Sunday, November 25, 2012

New Zealand Attained


Papillon has arrived in New Zealand!  Although we had been warned that the sail from Tonga to New Zealand can get pretty peppy (a boat was lost the week before we left), we had the quietest passage on record.  There was so little wind that we had the spinnaker up for a few days, and many people had to motor for up to 100 hours.  (This is usually the point at which Erik accuses me of being a wind killer.  I can’t help who I am; maybe someday I’ll get work travelling the country dousing tornados ).

So, what did we do on passage?

For school, we chopped up plants to separate out their pigments.


And nobody lost a finger!

We crossed into the Eastern hemisphere.

All Erik noticed was our speed.

We admired lovely sunsets as the days got longer and longer.

Lovely sunset, glassy seas.

We repatriated misguided flying fish.

Oh, fish.  Why do you want to die in our scuppers?

We pulled out our cold weather gear when things got too chilly.

At least Indy wasn't cold.

 At the quarantine dock, we had a visit from India, the drug dog.  Stylish fell in love with this very sweet Labrador, and followed her up and down the dock on her rounds.

Please, Mom?  Please, please, pleeeease?

India was also being followed by a cameraman for an episode of “Dog Squad”.  Stylish quickly made friends with the cameraman.  When interviewed about what it is like to live on a boat, she told him about a) her stitches, b) Indy’s stitches, c) getting bitten by a sealion, and d) breaking the mizzen.  I drop my head into my hands.  We really have had some fun times too, you know.

"And then I hurt myself when I..."

 We are now getting settled in Opua.  So far, life has been one big party as we all reconnect with friends we haven’t seen for months.  Tomorrow, the work begins.  We have to start on sail repair and ordering a new mizzen.  Cyclone season has begun!

5 comments:

Kate said...

What an adventure. Glad you had a calm passage to NZ.

The weather is cold back home. I saw a dusting of snow this morning. We are going to suppersolved and a Raptors game today.

Love Kate

Anonymous said...

dear aunt amy,
i miss martha and audrey.I hope i Skype you soon.

love Beth.

Colin said...

Excellent! Hope that you find some solid wifi so that we can Skype!

Love Colin

Anonymous said...

We are so pleased that once again you have reached land.

Enjoy your Kiwi adventures:the Hobbits & so many more await you.

We look forward to talking to all of you soon.

Love Mom & Dad

Anonymous said...

Bisher war ich ja immer nur fasziniert von eurem Abenteuer und von deinen Berichten, Amy!

Aber jetzt, auf 5 Monate Neuseeland bin ich richtig richtig neidisch - immerhin gönnend, positiv neidisch :-)

Ich weiss noch, durch Opua bin ich glaub mal gefahren, auf dem Weg nach Paihia. Davon noch in Kawakawa auf die Hunderwasser-Toilette *g*

Hier soll es übrigens morgen anfangen zu schneien ;-)
Liebe Grüße
Karin

 
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