We’ve been back in Nelson for over three weeks now so time for an update on life on board Distant Drummer. The weather has veered between snow on the mountains and southerly gales (Mr. Hyde days) and perfect bright blue still sunshiney days (Dr. Jekyll days). Today is one of the latter so hopefully our thick duvet, hot water bottles and little fan heater might soon be stowed away for a long while!
We’ve been hard at work since we got back. The first week we cleaned the boat from top to bottom and did a thorough sort out of all the things we never use and are never likely to use. We chucked out a heap of stuff, gave some of it away or sold it on Trademe and created lots of new storage space which didn’t last long after our 4cbm of air freight arrived from Jakarta.
Once we had all that stowed away we decided it was time to go sailing and headed off to Torrent Bay on the east coast of the Abel Tasman National Park. The weather was forecast for rain and strong winds, not normally our choice of conditions but great for blowing away the cobwebs and shaking out the sails. We really enjoyed getting back into the sailing and played around with different combinations of sails and reefs and getting familiar with Distant Drummer again. The new feathering propeller improved our speed by about a knot and the new dodger is brilliant to get out of the wind and get cozy! On the last day the weather switched to a Dr. Jekyll day and we had a lovely sail back to Nelson.
Since then we have kept ourselves busy. The boat is looking fantastic, I’ve included a few interior shots when she’s looking tidy! All our lifesaving equipment (raft, jackets, EPIRB etc.) has gone in for servicing. Our sails are off the boat being checked over and repaired where necessary, as well as a third reef being put into the mainsail. We have been struggling with our watermaker which has really been pickled for far too long; the Clark pump is leaking and the membrane appears to be shot. So that is also out being repaired and may result in a hefty bill!
Maya came down from Wellington a couple of weeks ago for a few days. It was great to see her and she seemed cheerful despite the stress of final exams on the near horizon. We spent lots of time together, on the boat and out and about including a lovely family dinner with Rosemary and Philippe to celebrate Maya’s cousin Steve’s 18th birthday.
Neil had his surgery for the basal cell carcinoma last week. On Monday the BCC was removed and on Friday the restoration was carried out. The surgery and care were excellent and Neil/we are hugely relieved to be cancer free again but the experience has been quite painful and stressful for him. He looks like a mummy with a bandage round his head so we’ve enjoyed watching people’s reaction to his new look!
Nelson is the same as ever, we’ve been to all the old haunt catching up with friends. Last Thursday we went to see Bogey Train doing a Doors Tribute event! Bogey Train is a local band who are really very good and managed to reproduce the old Doors numbers rather well. Today we had a day off and drove to Mapua to have fish and chips at the Smokehouse. It was delicious and was washed down by an ale from the local Golden Bear brewery.
Cheers for now
Suzy and Neil