The Travellers Return

 

Ia Orana!

After a wonderful month in NZ we arrived back in Raiatea on Friday morning.  Due to the vagaries of the date line, we were actually drinking our coffee back on board Papillon 10 hours before we left Auckland which was weird but perhaps not as weird as completely missing a Friday on the way out and then having to deal with the clocks going back that night for the double whammy!  For a 4.5h flight our time and date clocks were completely shot to bits for days!

Lake Waikaremoana	Martinborough Vineyards
Castle Point	Mount Hobson

Having a month on dry land was a novelty after so long on the boat.  Everything seemed more luxurious than it probably was.  The excitement of standing under a shower without those mental images of emptying water tanks,  the enjoyment of washing AND rinsing dishes, the feel of wool on your skin again,  relaxing in a bath with a good book, paddling in breaking waves, covering 100km in a couple of hours rather than a whole day and being able to walk on dry land whenever and wherever we pleased.  Don’t get me wrong, we have absolutely loved our time on Papillon but “a change is as good as a rest” they say and we have certainly returned refreshed for the next chapter.   

Mushroom Panekiri Bluffs	another weird mushroom
Rain forest Te Urewere	Kauri trees - Gt Barrier

In our absence Papillon had weathered a month of neglect remarkably well.  The neglect part had not been our plan but problems with the dinghy meant that Marie couldn’t get out to check her as we had intended.  Mohammed very kindly stepped up and confirmed her lines were holding whenever he was out kite surfing, but although reassuring it was not the same as having someone on board reading batteries, emptying bilges and generally airing the space.  And so, we travelled back with a certain amount of trepidation.  It was far from certain we would even be able to get out to the boat as the dinghy outboard had been cutting out on Marie but even if we could what would we find on board? Layers of mould all over the saloon, overflowing bilges, torn sails...? It was all a bit nerve wracking. But nothing turned out to be as bad as we feared. Transportation out to the mooring was slow but steady, the boat was still where we had left her and although not pristine white she certainly wasn’t green.  It was a good result!

Tongariro Crossing	Mount Hobson
View from Mount Heale Hut	Rocky lookout

Since then, we have largely remained on board…cleaning and repairing.  The dinghy is still giving cause for concern.  We are currently using the old one we sold to Paul and Flore but it is so slow (with the old outboard too) we can hardly be bothered to go ashore particularly as the trade winds have been blowing strongly.   Our diet, needless to say, has been a little unusual: melted cheese tortilla wraps (Duncan’s inspiration) with canned peppers, gnocci and frozen green beans, white fish kedgeree with… frozen green beans and canned peppers…need I go on?  As you’ve probably twigged after cleaning out the cupboards pre-NZ we don’t have many ingredients left to play with!!   To complement the inspired cooking, I have been cleaning mould off the boat, scraping marine growth off the hulls and…applying yet more (New Zealand) patches to the dinghy.  This week has certainly brought us back to “sea” with a bump.  We may be living in a tropical paradise, but boat maintenance is a full-time job!  The dinghy is now patched and curing until tomorrow when we will test it for the last time.  You will be pleased to hear that an agreement has finally been reached -an entente cordiale if you will.  If the dinghy is still leaking “badly” (that seems a little subjective to me) we will bite the bullet and order a new one from the chandlery in Tahiti tomorrow– no more patching for me!!

Boat Sheds-Wellington

Put the "I" in Wellington

Fortunately, other repairs have proved more straightforward – not necessarily quick but certainly not as frustrating. Hacksawing off a mangled bolt for the best part of 3h probably topped my week but screwing in the shiny new eye bolt made up for all the blood, sweat and tears; and replacing the old toilet seats and changing the screws in the helm’s seat for ones that actually fit are all little wins on board Papillon.  It will come as no surprise that we left for NZ with two packed bags and came back with 4!! As you know Skipper can never resist a chandlery!! Our biggest purchase was a custom-made stack pack (bag that the mainsail falls into when it is lowered) from a sailmaker in Auckland.  The current one is existing on a thread.  The colour looks a perfect match but until the wind drops substantially the new one remains shrouded in plastic in the guest cabin and we can only hope that we got all our measurements right!  

Mokau Beach - west coast

Three Sisters and Elephant Rock - West Coast

So, it’s been hard work but also lovely being back on board.  I knew we were ready to return when we started gravitating towards marinas and maritime museums in Auckland.  Our last few days of the holiday were spent on Great Barrier Island.  A new anchorage for us in the Hauraki Gulf reached on this occasion by ferry but no less excitedly than had we been on our own boat.  New anchorages are what we live for and why returning to Papillon was so easy.  As I write this the breezes are warm, waves are crashing on the reef beyond, and the sun is shining.  Tomorrow, our next visitor arrives from LA and the world is good.  We will take Papillon into the town dock to meet her off the ferry and use our time there to stock up the freezers and do the laundry.  Once that’s all done the world’s our oyster and what could be nicer than that.   

View from the deck - Gt Barrier	Coromandel from Gt Barrier Island
Sunset Gt Barrier	Plane back from Gt Barrier