Some days you have to laugh, last night when I eventually got myself to bed (well after midnight) it must have been cold as their cat, he decided the warmest place was to crawl inside and under the bed blankets and to sleep curled up by my feet most of the night. Well until Briar and Dave got home from their night out, then she wriggled out and was gone. Cats, they are only your friends when they feel like it!
This morning I waited for the weather to calm a little and then went out to Cuzzie and tried to remove some dust, grime and sand from inside and look at what was needed in her before we headed back up the coast tomorrow. I climbed up on top and checked out the tie downs on Louise to make sure she was secure. The roof was a tad slippery this morning in my bare feet and the wind was damn strong so I walked around gingerly up there and decided that in case of an accident to get down quickly. Inside the flat I made a huge pot of peppermint and lemon tea, sat with my laptop and guess what I stared at for about 2hrs. Weather forecasts! No Nat to ban me from looking so I tormented myself for quite a while. Really there are not words to describe this self torture, anyway, nothing I can do.
On with the day, we chatted and then cooked up a great Sunday brekkie. Bacon, eggs, mushrooms and sausages, it was just what I needed as last night I got a little too absorbed with other things and had forgotten to eat so my stomach was trying to chew at my backbone by the time we ate. Yum.
I slowly got myself back into the camper van, with my recharged laptop, batteries on phones fully charged and also backup charger packs ready and full, and then I was on the road. Firstly heading to the supermarket to grab some essentials, on the way I texted Nat to see how she was doing and organised the pickup point for her from the Wellington airport.
Basic food gathered, sorry to say but the Xmas food, hams/turkeys, sweet mince tarts and tinsel all stayed well clear of my basket. I am still not sure why the world thinks we need to force feed ourselves on Christmas day, and everyone seems to shop for food as if the holocaust or a nuclear bomb is about to explode. There is only one day the supermarkets are closed, just one day, and today the supermarket shelves where heaving. I felt a little repulsed today by it all, ah well not for me to judge.
I run from the supermarket and jump back into Cuzzie and headed out to the airport. This place is also a little crazy, there seem to be frustrated taxi drivers everywhere and people rushing for flights or having last minute ticket and baggage issues. I chat to a dear friend on my mobile about life back in Auckland, and think now my black eye is nothing as she is suffering from having a big operation to remove 3 wisdom teeth, yikes. Then my mind flicks to another great mate who has just had a hip replacement, sheeze, I am truly blessed really. I can not even begin to imagine the pain from this type of operation, Mr V Foster please make sure you rest and do your rehab. I expect to see you hiking to the end of one of the Fiorland tracks to meet me, big hugs.
At last I see Nat as she arrives, she makes me smile as I see by her attire that Auckland was really warm, she is in her denim shorts and t shirt. She quickly relives her not so pleasant flight into Wellington airport, she is feeling a little worse for the bumpy flight. With bags slung over our shoulders we quickly head back to the warmth of Cuzzie and head towards the marina car park to join all the other freedom campers and camper-vans for the evening. Some of the vehicles I recognise from Friday night, this is a popular location it seems.
Nat heads to lie on the grass and try and clear her head, wrapped up in a woolen blanket. I am reading, Cresting the Restless Waves (Paul Caffyn). I will let you all know if it helps me on this next section of my paddle. Today has been for me a very lazy day. I have gone for a small brisk walk along the marina, wrapped in layers of leggings, shoes, socks and also many layers of my sharkskin, there is a cold bite in the air and I know tomorrow is not much better. I am heading back to the coastline to sit now and wait the weather out, taking bite sized section at a time. It seems this is going to take some time and one day soon the weather will change and I will get a clear warm and calm day.
Well one day...
Happy Sunday to you all. I am hoping you have all had a great day, we are tucked up in the camper van and would like a crystal ball to see what this week is going to bring us. The weather forecast is grim, the deck of cards is going to be used a lot I am thinking, and maybe Nat will have to go and chat with the surfers at Castle Point and get some lessons if we are stuck there too long.
Great news is that my Red T2 is nearly ready to join us! Her launching will be any day now, I cannot wait.
Night Night
Red
One of the many water front sculptures
Cuzzie lined up with all the others at the marina camper-van location