Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of our return to New Zealand. In that time we have not ventured more than 200km from our home in Taurikura. For a couple of nomads who have spent the previous 12 years exploring the world and clocking up airmiles, this marks a major change. So it’s time to explain what we have been up to and make up for a whole year without a blog post.

Back in New Zealand

On 4th September 2021 we finally arrived back in New Zealand for good. COVID lockdowns were still in place and we needed to serve our time in MIQ (Managed Isolation Quarantine). Life changed dramatically. Gone was our glitzy Dubai apartment and the champagne fuelled, business class flight to Auckland. In was our basic room in the Rydges Hotel with 20 minutes of exercise each day (walking round in circles on the tenth floor open area or, better still, up and down the car park access ramp).

From this …

To this…

At least we were prepared with a few essentials stashed in our luggage..

Two weeks dragged by as fast as could be expected. Once we had proven that we had not arrived with COVID (on day four), we got the coveted blue wrist bands which gave us access to the ‘walking’ areas. We crossed off the days, went for our ‘walks’ (we were not allowed to run or do any kind of exercise that might make us breathe hard!), chose and ate some very ordinary meals and after day twelve proved for the final time that we were COVID free. At last we could leave to go directly home. So despite being in the same city as Graeme, we could not visit and would not see him until the restrictions were eased many months later.

Finally free

The blue wristbands were removed when we arrived at Tony and Jeans’ home in Taurikura. We had originally planned to stay with Tony and Jean for a day or two while we got our house organised. Fortunately they had gone on a reconnaissance mission once the tenants had left and reported that the house was very grubby and smelt of dogs. They had not exaggerated (Sue described it as ‘gross’). Our few days with Tony and Jean ended up being closer to three weeks as we removed all the carpet from our house, scrubbed the place clean and repainted every room.

While we waited for our furniture to arrive from Abu Dhabi we thought it would be a good idea to collect the last of our belongings that had been left in the loft of our previous home. Unlike the grubs who had been living in our Taurikura house, the tenants in our old home were fantastic. The house is always spotless and they were totally happy for us to let ourselves in and empty the loft. Tony and Jean foolishly offered to help. I don’t think they could believe how much we had managed to fit into the loft space and soon realised why we hired a furniture truck rather than just borrowing a trailer.

Catching up with our past

Finally, with a borrowed mattress and some carpet scraps from the loft, we were able to move in and begin the enjoy the view.

We move in at last

Soon after, we managed to get the house re-carpeted and then our furniture arrived so that we were able to settle in completely and turn our attention to the outside of the house.

Our new role as gardeners

A few days with a water blaster made a huge difference to outside of the house and then while Nigel embarked on a major deforestation mission Sue planted every available space with all manner of salad, vegetable and herb plants.

As result, by the time summer was in full swing, we were supplying the neighbourhood with cucumbers and had pretty much all we needed for our daily salads.

And then we got distracted

Our dream was to own a sailing catamaran. We anticipated that it would be somewhere on the five year horizon and would entail viewing multiple yachts in many different locations. Then Sue spotted a boat for sale in Marsden Cove Marina just across the harbour from us and a stone’s throw from where we used to live. On Christmas Eve we took possession and now the view from our deck includes our second home on the water.

Christmas

All of us together for Christmas. First time for a while.

And so to 2022

We have managed to fall into an easy routine of daily walks and regular boat excursions.

The walks are mostly out of the house and turn right to Urquharts Bay and on to Smugglers Bay or turn left and over the hill to McLeod Bay. Either way is beautiful coastal scenery of which we never tire.

The boat excursions are mostly day sails in Bream Bay with occasional overnight stays offshore at the Hen and Chicken Islands, further north at Whale Bay or just around the corner at Smugglers Bay or Peach Cove.

More often than not we are joined by dolphins who seem to love to play on our bow wave. It does not seem to matter whether we are sailing or motoring the dolphins will join us for 10 minutes or longer and put a smile on everyone’s faces.

It’s all their fault

The reason we have a sail boat today is because of these people. Paul and Wendy Lowe worked for the Abu Dhabi Education Council at the same time as Nigel. They invited us to go on a sailing holiday in Croatia along with Wendy’s cousin, Trish (https://weatherislovely.com/2012/08/11/we-finally-leave-port-in-time-for-sunset/). That got us totally hooked on sailing but we never liked the below deck lounge and galley on the monohull. Paul said we needed to look at catamarans. So five catamaran charter holidays later we bought our own and were delighted to have the original crew all on board and have Paul show us how to use the spinnaker.

Our travels

As Nigel’s father commented, ‘Why would you ever go anywhere? You are living a holiday’. We do feel a bit like that. We certainly never tire of the view and feel like we have landed in a mini paradise. But we still want to do some more travelling, especially around New Zealand.

As we said, we have not ventured more than 200km from here. That is a little disingenuous. Our trip to Whangamata was about 350km. But as the crow flies it is less than 200km! Great to catch up with Barry and Ngaire and to explore a few new tracks around Whangamata. We also got a surprise catch up with Cheryl Scott and hubby Don – now we’ll have to go to Gisborne and spend some time pestering them!

A reason to get the camera out

The opportunity to view the alignment of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn prompted us to get out of bed at ridiculous o’clock and drive, with Tony and Jean, to nearby Ocean Beach where we were assured of a good view to the east.

Nigel had hoped for a decent photographic opportunity. It never really happened with the night sky but dawn on the beach was spectacular.

The next twelve months

While we have no definite plans we certainly have a few ideas bubbling away.

Sailing: We are building confidence and experience so the next 12 months will certainly see us venture further afield. Within a few days sail we have the Bay of Islands to the north and the Hauraki Gulf to the south. Then, heading south-east we have Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel. Lots to explore.

House: We had always thought that we would be demolishing this house and building a new one. But rising building costs and falling sharemarkets are making this less likely. We have also spent a winter here and have realised that the building is not so bad after all. So now the plan is to renovate and get the place looking a bit better and feeling a bit warmer. There is just one slight problem – we seem to be falling down the hill! We are waiting on engineers’ assessments but it seems that we are going to need significant retaining walls putting in place. So any building plans are dependent upon what retaining work is needed and when it is done.

Travel: We are planning to get back to the UK, probably somewhere between June and September next year. Other than that we have no plans. Plenty to explore here and the boat is sure to get us to some new places.

Visitors: We have Sue’s neice, Amy-Jane, and partner, Shaun, coming in January. Other than that there are no planned guests. Even if there were, there is plenty of room so drop on by. We love to have visitors and Nigel needs an excuse to keep writing the blog.