Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
few miles north of Opua. Lynne would catch a bus and meet us there, and we would go
shop hopping and would end up in a tavern for a few ales. It was at one of these taverns
that I witnessed a guitarist in a band that was performing there one afternoon. He was ex-
cellent, and I was very inspired to learn to play an electric guitar again. I believe that this
experience with that tavern guitarist laid the first seeds of my burning ambition to form a
band again and to play lead guitar. There was still a lot of wild, blue water between me and
my musical dreams.
It was July, and the wooden house was almost finished. We had clad the exterior in cedar
and had liberally coated it with linseed oil and some preservative. I could see that Warren
was scratching to keep us busy. It was very cold now, and as our time at the house in Opito
Bay drew to a close, I found myself back on-board Déjà vu.
One Friday night, I was invited to go to a house party in the little town of Russell. When I
arrived, it was in full swing, and people were very drunk. An ugly racial incident occurred
between some local Maoris and a handful of white New Zealand guys. This was a very isol-
ated incident, and I must say off the cuff that there was, in reality, very little racism that I
was aware of. I found myself depressed at this ugly little fight and took off back to the boat
not too long afterward. I was sad to see how many people drank so much; it was frighten-
ing to see people lose control of their senses and show so little respect for their bodies. I
thought how nice it would be to sail to a warmer climate farther north. It felt like the right
time to leave New Zealand.
I began studying charts and pilot books again and had discussions with Lynne and Terry.
They too were heading north. Their final destination was Canada, where Terry was origin-
ally from. They left a few weeks later, and I would bump into them again before too long.
Yes, the wet and cold conditions decided me, and I stocked up on a lot of quality New Zea-
land produce, canned butter, canned milk, dried fruit, canned meat and rice and beans, and
powdered soft drinks. I had learned not to carry much fresh produce as it invariably went
bad. Although now being so cold, I relaxed my policy somewhat and laid in a good supply
of potatoes, oranges, cabbages, carrots and gem squashes. I bought a lot of dried goods as
they were light and would last forever. Eggs were a must too, and I oiled several dozen of
these fresh farm eggs. Salted pork was good to fry up for bacon as well. It was so important
to eat as balanced a diet as one could manage out there, starches, protein, carbohydrates,
and vitamins. I took plenty of boiled sweets and candy for those long, cold, lonely nights
on watch, as well as loads of cabin crackers.
I had taken the advice of one of the cruisers to buy my provisions in Whangarei, where it
was much cheaper. I asked him how I was to carry it all back to the boat, and he said to just
stand by the side of the road and someone was bound to pick you up. Rule number one:
