Time off for lunch

Aboard Chimere, Chaffers Marina, Wellington

Thursday 20 May 2021

Of course, today was going to be a frantic day on the travel lift – giving us around 6 good hours to clean the hull, possibly slap on some antifoul paint, get the hull polished above the waterline, obtain a hull survey and check everything before being plopped back in the water. With the travel lift out of order for the next week or so, however, we focused our attention on other tasks onboard, specifically cleaning, unpacking, sorting and painting.

In retrospect it was probably a good thing we weren’t going to be lifted out of the water today, because the engine service was not fully completed yesterday, leaving us with no functioning motor to go anywhere, even if we wanted to. Phil, the diesel mechanic needed to return later today to finish off, bringing a new O-ring for the water intake strainer with him, along with other bits for the generator.

With the intention of eventually catching up for a meal sometime, I called friends Gary and Theresa to say g’day. And after exchanging news of the past 12 months, we set a time to meet around 12 noon, with Gary and Theresa insisting on shouting John and me out to lunch.

Meanwhile, John and I kept working away at our tasks until we were distracted by a woman climbing up and over the stern rail – as you would?! “Hello Kate” I called out, thinking initially it might have been … I’m really not quite sure who, because whoever it was needed to have been let in through the big security gate.

But all of a sudden it had occurred to me that when Kate dropped by yesterday, she said there was a chance she might be able to return today to help with … whatever. And as she explained, she just followed someone else in through the gate.

In the course of getting Kate set up to clean and scrub the teak toe rail – she did say she was happy to do anything – discussion turned to the possibility of her maybe joining us for the sail up to Tauranga; a journey Kate had done a couple of times before on other boats.

“That would be great, the more the merrier”, I said … so, if Kate can alter her work shifts (as a Vet) who knows, we may have a complement of 5 POB (persons on board) when we head out of Wellington Harbour; which is looking increasingly like being next Wednesday.

Soon after Kate arrived, Gary and Theresa called to say they were at the security gate, and it was terrific to catch up again. The first time, in person, since around April last year, at which time they were just so helpful to me as I sat on board Chimere in the Mana Marina during the Level 4 Lockdown.

Welcoming Gary and Theresa onto D Row, through the security gate.

After making ourselves presentable, (that’s me and John) we headed off to lunch at a nearby eatery called “Joe’s Garage”, which made a classy change from sandwiches and last night’s leftovers on the boat.

Like a trooper, Kate kept scrubbing the woodwork and had the bow section looking “sweet as” by the time we returned.

Walking up town to Joe’s Garage, for lunch, we pass this plaque on the pavement – Shoreline 1840. Up close, it doesn’t mean much, but looking back down the street and bearing in mind we’d already walked nearby 10 minutes from the current shoreline, you begin to see the impact of the 1855 earthquake, registering around 8.2 on the Richter Scale, which created uplift of around 6 metres in nearby regions – a novel way to generate a land boom, and they say “they’re not making any more of it” … here’s a bit more info. … https://nzhistory.govt.nz/massive-earthquake-hits-wellington

You can see the plaque on the ground which marks where the shoreline was in 1840. Today, the shoreline is a 10 minute walk in that direction.

Grabbing the opportunity to have one of Chimere’s winch gears repaired, Gary and Theresa kindly drove me to a specialist gear maker in Paraparamu about 30 minutes beyond, their home at Whitby. Apart from being a lovely day for a drive it was also an opportunity to reminisce as we passed Mana Marina where I’d spent about 5 weeks last year.

It was a lovely 45 minute drive up the coast to Paraparamu … to see a man about some gear … literally a gear, from a winch.

The problem with the winch gear was that it had lost a few teeth – some time in the distant past. It worked okay, most of the time, but when it was under significant load it had been known to jam. Which, to put it politely, could be right bothersome.

After a bit of a chat, Ken at the gear place reckoned he could fix it like new – Simples! He might even have it back to us on Tuesday. I certainly hope so because with the weather turning favourable, it would be good to be ready to leave on Wednesday.

With this important task successfully put in motion, if not completed, we stopping for a coffee and cake at a nearby shopping mall before hitting the road south. I said my good-byes at the Mana Railway Station, where a Wellington-bound train runs about every 20 minutes.

Here’s our Ticket Man, on the train from Mana to Wellington

And that’s the Mana Marina from where I used to watch these trains travel, almost empty, up and down the cost for over 4 weeks during the “Lockdown” last year

Having seen so many of these trains travel up and down the coast, now I had the opportunity to actually travel on one. “Where do I buy a Pass or Ticket?” I asked Gary. “You get them on the train” came the reply. “What, there’s a machine, or something?” digging deeper.

“No, there’s a person selling tickets on the train. They only take cash, no credit cards, and once they tear off the paper ticket, they “clip” it with a little hand clicker thing”

“Wow, that’s fantastic” just like olden times.

And so it was. I even have the clipped tickets to prove it. The fare was $8:50, which translates into 2 x $4 tickets plus 1 x 0:50 ticket. Seemed like great value for money to me.

And here’s the evidence. Real paper tickets, issued and clicked by a real person, actually on the train… just like the olden days

Once back in Wellington it was a relatively short walk from the railway station, around the waterfront to the marina, where John was finishing off some painting before the day’s light was all but gone.