Vanuatu Ventures

WEDNESDAY 30th, Depart Palmerston
Having originally planned to leave Palmerston North on the 12th of January for a nice little break before leaving for Vila on the 19th, it was something of a shock to be working madly till the the 30th of January trying to get FREE! Even our friends were relieved to see us finally go at 4.30pm for Auckland, with our grossly over burdened trailer and its large container of goods on its way to the freight forwarding company in Mangere. Goodbye Craig, Maria, Alister and Elizabeth. Goodbye all you house groupies and especially Graham Roff. Thanks Mens' group and Mike Tait-Davis. See you St Albans, Brian and Simon Redmond and friends. Come and see us when we get a little bit settled up there and can set up a place for you to stay, and know a little bit of the sights and sounds.

As for our trip to Auckland, we have 900 kg on the tow bar so we went carefully through the night. Thanks to V, and motelliers closing up at around 10pm we drove all the way, arriving at our West 'Auckland house-sit at 2am. Next day we investigated getting a dangerous goods cert for our little plumbing torch, but at a cost of $100 for a $22 cylinder, we gave up and sealed up the container without it. Did I leave one buried at the bottom of the container, Graham!!! I hope not but we'll just have to wait and see at Vanuatu Customs where it will be openned and assessed for duty. Possibly not much to pay as its mostly old stuff and its for a "church" project which often by-pass such necessities.
We are now catching up on sleep and doing little chores for the up coming travels. On Saturday we brunched with some BCNZ pals still their doing their stuff-thanks Fleck family from East Taiere for a great Breaky. Along the way we asked Davie, now 4 and a bit, if he remembers things from our 17 months up here in 2006/07. He does not remember roads, he remember swimming pools, friends, and buildings like his preschool. Today he remembered my old boat, and the first fish he caught off it. I was working hard this Monday 4th feb to clean it up and get it covered for winter. It got rain water in last year due to parking it down hill, so this time it should be better. I need to either sell it or plan to get it up to Vanuatu if it would be useful there. From 2003 to 2006 minister Roy Pearson made great use of his yacht to travel around and transport materials. However for this year I am in demand as a teacher of basic trade skills and farming, water borne activities will be a treat for us.