Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

After breakfast with Jose and John and saying goodbye to everyone we left the Reyden’s and headed into Auckland. Having heard there had been some changes we took a walk around the water front. There was a new foot bridge and some restaurants along the wharf near the fish market and lots of new development rising up.

We then headed to the Auckland Museum and spent 2-3 hours there. They had some good exhibits and it passed the time. Even then, we were a little early so we drove up to the top of Mount Eden and took a nap in the car. After that we headed over to Lew and Tracey’s home, parked the car and went for a walk. For some odd reason we spent a while in a furniture store which is all entirely irrelevant if you live on a boat.

When we returned to the car we ran into Lew and were soon in, relaxed and with glasses of red wine in hand. Tracey cooked up a great dinner and we were joined by David and Helen who we met up in the Bay of Islands earlier this year and a lifetime ago.

As we had an early start we were all set up to leave without waking anyone up. In the end we woke before our alarm clocks and sneaked out – hopefully not waking any one. At 4:20 in the morning the trip to the airport was effortless and clearing in didn’t take too long. We now have just a few minutes before we board our first flight of three today.

The wind did come round a little and the weather was good so we headed out to an area on the west coast called Bethell’s Beach for a hike and a picnic. We were joined by ex-crew member Paul and his son, Tom.

We had a nice walk over the beach across dark iron rich sand to the next bay and from there we climbed to the top of the cliff along the Te Henga Walkway. At the top of the cliff it was a bit chill but we found a place sheltered from the wind on a nice patch of grass with a fantastic view over the bays to our south. Here we had our picnic and hung around for a while chatting and enjoying the view.

We took a different route back to the cars. Before heading back we stopped at the food and drink hut at the car park for a quick snack and drink.

In the evening our hosts cooked up a very tasty BBQ for which we were joined by family friends, Anne and Hendrick.

All in all, a great day. Big thanks to John and Jose for having us here for the weekend and looking after us so well.

Today we’re off to Auckland to see what changes have be wrought on the sea front by the recent rugby world cup and this evening we’ll be visiting our friends Tracey and Lew. It’s a very early start in tomorrow morning. I’ll try and squeeze out a blog from the airport but if not, the next will be from South Africa perhaps.

The morning progressed smoothly. We did our final clearing up of the boat. The generator compartment was cleared for access. The slop bucket was emptied for the last time. We showered to get as much yard grime off as possible. Around 9:30am Peter came by to collect his batteries. We had no further reason to stay.

After a brief stop at the supermarket for essential supplies we headed south down a very familiar road. On the advice from John, our host for the weekend, we took the coastal route (rather than the toll road) and stopped at Orewa for lunch and a leg stretch. Being a seaside town we couldn’t resist fish ‘n’ chips for lunch and enjoyed it immensely despite the horror of dripping oil from the battered and fried fish.

After lunch we took a stroll towards the sea front and more or less came straight back as a scream cold south westerly was blowing in from the land and intensifying over the sea front. It may be ok for the locals recovering from winter but it was too much for us. Isn’t wasn’t long before we were back in the car and heading on.

We arrived at the Reydens’ a little earlier than planned and found Jose at home. We were soon chatting and relaxing. When the sun came out we’d sit out side and when it went, in we went. When the weather improved a little we headed off for a walk at a nearby dam holding back fresh water which supplies a 1/4 of Auckland and presumable the local area. After this walk we stopped by for the view at the highest point in the (Pukematekeo I think) for the views of Auckland, the coast and the area around us. It was blisteringly cold so we took pictures and ran back to the car.

As the afternoon progressed the family returned from their weekend work/activities and we ended up sharing a take out Thai. And a glass or two of wine.

There are are some ideas about where to go/what to do today but it’s all dependent on where the wind blows, or more importantly where it blows from. Hopefully no more of this Antarctic stuff.

And it was a bit of a busy one at that.

First business of the day was producing an leaflet for our soon to be available second hand batteries which we planned to place in the usual yachtie hangouts around town. I decided to sell twenty and keep four in lieu of our house bank rearrangement project in March, just in case we can squeeze a few more in.

Next was a chat with works manager Peter to discuss the few things we want done to the boat. When we last hauled we put on enough bottom paint to last us two years. Now we’ve hauled again we want to postpone the next haul out so this means putting on one more layer of paint. We want to get our new sail drives protected from growth and we need our new scratch from bumping into the Q dock on arrival polished out and repaired. While talking to Peter I mentioned the batteries. He has 8 year old batteries, the same as ours and was planning to replace them. He was very interested and would think about it.

Once this was all discussed and planned Helen and I walked into town to collect our hire car. With that we visited the Town Basin Marina and a couple of boat yards to put up our posters before returning to the boat to begin work.

There was still some tidying and packing to do so Helen focussed on that while I began the task of pulling out all of the drive batteries and most of the house bank. By the afternoon Peter had made his decision and we had sold the first eight. Later in the afternoon one of the yard workers who is building his own boat here bought another eight. By the end of the day I’d sold the final four. I’d obviously priced them too low but we were happy with the price so we couldn’t complain.

As it was our last evening in the yard we went to town to eat out. We looked at a few places but in the end returned to our favourite Indian and ordered our favourite dishes there. Very tasty.

That’s about it for Dignity this year. This morning we do our final clearance. The genset compartment needs to be emptied and we need to wait for Peter to show so we can off load his batteries. Then we’ll be off.