Whangarei

[Kyle]After our brief rest at anchor, it was a bit of a relief to wake up the next morning and know we didn't have to try to pretend we weren't going to do anything anymore. We took Begonia back to Town Basin Marina, and then it was provisioning, fill the tanks, laundry, errands – everything you go into town to do.

We were in the middle of this when Cyrille and Catherine stopped by. What? They weren't supposed to be going into the water until tomorrow. They explained that someone had dropped out, so they jumped at the chance to get out of the yard a day early. They explained their boat was still a mess and they still had unfinished jobs to do, but at least they were back in the water. We made a tentative plan to have dinner on their boat, Idéfix, in a few days. We offered to go to a restaurant with them instead, but they said our impending visit would keep the pressure on for them to keep working to get their boat presentable.

Idéfix, a Lagoon 450, seems giant to me and Maryanne. It's new and shiny and just got the full spa treatment from Cyrille at the yard. Cyrille calls it a ‘condo-maran.' He said it, not me. It sure seems pretty comfortable compared to our little thing. Dinner aboard was better than anything the other waterfront restaurants were doing. Plus, we had great company. Since they are French-Californian, we even brought them a bottle of wine from the best Nebraska has to offer to make sure we always get invited back.

When we weren't on Idéfix, we ate out, went for bike rides along the Hatea river and in Whangārei's extensive parks, and generally enjoyed our new digs with the pleasure of knowing we didn't need to pull it apart and put it back together today. It sure feels good to be back in the water again.

[Maryanne]I was determined to insert some fun and exploring into our time back at the docks. Like most couples we've established a division of labour tht works for us. I cook, Kyle washes up, I do the accounting, Kyle does the heavy lifting, etc. Kyle also makes a point of sharpening our knives with a store bought sharpening gadget, but our main knife was starting to look a little more attacked than loved. I was keen for Kyle to learn the "proper" way to sharpen knives, and reached out to the local community to see if there were any classes. We were blown away when a local chef and teacher at a local culinary school - now retired - reached out to us and offered to come to US to teach Kyle. Wow. Martin introduced us to the more professional sharpening tools (steels, and stones) and the techniques to use for each (and stay safe). We had a fun hour or so with him, and then went out and purchased the new tools we now knew we needed AND how to use. Watch out veggies!