Evanston: landed
Evanston: landed
Kerikeri, May 13
A forest of eucalyptus and ferns outside my room. Straight columns rising fifty or more feet just beyond a small deck and a narrow strip of lawn.
The low moved south with a final paroxysm.
Just before sunset yesterday, the wind gusted to 30 knots and for a half hour the rain was torrential. All my old leaks remained dry, but too late for me to anything about it, a new one appeared at one of the main cabin ports. I’ve marked the spot and will try to fix it when I return.
I watched DARLING, the 1960s film that made Julie Christie famous, went to bed with a book and a small glass of Laphroaig, fell asleep and awoke at 3:45 a.m. to stillness. No wind. No motion.
I lay there for a while. Calm has become a rare commodity. I got up, got dressed, and in fog rowed ashore, took my first shower since Saturday, unlocked the little rigid dinghy from the rack, carried it down to the dock, and towed it back to THE HAWKE OF TUONELA, which I was able to locate by anchor lights on other boats
Waiting for first light, I deflated the Avon, stowed it and the solar panels below, closed sea cocks and shut off the propane at the tank, and rowed back ashore. Still in fog. The world was nacreous. I rowed inside an oyster shell.
I had to wait until 10 for my rental car. By then the fog had burned off and the sun was shining. I don’t know if predicted thunderstorms ever developed in Opua. There were none in Kerikeri. Or if it will rain tomorrow. Possibly I could have remained aboard; but I didn’t want to take the chance, and so drove up here and took this very pleasant room at the aptly named Woodlands Motel a mile or so from the landing strip that poses as an airport.
I actually drove there first to see if I could fly today instead of tomorrow. I could. It would cost me an additional $600 U.S. The room costs $70 U.S. It was not a difficult decision.
Evanston, May 17
I just checked the New Zealand Met Service site. Nil warning for Brett. Thunderstorms possible the next couple of days. However at a distance of seven or eight thousand miles, this is a matter of interest rather than concern. I can walk down the hall to take a shower, rather than having to row ashore. Although I do like to row.
Rain did fall during my night ashore in Kerikeri, and there was a mass of dark clouds just to the north of the airstrip when we took off at 2:30 Friday afternoon. The pilot avoided them. Although I’m used to being thrown around at sea, I don’t like it in small airplanes. We were in an Otter, which isn’t much bigger than its namesake.
The remaining flights from Auckland to San Francisco and SF to Chicago were as expected.
Rain is due here today as well. The sky seen through windows rather than companionway is overcast and the temperature near mid day is 50ºF, which is 2º cooler than in Auckland.
The Cubs, the White Sox, and the Red Sox are all losing. For those of you outside the U.S., these are baseball teams. The Black Hawks, Chicago’s professional ice hockey team, is winning. But ice hockey is not a sport I follow: too many fights and an impossible to see puck.
I seem to have made the transition.
The morning orange juice is cold. The coffee better. And I see Carol in person rather than on a computer screen during a Skype call.
Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do next.
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The lead photograph was taken from my table at the Marsden Estate winery near the airport, where I eat lunch before the flight to Auckland. The week’s rain had perceptibly raised the level of their pond.
Fall does not see much change in color in New Zealand. The tree in the background--a swamp cypress I was told--is an exception.
And this was the view from my motel room the previous afternoon.
Monday, May 17, 2010