Tuesday 30 November Coach trip to Whangerei

Whangerei Town Marina

There was a coach trip to Whangerei (wh is pronounced ph in pc correct Maori) organised by the local businesses in Fangerei. Whangerei is a big town at the head of a river flowing out to the sea, 2 hours drive north of Auckland and an hour south from Opua. Boats and yachts are the main industries, for example there are four companies that make sails, boats are built here, refitted, a major player for all supplies.

However, our trip was much, much more than a visit the boatyards and boat businesses. We did look at three different yards and think we've found the yard where we want to haul out and bottom paint at the end of our visit. A friendly yard, just out of town and we met our friends from Shannon who are having work done now and they couldn't praise them highly enough for friendliness and professionalism. This was the first plus of the day.

Then the coach drove around town with the head of the marine business organisation showing where we could get work done, or buy our boat bits. This is where the new NZ account comes in too handy. We only had 30 minutes shopping in a second hand shop, but did find a bargain radio microphone which David thinks he can use to replace the faulty one in our long range radio.

The highlight of the day, because yachties are like this, was a dinner supplied and hosted by the maritime businesses for visiting yachts. There must have been over a 100 people there, many of our old friends we haven't seen since Tonga so great to catch up with them, some like Spanish boat Katay we last saw in Panama. The mayor gave a welcome speech, there was a prize draw and we won a $25 voucher to spend at a swindlery (our new word for a chandlery) and then chow down! When we bought our tickets for a nominal amount dinner was mentioned and we thought is might be a burger in a bun. No. It was a top notch barbecue with steaks, chicken, sausages, salads as much as you could eat, and we know yachties have hollow legs.

Peter, David, Mary(Asor Lare) & John (Sea Mist)

Feeling stuffed as we rolled out say good byes and thank you's, we were given a gift bag containing flyers for the businesses we'd been introduced to as well as a bottle of red wine, half a bottle of white wine and fudge. Wow! If anyone is reading this and has an opportunity to go to the Whangerei Meet & Greet day at the end of November don't miss it.

The last treat of our long day was a stop at a supermarket. You may be puzzled by the word 'treat' and 'supermarket' in the same sentence but when you don't have a car vehicular transport from door to dinghy is a big treat.

Little green deflatable (no longer an inflatable due to leaks) was patiently waiting at the dinghy dock to take us home.