Liam and Granddad
Callum and Eamon helping Granddad sail Kilkea
Andrew and Eamon
Eamon and Callum at a waterfall NZ
Grandad and Hudson at ChristmasI know I know that I have not posted anything for a long time and have heard the complaints.
Well here we are on the 20th of Feb and will try to catch up on our travels.Marian and I both arrived back in Vancouver on December 12th. Marian from Ireland and me from New Zealand. Marian was exhausted and is just now starting to catch up.
Christmas was great as we were living in a house that our friends Henning and Linda lent us for the month and we were able to entertain some friends and the family. We had our daughter and husband over from Calgary for three weeks with our youngest grand son Liam who was four months old at that time. We were very busy with the family coming over a couple of times. We had five grand kids and their parents and uncle Nick over a few times for dinners. It was great to connect with all our friends again and catch up on their lives. The five weeks we were home went by in a flash and we only managed to do half the things we had on our list.
We came back to New Zealand via Sydney mid January a week ahead of Andrew, Lindsay and the two boys arrival. We had a great time with the boys running all around the boat causing me much concern that they didn't start moving sails or starting the engine and other such stuff. They had a lot of fun swimming around the boat and hiking up trails to waterfalls and playing on the beaches. Andrew and I got in a couple of rounds of golf and we did some land tours to visit Lindsay's aunt and uncle so were very busy every day. We bought a Mitsubishi six passenger mini van so we could all fit. It is a 1998 model and we hope to lasts a few more months.
Reflecting on the year 2010 we feel rather numb as we did so much with the sailing and then loosing both of our mothers and having two new grand sons that it is going to take a while to get our batteries recharged. We will have to go back up to Vancouver at the end of March for a week to take care of more estate stuff of my mothers which limits our ability to really see this country. We have changed our travel plans as a result and now will leave here around the beginning of May and sail up to Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and then back here to New Zealand arriving back here around the end of October. This will entail moving Kilkea II about four thousand miles which is now a short distance for a year after what we have been doing for the last five years! Wow it is hard to believe that we have been at this that long! I guess the saying that time flies when you are having fun is true. We feel that it would be just too much to sail all the way to Singapore this year so we will defer that for a year.
We are enjoying it here as the people are very relaxed, the scenery is pleasant and the language is English!! So with two summers here should get to know the county reasonable well.
We hope to have most of the boat projects done in a week or so. So far we have had all the manifolds on both the main engine and generator fixed up and the engines gone over completely with a few surprises, as always, found and fixed. Much better here that when we really need them. The new seat cushions for the cockpit are here and they should be starting the new bimini top this week? The electrician is finishing up after we installed a 3000 watt inverter and a new brain for the charging system through the alternator. Also this week our new genoa sail should arrive along with 100 meters of new anchor chain. That should take care of the majority of fixes that need to be done for the next few years. Our feeling is that if you do not take care of the boat she will not take care of you so we should be in pretty good shape. Well no promises on the next update but I will try to do better.!?
