Sailing the Severn Seas and other watery themes ...

Following my plea in October to anyone who may be able to help us with advice about travelling from Sharpness to Bristol, Paul from Waterways Routes emailed and said he had a DVD that he'd filmed in 2005 with Granny Buttons sailing from Bristol to Sharpness, and recently sent me a copy bless him.  Barry and I watched it with interest last week and I'm relieved to report that it's reassured me the journey could be possible in Northern Pride in 2010.  The conditions on the day they sailed seemed perfect, and of course you can't guarantee such calm weather on the day you want to travel, but nonetheless it wasn't half as scary as I'd imagined!  We'll investigate pilot options closer to the time; it'd certainly be an adventure to look forward to and one that Barry's very keen to experience.

We've been busily organising our Wainui Beach wedding which is in just ten days time!  'Wai' in Maori is water and 'nui 'means big - it certainly is a large expanse of beautiful beach and Pacific Ocean.  The weather here has been in the late 20's all week, but one never knows whether it'll last, and there's a southerly change approaching.  So we can only hope that on 22nd December, at 1600hrs, the sun will be shining upon us as we make our 'official' commitment to each other in front of around 120 guests!

On other things watery, we've recently completed our new fishpond in the garden.  The one we left when we went to UK sort of evaporated, the lodgers didn't keep the water level topped up and it was only lined with black plastic.  We returned to just one of the original goldfish in a tank in the living room :-(  Never mind, we now have a purpose built pond liner in, have made the surroundings very peaceful and three goldfish and a couple of boggle-eyed fish are swimming happily around.

Another pertinent story is of the dolphin that's made the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand its home for the past couple of years.  Moko had been a feature of Mahia, a stunning seaside settlement about an hour's drive south of Gisborne, until the end of August 2009 when he moved here.  He's currently seen most days close to Waikanae beach, minutes walk from Gisborne town centre.

Unfortunately I haven't had chance to see him yet, but maybe when I've got three weeks off I could be lucky.  The drawback is that there'll be thousands of summer visitors coming here in the near future who I suspect will also be dolphin spotting!

We were delighted that Granny Buttons wrote a blog about our blog (!) a couple of days ago - in fact I'd go as far as to say that Barry was beside himself with glee to see us featured in the blog of which he's been an avid follower for about 18 months now.  Who'd have thought this time last year that we'd be seeing ourselves in print in such a way.  It just goes to prove to me once more how important it is to follow your dreams.

Exciting times ahead, the next blog will be around Christmas time when we'll post some photos of our wedding.  We're going to Anaura Bay, Rangimarie Beachstay for two nights afterwards, which must be one of the most stunning places to stay.  If you look closely at the photos on the attached link you'll see me at the table when I stayed there for a weekend of writing in November 2008.  We're staying in the cottage, and may even venture out one night into the Balinese-style sleeping platform - heaven on earth!

Nine miles off one thousand!!

When we were travelling around the canals and rivers of Britain writing our blog, we chose not to keep a track of how many miles/locks/swing bridges we were going through.  After a while though, Barry did meticulously update our whereabouts on the google map, which has proven to be a very useful tool!  He's now counted the distance we accomplished and the work involved, and it looks like this:

• 990.6125 miles
• 539 locks
• 99 swing/lift bridges

Damn!  If we'd realised that we'd have taken a little detour somewhere along the way and made sure we'd hit the thousand mile mark!  Maybe we'll do it differently next year?

We've almost paid off our debts from our trip, so just the NZ wedding to pay for and then we'll be down to some serious saving ready for returning around May 2010.  Barry has applied for a seasonal job with one of the local wineries, so fingers crossed that he gets that to work from February to April.  It's going to depend on how much we save as to how long we can get back for to return to Northern Pride and 'do' the south.  We really must do some research into travelling down the Bristol Channel from Sharpness.

I'm very excited that a story I submitted to the Australia/New Zealand Reader's Digest is going to be published in February 2010, along with a photograph of our English wedding - yaay!  It was a story about 'the kindness of strangers' and I wrote about the two narrowboats and their fabulous occupants who came to our rescue and jump started Northern Pride when our battery was flat - our guardian angels.

I have just under three weeks to work in my current role, before I leave and take a holiday for three weeks (again, I know, it's so greedy having so much time off!) over Christmas and New Year, and of course the 'real' wedding.  The material for my wedding dress only arrived this week and is still on the table at the dress-maker's, hopefully it'll be transformed into a stunning creation in the very near future!

Wainui Beach  - shot from our NZ wedding location

Farewell to Frank

Barry's father passed away peacefully on the morning of Saturday 7 November.  It was spooky how he seemed to wait until he had all of his family in Gisborne; his daughter and younger son arrived from Australia on Thursday and Friday respectively.  The funeral was held on Wednesday, with over a hundred mourners present, and was a fitting tribute to celebrate the life of a great and gentle man.  Barry and his brothers and sister spoke of their memories of his life, and then presented a very slickly put together (what else would you expect from Barry?!) slide-show of photographs of Frank and his friends and family which roused those present to applause loudly at the finale - we're not sure if that's appropriate behaviour at a funeral, but it certainly felt 'right' that Frank's 89 year presence on this earth had been acknowledged in such a heartfelt way.

Frank Teutenberg

25 September 1920 - 7 November 2009

I can still vividly recall the phone call from Barry's brother Ray, on 20 May this year, informing us that Frank had suddenly been taken ill and subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumour.  We were on the River Avon, having just left Tewkesbury and arrived at Eckington a delightful little village.  Due to the unfolding events and the need for Barry to return to New Zealand, we then skipped swiftly past places such as Wyre Piddle and Pershore on our way to Evesham to find a mooring that we could stay at, as that was going to be a good place for Barry to catch a train from and me to stay during his absence.  Maybe we'll return along the Lower Avon Navigation in 2010 to visit those places and take good look around and also see our newly found friends Chris and Joan, the Evesham Lock-keepers, who looked after me so well while Northern Pride and I 'lodged' with them for a couple of weeks!

We almost booked our return tickets to England last weekend as there appeared to be a really good deal on Air New Zealand.  Once we'd thought about it and gone back to the site later however, the deal had gone - bugger!  Don't you just hate it when that happens?  You just have to grab life's opportunities when you see them, no use hanging around thinking about it for a couple of hours.  Hopefully we'll find another one and be more ready to grasp it!

Narrowboat Gypsy Rover cruised past Northern Pride last week and posted a photo on their blog bless them.  She's looking happy having her winter break, and will need to conserve all her energy for Barry's return next year!  He's already talking about going back a few weeks or so before me and possibly persuading/cajoling a mate to come along too to help with the rest of the painting.  Meanwhile I'll be here earning the cents to turn to pounds to see us through the summer - he's a damn lucky man isn't he?!

The wedding arrangements are sort of coming along, though we've been rather caught up with Frank for the past couple of weeks; we still have to organise the catering and the booze!  I'm sure it'll be alright on the night though, as the first one was ...

Carpe Diem - seize the day

It's almost two weeks since I've written a blog.  Life certainly takes on a different meaning when you're working full time, and it's challenging to find some quality time to do the things, and be with the people, you love.  I feel so lucky to have had the experience of being on Northern Pride with Barry, and to have been able to stop and smell the roses for a while - unfortunately it has meant that we spent all our savings and now are on pay-back!  But that's OK, we'll be back on track soon ...

Barry's father is very poorly, but comfortable, in hospital, and it's just a matter of time before he leaves us bless him.  On the same day that he was admitted, a dear friend of mine arrived in the emergency department too and is having major heart surgery tomorrow.  So our thoughts turn to 'seizing the day' and appreciating what we have, as one never knows what's in store as each new day dawns.

Last weekend Barry and I seized a great Gisborne day out at the local Wine and Food festival, and drank rather too much wine in the glorious sunshine!  Barry was fine (he's had a lot more practice than me!), but I managed to embarrass myself by stumbling over in a car park and had a gravel rash down my face, and was then ill (apparently, as I have no recollection of the events!) in the local Fishing Club - not a good look!  I would put a photo of us earlier in the day on, but Barry hasn't been using his camera much since we've been back and the photos I took with my phone we can't find the programme to put them onto the computer!

So back to our favourite places from our soiree in England ...

The first canal we went onto, the Llangollen,  was definitely one of the best - and as we travelled in April and May, wasn't too crowded. 

The view from our first mooring on the Llangollen Canal, just outside of Wrenbury

I recall that Barry was in awe of the bright colours of the foliage, they were so fresh and green as spring brought new life to the canal.  The trees in New Zealand are mostly deciduous so we don't have the same contrasts of the seasons.  In fact, a fellow Brit who also emigrated here, said the other day that he thinks we have just two seasons in Gisborne - winter and summer!  

The Chirk and Pontcysyllte Aqueducts were incredible experiences, and of course since we traversed the latter it has become a World Heritage site - and rightly so.  It's the most amazing structure, and to think it was constructed over 200 years ago.  Breathtaking.  And I do recall my breath being taken away the night after driving over it when I thought of the 38 metre drop I'd had at my side, but funnily enough actually going over it wasn't a problem as I was just in awe of the beauty around me.

Kath and Tim brave the Pontcysyllte - don't look down!

Llangollen itself was such a quaint and friendly town, despite the wet weather.  It was where we found the largest collection of ducklings in what appeared to be one 'brood' - we counted 29!

Scrambling for a morsel of bread - we couldn't quite get them all into one shot!

We spent over a week on the Llangollen Canal, our first 'real' experience of living on a narrowboat.  Barry didn't take any persuading to be 'hooked' on the experience, and though I was certainly enjoying the time, I couldn't say I was persuaded of the merits of the alternative lifestyle at that stage - in fact that didn't happen until much later, and then so subtley that I'm not sure I could pinpoint the exact moment it happened ....

Our favourite places - part one

As I suspected, it's going to be quite a challenge to continue writing this blog and attempting to make it relevant to those reading a waterways site.  Living as we do on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, it feels very remote from the canals and rivers of Britain.  However the experiences we had during those six months have changed our whole perspective on life, and it's still quite challenging to 'settle' back into how life was pre-Northern Pride.  In fact I don't think it will ever be the same again ...

Here's a shot of where we live in Gisborne, just to show you the difference in homes here compared to UK:

All the land you see is part of our 'section' which is what kiwi's call their garden or plot of land attached to their house. We're very lucky and it's really not a great hardship to be back here for the New Zealand summer!

But I digress; onto topics of a watery nature ...

One of our favourite places that we visited on the canals was Manchester and surrounding areas.  We'd had a lovely weekend with Lisa and travelled south east from Wigan on the Bridgewater canal.  Barry knew we'd be going over the Barton aqueduct which crosses the Manchester Ship Canal, and was so excited when we arrived and the gates were closed and the aqueduct was swung open.  And how fortuitous it was that we were the first narrowboat to arrive and subsequently got to spend almost two hours watching events unfold.  The tank of water that pivots around the central point over the canal holds 800 tons of water!  Amazing!

The canal journey into Manchester on the Ashton canal was very pleasant as we'd previously experienced some less attractive routes into other major cities.  We'd been informed by many boaters that stopping in Manchester wasn't recommended, but if we were feeling brave and bold to moor up only at Castlefield.  We experienced no scary encounters at all during our three nights in the city and would recommend it to anyone.

Salford Quays was amazing and we really should have spent more time there - if only we'd got out of bed earlier on the Friday morning!  As I missed the Lowry exhibition, Barry bought me two Lowry prints and a book (The Lowry Lexicon) for my recent 50th birthday - 'Gentleman looking at something' as this one was painted in 1959 (we have it up in the boat), the year of my birth, and a larger print called 'Northern River Scene' which depicts the mills of the north along with many people walking along the river.  We'll get that one framed and put up at home.

A highlight of the weekend was the Manchester Pride Parade - we loved being a part of it and all the colourful people involved, what a fabulous atmosphere, extremely enjoyable.

Leaving Manchester on the Sunday, I don't think we quite realised what a long day lay ahead, it was certainly a hard day's graft!  Luckily we were able to share some of the locks with another boat which helped.  Since we've been back in Gisborne, a few people have commented that they thought we'd have put weight on rather than lost it or stayed the same - it seems that folks have a mistaken impression that life on a narrowboat is all about cruising along gently, feet up, sipping cocktails and reading books!  Whilst the lifestyle is indeed idyllic (and maybe the experience of hire boaters doing a week or two is different to living aboard?), it's not due to lying around but to having fun and making the most of every day and every experience along the way, working hard to move through locks and swing bridges and keeping the boat ship-shape!

Ah well, onto planning wedding number two and we've been to see the venue for the reception which is the surf club at Wainui Beach.  Just to make you all envious, here's the scene last Thursday evening around 7pm ...

 

Working to live; not living to work

Well I've survived the first few days back at work without too much trauma.  The main challenge has been accessing the recesses of my mind for my midwifery knowledge - my brain has been full of so much more (or could it be less?) during the past six months.  Of course, as one friend kindly pointed out, it's like riding a bike - once you get back on again it soon becomes second nature.  There's also the impetus of earning enough money to enable us to return to the waterways next year, which definitely provides the incentive to put my nose to the grindstone.

Barry has been busying himself visiting his dad and pottering around the house and garden, doing lots of maintenance and sorting and tidying; then today he's spent some fruitful hours rearranging our website of photos from our travels on the canals and some from New Zealand too.  He still has a long way to go to upload all the best ones, but there's a link on the blog now and an opportunity to purchase prints on-line if anyone so desires ...  We hope some people do if only to feedback to us that it all worked, as we've yet to test it out!

We've been experiencing better weather this week and I've walked to work surrounded by a clear blue sky and sunshine.  For some reason the sky always seems larger to me here than in England; maybe it's the lack of clouds most days that gives that impression?

Talking of size, we're still finding it strange adjusting to having so much space around.  Barry keeps putting things away in cupboards and I can't locate them.  At least when you're living in the confined space of a narrowboat you know there's only a limited number of places things can be!

We've heard from Joy and Bruce that Northern Pride is doing fine, so that's reassuring, and we're hoping they'll take her out for a trip sometime and possibly send us some photos.

Back to reality - initial reflections on life aboard

We've been back in New Zealand for six days now and we're beginning to settle back into the kiwi life, but it's tough!  The house is starting to feel like ours once more and we've caught up with most family and friends.  Tomorrow, Monday, I'm back at work; it's going to be a real shock to the system after six months off!

Having had time to reflect on our journeys aboard Northern Pride on the waterways of Great Britain from April to September, I've compiled a 'Top Ten' of my personal highlights - there's actually many more than ten but I'll keep it short initially!

Firstly though, some more pictures from the past week ...

 

A brief stop-over for refuelling in Hong Kong, ground temperature 31 degrees C

Feeling OK after the first ten hour plus flight ...

Sunrise over the east coast of Australia - awesome!

Our first dinner back home, kindly prepared and cooked by Sam, one of our lodgers - Left to right: Sam, Mariam, Tom & Sandra

Welcome home banners - hand made by Barry's mum and sister - very touching bless them - note the blazing fire; it was so cold when we returned!  The photo on the wall is of reflections in the canal at Gas Street Basin, Birmingham, April 2007

This one is Jenny's, Barry's sister, we think it's the winner!

   The sun is starting to come out again ...

  Barry's family - brother Ray, Sandra, Barry, dad Frank, sister Jenny and mum June

Barry and Frank - leaning on each other at the front of our house

Barry was photographing a wedding on Saturday, and late in the afternoon there was the most amazing light across the ocean of 'Poverty Bay' where we live.  Captain Cook first came here in 1769, the inaugural setting foot on New Zealand soil, and it was the anniversary of the landing that same day.  Unfortunately they mistook the Maori greeting for a call to arms and shot many of the locals - hence the name 'Poverty Bay; as unsurprisingly they then had to set sail without provisions!

 

 Early evening light over Poverty Bay, Gisborne, New Zealand

So, onto my highlights of our canal adventures (not necessarily in order of priority):

1. Writing the blog each day, or most days, was definitely number one for me.  I loved capturing our daily lives, what we saw, did and felt.  The feedback we've received from people across the world, some known to us but many we've never met, has just been incredible!
2. Having the time to discover an England that I never knew existed.  Visiting cities, towns, villages and Hamlets (I didn't even know there were such things anymore!) and learning about the history of each place.  I was never really that interested in the subject at school, but it all came alive when we moved around the country.
3. Of course being 'close' (they are so scattered all around England!) to my family for six months was awesome.  I believe that I have more quality time with my relatives because I live in New Zealand strangely enough.  When we do get together, we appreciate it so much more than if we all lived around the corner from each other.
4. Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.  There is, mostly, an amazing camaraderie amongst boaters.  We would talk to complete strangers most days and always have commonalities in the fact that we were on a narrowboat - whether people were on a boat they owned, part-owned, or hired.  The towpaths were also hives of activity much of the time; it was great to see so many people out walking, even though it was mostly with dogs.
5. The wildlife on the canals and rivers - we've loved being so close to the mallards, swans, moorhens, coots, geese and herons and their offspring; and spotting the occasional mandarin duck, terrapin, water snake, peacock or other unusual beings.
6. The peace and serenity of living on a narrowboat much of the time is an experience to relish.  Many times we moored up in the middle of nowhere and the only sounds we could hear were of the local birds and ducks.  Often though, despite the remoteness of the mooring, there would still be a major road somewhere nearby and you could hear the constant drone of the traffic - not a problem, we just treasured the fact that it wasn't us rushing around in a state of constant stress.
7. Partaking of a drink or two in the local pubs.  We've met so many people this way and have found some brilliant places, and so many friendly people (there was a converse side but I'm not doing any negatives today!).
8. The fact that each day was so different.  We probably travelled further than was practical in the time we had, but the beauty of doing that was we never knew where we would end up and what we would see along the way.
9. A chance to catch up on some reading!  I read so many books in the six months we were away, life is so hectic most of the time that I don't think we take the opportunity often enough to expand our horizons by reading good books - or even bad ones!
10. In fact, just the act of sitting, mainly in the evenings, and doing very little.  We'd write the blog and put on the photos, read books, I'd do my embroidery (haven't done a cross stitch for many years and still not completed the canal scene I'm doing!), talking to each other or phoning family/friends, visiting the local pub or just going for a walk.  We didn't watch the TV, the one left on the boat when we bought it was relegated to a cupboard - we rarely read a newspaper either.  We believe that the media influences people's perceptions of the world in such a negative way that it's best not to collaborate with them!

There are more positive reflections for me, but I'll leave them for another time.

The weather promises to improve here next week, just in time for me to return to work.  But working has a different focus for us now; it's a way of earning enough to return to the boat in 2010 to live once again in the parallel universe of the canals and rivers.

In the meantime, on the rare days when I'm not working between now and the middle of December, there's always an array of indoor and outdoor activities to enjoy here too!