Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Catching up !

Since I left for New Zealand on March 2nd, I have not been able to find time to update the blog, although a lot of things have happened in the meantime.
I left Sydney on the 2nd in the morning and came back on the 6th. I had gone there to help out and to participate in the yearly meeting of the Brothers of the Coast of New Zealand. Arriving in Auckland, Gary was there to meet me and to take me to Nigel's place where we spent the rest of the day.
On Wednesday morning, we went to pick up Yves and Ingrid Balmas at their hotel and then proceed to Russell where the meeting was taking place. In Russell, we met a nice group of brothers from the US, the UK, the Netherland and Germany. Altogether, we were 19 brothers and their wives, and we had a very pleasant and happy dinner
together at
the Duke of Malborough.
Then, Thursday morning (the 4th), we all went aboard the tall ship Tucker Thompson for a nice sail in the Bay of Islands, with barbecue lunch and a walk on the beach on one of the islands.
Back in Russell, after a short break, we all gathered at the Russell boat club for the event. There we met with the Kiwi brothers which are a very joyous and friendly group. At the end of the evening, it was time for the induction of a new brothers, exchange of gifts and flags, and surprise to me, I was made an honorary brother of the table of New Zealand.
The next day, Gary drove us back to Auckland and I spent the night in a motel near the airport since my flight was at 5:50 in the morning.
I arrived back in Sydney on Saturday the 6th and went straight to the marina and Papy Jovial where Bernard and Claudine had a
rrived the previous evening.
A little bit of shopping and provisionning and we settled down back on board preparing to move the next day.
Sunday late morning, we left the marina to proceed to the marina of the FishMarket where we were planning to spend afternoon and night before moving on to Darling Harbor.
Monday morning, up at 4 and through the bridge at 5, just in time for the closing of the night clubs in Darling Harbor (the music stopped at 5:30), wondering if it was going to be the case everynight. Fortunately, it was not and the following nights were to be peaceful.
And then, since we arrived, it's been a continuous string of meals, excursions, parties with no time to update the blog. So today, I have decided the skip the excursion of the day to catch up with the blog and other items.
Tuesday night, I had all the french speaking brothers on Papy Jovial for drinks, joined by Debbie and her friend. I had 20 guests on the boat, which so far could stand as a record. On Wednesday, the brothers from the Chesapeake Bay table and Mike and Jeanine Arnold came for one of our emergency meetings, after dinner this time.
I will stay inside Darling Harbor until Monday morning, when the Pyrmont bridge will open again, and again this time at 5 in the morning, to get back to Gladesville Bridge marina for the day. Hopefully, this will be enough time for Tony to put in four new portlights for the forward cabin. I will have to wait until we reach Brisbane to take care of the other sources of leaks.

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