{"id":3019,"date":"2018-03-02T03:09:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T03:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svslowflight.com\/?p=3019"},"modified":"2020-02-03T19:19:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T19:19:02","slug":"whangamata-its-been-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svslowflight.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/02\/whangamata-its-been-real\/","title":{"rendered":"Whangamata – It’s been real!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have spent a little over 2 months here in Whangamata visiting with family, meeting new<\/strong> family and friends, receiving friends from our Pacific crossing Fleet (The Barnacles), road trips, planning the next sailing season, hanging out and watching movies, filing our taxes, eye doctor and dentist…check…and watching storms pass us by.\u00a0 \u00a0 We have so enjoyed our time here but we are getting a bit restless and feel the need to move on.\u00a0 Here is a long\/short recap of our time here in Whangamata!<\/p>\n

Horse races in Thames\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>– Way back in January…Lisa, Jake, Alice (Jake’s sister), and Trevor went to the races…unfortunately it poured rain for hours and the races were eventually canceled but they saw one race.<\/p>\n

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Tauranga day trip<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>– Lisa, Jake and Trevor and I took a quick day trip to Tauranga, a larger city south of Whangamata but still in the Bay of Plenty.<\/p>\n

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Jake knew of this place to stop… the owners are from South Africa….<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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At the store you could buy South African dried meat called Biltong….it originated in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. It’s like beef jerky using NZ meats cured in an South African style…yummm!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Jake and Lisa downtown Tauranga.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Bento box lunch near the bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Tauranga is a port of entry and is a shipping port. Here is salt ready to be shipped.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Near the town of Tauranga, there an area locals call “The Mount”….where mount maunganui is. It’s small but is a cute community with lots of high end shops, restaurants, lots of water activities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And breweries!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Lisa and I did some shopping….Jake and Trevor being good husbands (lol)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Surfing\u00a0<\/strong><\/span> – Jake was kind enough to take Trevor surfing…Whangamata is known for their surfing so he couldn’t resist.\u00a0 He actually got up …half way : )<\/p>\n

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Trevor with board in hand…Jake giving instruction to the right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Trevor is up…..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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then down….but not bad for someone who has never surfed before.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Storms<\/span> – <\/strong>We had 3 significant storms while we were here.<\/p>\n

Random wind storm January 4th<\/strong> – We knew there was something coming but had no idea it was going to be this big.\u00a0 We are pretty protected here in the marina but still we saw huge winds! By far this was the strongest wind we have ever felt…thank goodness we were at a dock!<\/p>\n

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That’s right…61 knots of wind at the DOCK!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Waves crashing onto the docks…it was crazy….we walked our dock to make sure the other boats were ok…some had a bit of damage…hardly any fenders on boats here so if the lines (springy as they were) were too loose…the boats would rub against the dock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tropical Storm Fehi<\/strong> – As cruisers…we still keep an eye on weather, even when at a marina.\u00a0 This particular Tropical storm hit the South Island hard and not just with wind but the flooding due to the king tides…the perfect storm!<\/p>\n

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Tropical Storm Fehi track – January 30th, 2018.\u00a0 We were far to north but still felt the wind kick up to about 30+ knots of wind.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I took this image from a local news source…this restaurant, The Boat House, is in Nelson where we were just a few weeks before. Lisa and Jake actually had dinner there. Hope the recovery is fast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ex-Cyclone Gita<\/strong> – It was Originally a Category 1 when it hit American Samoa, where we have <\/span>friends, SV Beach Flea spending the cyclone season.\u00a0 They are fine.\u00a0 By the time it hit Tonga, it had increased to a Category 4.\u00a0 It made it’s way to New Zealand but was categorized as an “ex-cyclone” losing it’s cyclone status.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gita track – made landfall on New Zealand around February 20th.\u00a0 We were far to North to feel any significant effects…but still scary to watch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Super Bowl\u00a0 LII<\/span><\/strong>– Go Eagles!!!!\u00a0 We watched at a Bucks Sports Bar and Grill here in Whangamata.\u00a0 There were only about 12 of us…only 1 Patriots fan.<\/p>\n

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Dentist\u00a0<\/strong><\/span> – It was time to get a check up so Trevor and I had back to back appointments….I had to go back for a filling due to a cracked molar.<\/p>\n

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Never a fan of the dentist but know it’s import to chew your food : )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Chip out of back molar….better get it taken care of otherwise I’ll worry about it…plus I am a wimp when it comes to tooth pain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Valentines day – we did absolutely nothing!!!!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Hotel Slow Flight\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>– We love having company and being so far south from all of our cruiser friends we haven’t seen since Opua, Bay of Islands, we were excited to receive guest…plus Trevor and I were about to kill each other spending all this time together (lol)!<\/p>\n

Laurel and Marek-<\/strong> Laurel is the daughter of our buddy boat SV Fandango who is still back in Tahiti waiting out cyclone season.\u00a0 Laurel took some time away to travel around <\/span>Malaysia, <\/span>Thailand, and Vietnam…then came to New Zealand.\u00a0 Marek was her travel buddy who will be here on a work visa for 2 years…hoping to work on\/around the sailing community.\u00a0 They stayed with us for 3 nights.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A serenade with Marek and his guitar!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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They happened to be here on Slow Flight on Marek’s 27th birthday…how cool is that?! I decorated the boat and we all had a mexican fiesta for his birthday dinner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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One of the nights they were here was Lunar New Year…I had already planned to cook (imagine that)…noodles, dumplings, and buns for dinner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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As most of you know food takes on meaning for Chinese new Year….Dumplings looks like “gold” so it’s for wealth, noodles are long…so encourages long life….the buns…no idea..I just love them!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SV All Day Visit: Vlad and Nicole<\/strong> – They just put <\/span>their\u00a0boat up for sale in Australia and headed to New Zealand for some tourist time before heading back to the States for 4 years looking for the next adventure.\u00a0 Always the life <\/span>of\u00a0the party….these two never <\/span>disappoint!\u00a0 So honored they blessed us with 3 nights at Hotel Slow Flight.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nicole making her famous Bloody Mary’s by scratch…. BACON!!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Vlad and Nicole’s stay overlapped with Laurel and Marek’s stay so we had a full boat….it was so cool to be surrounded by so much love.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SV Me Too: Clay, Jill, and Briley<\/strong> – On their way to the South Island by van, they made a special detour to spent a night on Slow Flight.\u00a0 Our buddy boat for the last 5 months straight…honestly it was weird not to be around them for so long while we have been in Whangamata but we all picked up where we left off…reunited!<\/p>\n

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Kimi actually cooked breakfast….I still can’t believe it (Bwhaha)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SV Sky Blue Eyes: Karl and Julie<\/strong> – They guys are HILARIOUS!!!!!\u00a0 We love spending time with them…They have been in Auckland…the only other boat we knew who sailed south from the Bay of Islands…everyone else kept their boats in Opua where we all made landfall…it’s no big deal but it’s nice to now someone else is south like us ; )<\/p>\n

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They drove down just to see us!!!! We had dinner at a local Whangamata favorite, The Lincoln…who had racks of ribs….yummy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A little boat work\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0– There are not a lot of boat repair shops or parts here in Whangamata so when we heard there was an upholstery guy here we figured since we are spending so much time here to get some of the things off our “to-do” list.\u00a0 One of those items was to get a new, more water tight, enclosure made.\u00a0 So we made it happen.<\/p>\n

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You can see our new panels that are see through. We don;t know about the quality of the work…but it’s done.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The panels were duplicated from the screened enclosure we already had. We made sure that the zippers and everything else would match…we actually can mix and match panels between the solid see-through ones and the screen style for variety and airflow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pipe’s – Rob, Pam, Alice and Jake and Lisa<\/strong> <\/span>– Saving the best for last…..without family, this time in <\/span>Whangamata\u00a0would be nothing!\u00a0 It has been so amazing to get to know the Pipe’s and in true New Zealand style…they welcomed us into <\/span>their\u00a0home, their community, and we <\/span>thoroughly\u00a0enjoyed our time with <\/span>them and\u00a0their <\/span>friends.\u00a0 Thank you Rob, Pam, and Alice….Jake for sharing his time with his family, and Lisa for being my sister.\u00a0 Not sure when we will see you all again but <\/span>official\u00a0or not…you are family : )<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hanging out at the Pipe’s residence with their friends.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Jake and his first experience with SPAM….Spam and eggs on Slow Flight…can’t beat that.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Just came over for a swim…wait who is that guy with the funny mask in the pool…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Pipe’s (minus Jake)…Thank you for all that you’ve done for us and we are so grateful for the kindness you have extended. We for sure will pay it forward..New Zealand style!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taxes almost done, CPA license renewed, lots of movies watched…. it’s time to move forward : )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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