week today!

April 9, 2009

One year ago today we were on our crossing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas. It was the day Bob saw the flare and we turned around into the wind and the waves and ploughed into them for four hours in case someone was in trouble. I wonder why someone shot off the flare; I guess we will never know. It seems like a lot longer ago than a year. A lot has happened since then.
We are at Great Barrier Island again, waiting out some bad weather. We are anchored in a bay that has 360 degree protection. There is a narrow entrance into the bay to the north east of us and all around are wooded hills that are at least 200 meters high. The largest stretch of water around us is about 150 meters to the south of us, so there is very little room for the waves to build up to anything significant. The weather report last night was calling for winds of 30 knots gusting to 40, so it is a good day to stay hunkered down in a safe anchorage.
The weather was fascinating to watch today. The winds were from the southwest and every two hours there was a huge build up of dark glowering clouds over the hill in that direction. We would be sitting on deck in the bright sunshine and look up and there would be this scary bunch of thick heavy cumulus clouds. The sun would disappear, the temperature would drop. At one point we saw the wind approaching, the boats on the other side of the bay were blown around, one tipped over about 25 degrees at one point, then the water would be covered in with short sharp waves. Then the wind would hit us and the boat would strain at the anchor, swinging back and forth. The rain would start, slowly at first and then the pace and the force of the drops would increase. Soon the visibility would decrease, the rain would be coming down in sheets and you could barely see across the anchorage. The deluge would last for about 10 minutes, the wind would die, the rain cease, the clouds would disperse and 20 minutes later the sun would come out. This happened at least 3 times, amazing to watch; so glad we aren’t out sailing, having to reef in and let the sails out to adjust to the winds.
It is supposed to clear up tomorrow so we may sail across the 40 nm to the entrance to the Whangarei River and hang about there until Tuesday when we will be hauled out. We are eating up what ever provisions we have left on the boat. Yesterday we had potato salad and cauliflower with cheese sauce for supper. I think it is going to be tuna casserole tonight and then whatever we can come up with that involves canned tomatoes and beans (of all sorts, green, kidney, garbonzo, black and pork n) with pineapple for dessert, YUMMM!!

We have been just cruising around for the last two weeks. When we left Gulf Harbour we headed out to Great Mercury Island. It was a lovely and idyllic spot. The weather was terrific. The island was quite small, there were sheep and cattle grazing all over. We were allowed to wander around so I went for big long walks through pasture land up and down hills. Barry came ashore with me and wandered the beaches finding agate and obsidian at one point. One day he even ventured up a hill and had an encounter with the Angus beef cattle that live there. I went swimming a couple of times, we had a super time.

We headed back to the mainland and visited some anchorages on the Cormandel Peninsula. We went and got groceries at that spot where we had lunch Mom, it was the furthest north we went on the west side of the peninsula. We met another Canadian boat is one anchorage and were invited for a birthday supper. In another spot we met a couple of retired NZ pharmacists that are addicted to boating and they had us over to their boat for a lovely meal. It was nice to finally meet and get to know some local boaters. At the moment we are circumnavigating Waheke Island. It is just north of Auckland, in the Hauraki Gulf and has become a fancy place to live, lots of people commute to Auckland daily to work. We are hoping there will be a internet spot on the other side of the island so I can post this and let you know that all is well.

We only have about a week left before we put the boat on the hard and get her ready for a year or more on her own. We have a friend that is going to look in on her once a week. We are planning on giving him our dinghy, which is on its last legs, as compensation. I hope he thinks that is a good deal. I am having nightmares about going back to the real world. The other night I dreamt we were moving into my grandfathers home, and we had all the furniture that we bought when we first moved to Saskatoon in 1980. It is truly amazing what your subconscious does. I am looking forward to seeing our family again, I can hardly wait.

We are currently in Gulf Harbour Marina. It is across the bay from Auckland and seems quite lovely. We are here because we are meeting a couple of cruising buddies tomorrow. They have sold their boat and wanted to send their EPIRB home to sell so asked us to take it to family in Seattle. We agreed but now it ends up they will be there for a wedding before us so they want it back and it is in our car in Whangarei so we had to engineer a get together so we can give them a car key and they can drive up and get their EPIRB, complications, complications!!
Did I tell you that we met friends from Yellowknife the other day?? I can’t remember if I mentioned it but we knew they were in area, we had been e-mailing back and forth. They were vacationing on the South Island mostly. I had just read all my e-mail after 3 weeks away and there was a couple from them asking where we were and could we get together. Well, I went grocery shopping and lo and behold there they were in the store in Warkworth. It was virtually unbelievable, that we would both be there at the same time. They were just passing through on their way to a cottage for a few days and just think of the odds of us meeting.
Anyway, they came on board, we took they for a lovely sail around Kawau Island and spent a pleasant evening together at anchor. It was great to catch up with them and Barry got his fix of NWT office politics. The next day we headed over to a small set of islands and went exploring ashore there. The anchorage was great and Barry even tried fishing this morning. We headed over to the marina after figuring out how to get a hold of these buddies on the Sat phone. I must have tried every combination of numbers. You have to leave a number out if it is a cell phone, it is quite bizarre and frustrating.
Unfortunately, there will be no more pics for awhile. I have managed to destroy another camera. I can’t believe I keep doing this. This one happened to be in my pocket when I went in the water to rescue one of my fake Crocs after the dinghy flipped over in the wind and the shoe blew out. It is true, every word!! I, of course, forgot about the camera and just waded in and swam after the shoe which was heading for the mainland, (this took place on Arid Island). I have the $8.00 shoe and wrecked the $400.00 camera, good one Ann. You would have really enjoyed the pictures of the penguins swimming around in the Hauraki Gulf as well as the very small hammerhead shark I saw today. Also there are very huge boats in the yard here, I am talking at least 70 foot sailboats up on the hard, huge, even humungous. Anyway every time we see something exciting Barry says, “We should take a picture.” and I fell bad all over again about going swimming with a camera in my pocket. Until next time.......

Arid Island Yacht Club

Greetings from two of the newest members of the Arid Island Yacht Club. Arid Island is located east of Great Barrier Island which is about 40nm northeast of Auckland, NZ. We had been cruising around Great Barrier Island for about 2 weeks when we decided to visit Arid Island. The cruising guide indicated the anchorage on the island would hold about a dozen boats. It was early March 2009, equivalent to our September, the kids are back in school, the weather is cooling off, we figured the place would be deserted. We had a gorgeous sail over to the island. Our new genoa was pulling the boat along at 7 knots with wind on the quarter, a super sail. As we got closer to the island we could see a number of masts in the anchorage and were quite surprised.
Upon our arrival we discovered that all the boat were flying the same burgee and I wondered if a group from Auckland had raced out there. At sunset there were 11 boats crammed into a well protected little anchorage, I didn’t notice any other women!. The next morning a lone sailor rowed his dinghy over. He had on a set of horns and invited us ashore to take part in the AGM of the Arid Island Yacht Club. He said the only criteria for joining were that we had arrived under our own power and that we were invited by the Commodore, which he was.
As we rowed into shore I noticed that the cast of characters were all male and that they all had on white shirts and blue shorts. The meeting was called to order, the first point of order was that the picture of a bull, that was beside the commodore, was hung incorrectly, it was right side up, the correct way, we were informed was upside down! Once having corrected that fault the reason was explained to us.
Arid Island was purchased after WWII by a pilot. He could afford to buy the island because the cattle that had been left on the island before the war had been left to fend for themselves. When the fellow bought the island, he got the cattle for free, so he shipped them to market and he made enough to come up with the purchase price for the island. The owner would invite all his cronies to sail out to the island at Christmas time and they would indulge in some story telling and would hoist a few beers. At first the men would bring their wives but the wives complained about the fact that this was just another excuse to get together and drink beer, so the men changed the date of the get together to the first Monday in March, when all the kids were in school and the wives were no longer welcome.
Well one day the owner, who was making a go at farming on the island needed a substantial part for his tractor. He had to contact Auckland to get it, once it was available he got a hold of one of his sailing buddies who was a pilot, as well, and asked if he would fly the part over to the island. The planes they flew were Widgeons, an aircraft that is capable of landing and taking off from the water. The plan was for the guys to land in the anchorage, off load the part, have a few beers and the next day be on their way. The wind picked up and they were not able to land, but the fellow really needed the part so they decided to shove it out the door on a fly by. They managed to get the part out the door onto land and flew back to Auckland. The next day they received a telegram from the owner of the island; “Part arrived safely, bull dead.” When they had shoved the part out the door it had hit the owner’s bull on the head and killed him, thus the picture of the upside down bull.
I looked more closely at the AIYC shirts. The logo, which I had assumed was an outline of the island, was actually a bull with his four legs in the air. There was a lot more bull flying about that day! We had a reading of the former poet laureate’s rendition of an ode about a farting competition. The new members of the club were made to grovel in the sand for several meters and then crawl up a sheep ramp to be hammered on the shoulder with a 1 meter plastic hammer,
along with the command to rise. We were welcomed into the club and given a jar full of bull semen (cream and whiskey) to swallow. I had given my camera to another member to have a pictoral memory of my grovel. He had taken a marvelous picture of me belly down in the sand as well as one of my ass high in the air as I knelt before the commodore awaiting the gentle touch of the hammer. At the AGM the dues were voted to be suspended for this year as it was the 25th anniversary of the founding of the club. (Someone whispered in my ear later that in former years the dues were sometime doubled or tripled and the motion was always voted in because no one ever collected the dues.) There was also a report from the club architect that the 49th floor of the club building was still under construction and as the yacht club rooms were going to be on that floor the meeting the next year was going to have to take place at Arid Island once again.
This being the 25th anniversary of the founding of the AIYC, they had commissioned medals. We purchased our medals as well as a club shirt and we were given a club burgee in honor of the fact that we were the first offshore members to join the club. We had a wonderful time and attended the dinner held on Tuesday evening at the Port Fitzroy Boating Club on Great Barrier Island.
What a strange coincidence, us sailing into the harbour on the only weekend of the year that the club meets in that location. It was super meeting some real Kiwi sailors, one fellow had completed 5 Sydney/Hobart races, and another was a boat designer whose son runs his boatyard now. We are going to check out the yard and may leave our boat there while we are home in Canada. We are invited to the former commodore’s home in Auckland as he is dreaming of cruising and would like to pick our brains. I am continually amazed at the wonderful people we are meeting in our travels and I think that they will be what I will always remember.

Blog written about 2 weeks ago. We are now in Sandspit awaiting John and Gail Borkovic from Yellowknife who are going to join us. We knew they were in the area and yesterday when I was grocery shopping, there they were in the store, unbelivable.

We are cruising around Great Barrier Island, which is located about 40 miles east north east of Auckland. We left the dock last Wednesday and we have been out here ever since. The weather has been a mixed bag; it is getting to be fall here so out of the 9 days we have been here we have had 4 of beautiful weather and 5 of hiding out waiting for gales to pass and enduring the gales. The anchorages are very good and there are lots, we also have a good cruising guide which lets us know which anchorages to go and hide in when the wind is from a certain direction. After 2 days of being stuck below, listening to the wind howl and the rain beating on the deck we are ready for some sunshine.
I went hiking up to a kauri (a huge native NZ tree) damn; they have excellent tramping (as they call it here) trails throughout the island. The damn was about a 2 hour walk to it and then about 1 and ½ back. There was also a path to the top of a mountain but I did not want to go on a 5 hour hike or longer by myself. I also went for a swim the other day, my first since arriving here. I was in the water for over a ½ hour and had my wet suit on, I imagine I would have been fine without it, maybe will try that later.
There was also this terrific spot at Smokehouse Bay. There is a smokehouse there but even better there is a bath house!! Do you know I did not have a bath in 2008, not ONE. The bath house has a wonderful old bathtub in it available for all cruisers to use. You have to light the fire and then wait about 2 hours while you heat the water and then you get to luxuriate in the wonderful fresh hot water. Wow, what a treat, made all the better by chopping the wood and feeding the fire to heat up the water. There are also facilities to wash your clothes, basins with a wringer in them and clotheslines.
We are going to wash our clothes tomorrow I think. The land was bought and then donated for the use of boaters and when the facilities were ruined in a mud slide a few years ago, the boating community rallied and rebuilt the area. There are picnic tables and a BBQ, it is the most unique, useful thing that I have ever come across, what a wonderful surprise. I may have another bath before we leave the area.
We are planning on going to the town on the island, Port Fitzroy, this afternoon. Maybe I will be able to post this and then we are going to have a meal and a few beers at the Port Fitzroy Boating Club. We are planning on circumnavigating the island starting on Monday. The wind is switching around to the west for a few days and this should be a good time to head to the other side. We will probably cruise to the Hauraki Gulf after that but not too sure when yet. Hope all is well with everyone in Canada.

We had a great time cruising Great Barrier Island. I have 2 great blogs written but they are back on the boat. The boat is anchored in Kawau Island and I am in Warkworth. I came over in a water taxi to do a bit of shopping and check our e-mail. I slept in this morning and only just made the taxi forgetting the stick with the pictures and blogs on it. There was no internet access on Great Barrier that I could find. Highlights of the visit was Smokehouse Bay, a spot that the cruising community had built. It had basins for doing your laundry, with wringers attached and a ready water supply, as well as clotheslines. The best part was the bathhouse. You had to chop wood, lit a fire, hang about for about 2 hours chopping and feeding the fire and then you had enough hot water to have a bath. We were in the area long enough to do our laundry and I managed to have 2 baths, 2 more than I had in the whole of 2008!!! I was in heaven.
The Kiwis have a wonderful system of walks all over the place. I tramped all over the island up to a Kauri dam and to the top of a few ridges where you could gaze for miles. We ran into a bunch of crazy sailing Kiwis when we went to visit Arid Island and ended up being inducted into the Arid Island Yacht Club. I have a whole blog about that but just to tease you a little there symbol is an upside down bull, the commodore wears horns to the meetings and you have to grovel in order to become a member of the club.
It is getting into their fall season and so far we figured out that it means the weather is changable. You get 3 or 4 days of lovely sunny weather and then it blows up a gale and we would have to take the boat into a protected cove and hunker down for a couple of days. Fortunately Great Barrier had a number of good anchorages so although we spent about a third of the time there waiting out big winds we were always in a different spot.
Kawau Island is in the Hauraki Gulf and we plan to spend some time here, exploring the islands in the gulf. One of the Arid Island bunch invited us to visit when we get to Auckland so we may well do that and try and see a little more of that city. Hopefully I will get near a computer some time soon and will be able to upload those lovely blogs I wrote and some of the pictures. We are really enjoying being out cruising again. I've had some nightmares about going back to work, hadn't realized I was worried about it. Our time on the water seems to be very short, we will be pulled out in less than a month and then we have to return to our old life, HMMMMM!!

Hello to all, Trish here.
Just received a message from Ann. They asked me to post a quick blog to let you know that all is well. They are currently cruising Great Barrier Island and to date the weather has been fairly mixed with the good, the bad and the ugly (there has been the odd gale). But overall sounds like decent weather and I am sure they are happy to be out cruising once again.