I dont think we have ever slept so well, anywhere. Thank Goodness!
The mattress is a standard queen bed mattress topped off with a cover and  Mattress Topper. This is like a down poufy thing that goes on top of the mattress cover and under the bottom sheet. It feels like you are sleeping on air:)  I can highly recommend them.

Sitting up topside watching the sun set last night, was lovely.  Here's a photo taken with the new camera

It is very sensual sitting in the warmth with a warm wind blowing across you. If you sit very still, and close your eyes, and just listen to what surrounds you, it is amazing how peaceful you can feel in 86F heat. No, really, I'm not joking:)

Warren not looking to happy that I am taking yet ANOTHER photo of him. Get used to it Waz:)

This is up on the Fly deck where we had a late pm cuppa and watched the sun go down.

We also watched all the Yachties coming into the Marina. There must have been some races out on Galveston Bay yesterday, because all the yachts coming back were of a similar size.

Remember Pier 8 Seafood Market and restaurant I told you about? This photo of it is taken from the Flydeck, so you can see it is in close proximity to the marina.

 

 

Speaking of food...

Last night's dinner consisted of my favorite brand of Vege Burger (ok..I have forgotten the brand, so never mind) with fresh mozzarella, vine ripened tomatoes, Romaine lettuce leaves and a fired egg...no fat, just on the new griddle, non stick surface!

It was delicious, and Waz, who has never had vege burgers before declared that he would eat them again....oh, I forgot to mention the olive and parmesan Focaccia drizzled with light garlic olive oil and toasted on the griddle.

 

Speaking further of food...which will be a theme here, as we are foodies...

Breakfast.

I have a couple of buttermilk pancake mixes which I am saving for a rainy day, and having purchased some buttermilk from Randalls the other day, I decided to make some from scratch. I like baking, so this is no hardship, and it is the same recipe I have been making for a while.

1cup of flour makes just enough pancakes for the two of us. It also worked so well on the griddle, making all the pancakes at one time, so that we could eat together. I had purchased a Canadian Maple Syrup sampler from Marshalls a couple of months back when we were here in March, and we got the opportunity to sample all of them for breakfast.

 

They were as good as they look here:)

 

Waz took this photo of me last night while I was making dinner, as retribution for all the photos I take of him when he isnt prepared, or looking:) Not the most flattering, but then I guess that is the whole point!

 

 

No wind this morning bright and early. We had slept a little longer than we wanted to but then we also didnt turn the alarm on, so who can you blame?

 

As usual, we took our breakfast up to the flydeck where we are most likely to feel any breeze, should it happen by. NADA! It took another hour or so before we felt a breeze and now there is a swift one blowing, thank goodness. It does make the heat bearable, even if the wind is hot too.

The task list doesnt get any smaller, but we are knocking them off quickly. Today is flydeck day.

Under the pilot seat is a huge space...VERY dirty. It was full of life jackets of all kinds. We routed them all out, wiped the mould off most of them if they are keepers and had to get down into the locker to scrub what may be years of mould from the inside. It is fibreglass, so easy to wash down. this locker doesnt have any breathing holes, so we feel inclined to make some so that there is some air cirulation inside.

I scrubbed out underneath the sink, up there and together we cleaned the rust and mould from the little drinks fridge which we now cannot afford to replace, because we have a new toilet instead. I think the fridge must be the same age as the boat...around 14 yrs old! it is very yellow inside and the seal is mould stained, but at least it is now cleaned. I think Waz is planning to turn that on later in the day when it is cooler.

The new 12 vlt. freezer we have under the cockpit is struggling in the hot air down there. This is adjacent to the engine room, and like a sauna.

Back upstairs. I am about to climb the stairs again and clean all the dirty foot marks off the deck. I might put the protable coolers in the cavity under the sink...they will be easy to access there.So, Im back at it...talk to you later.

 

 

 

 

Having an SLR camera can be a problem at times. Not a problem if you purposefully go out to take photos, but in the 100F (40C) heat that we are having, a weighty camera slung over your shoulder just adds to the discomfort.
Enter Office Depot. We had gone there to find card to print new business cards, get a birthday card and assorted other things. There was a little compact canon (purse size) camera VERY reduced in price and it caught our eyes. 16.1 megapixels, only 5 x optical zoom, which I can live with (this is for tourist photos, afterall) but it has 1080 Full HD video!! that was the seller for Waz. It is a Canon Elph 110HS Power Shot. I used to have a film Elph ears ago...I called it my 'Spy Camera' because it was so small...took great photos too!!

They didnt have a new one in a box, so we bought the display model with an extra 10% off. Pays to ask!! lets just hope it works just fine. We have it on charge right now, then we can go and test drive it. It is supposed to take excellent night time and low light photos. You might get to see the results of that.
You will have to forgive the poor quality of the cell phone night time photos I took. Didnt have time to mess with the settings, so just pointed and shot, when we were at the Kemah Boardwalk the other night. The old wooden Roller coaster is amazing. I dont think I will go on it though. If you look hard at the photo, you will see the blur that is the people going past:)

no, not this one....

 or this one...

The brown thing that looks like a fuzzy caterpillar, top left ...that's the roller coaster going down:)

Sorry about the other photos...I cant seem to erase them. Enjoy the full moon next to the coaster structure!

 

Back to the camera...

I have a small camera back in NZ which we put into the storage locker, so I viewed this expense rather sadly, but I know I will use it much more often if it is at hand and takes better photos than my cell phone.

 

Waz has been slaving in the bowels (well, the Head, actually) of the ensuite for the past week. We picked up the part we were waiting for yesterday, and he installed it this morning. And he reinstalled it, and reinstalled it. n further inspection, sweat running down his face, he found a hairline crack in yet another part. Aieeeeeeeeeee! Looking for the correct part we made an executive decision. Take off the new parts he had just installed, keep them for future use if necessary, and lets just go and buy a whole new toilet! We had priced them on the internet and gasped! yes, not cheap..but this is a boat, remember, lol.

Well, we went to another Marine store...Blackburns...today, instead of West Marine, and got a price $20 less than WM. We know WM doesnt have our electric toilet in stock, so we just went with the one we found.

Buying this toilet means we cannot afford a new bar fridge for the Fly deck. We dont know if the one on the fly deck works, yet, but if it doesnt, then we have a problem. I have no space in the small galley fridge for any drinks. Bottled water is a necessity.We will drink it warm!

One much get one's priorities right!

 

I took a few photos of the interior this morning...Sorry, I didnt clean up before taking them, but you can see the space isnt huge.

Warren isnt happy with this photo...says he looks six months pregnant:)

I am standing on the steps up to the Galley to take this pic.

Note the kiwi cushions!!! The red ones have Pohutukawa (Ohia Lehua for the Hawaiian readers) blossoms on them. The cabinet on the back left is where the TV is supposed to go, but as you can see, it makes a perfect 'catch-all'.

 

Can you see the NZ decal on the door...upside down!! well, we keep being told we are from DOWNUNDER!

The Chinese laundry over the Cockpit, and the hatch to the engine room on the right where the white door is open.

 

 

To take this photo, I am standing at the foot of the stairs going up to the Gallery and the Pilot-house. galley is on the left, black fridge with microwave over it, and dinette to the right of the wheel...in next photo.

Dinette seats four people.

 

 

We didnt bring a lot of things, but our Lamb and Kiwi were important inclusions in the luggage!

The pilot house

 

The galley.

Speaking of which...time to make some food for dinner. Vege Burgers on Olive/Parmesan Foccacia with mozarella, tomatoes and lettuce...and maybe an egg:) Yum!

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

I always kick myself after the fact...
We filled up the waste tank this morning...well, we didnt do it all on our own...this is a boat we have just inhabited in the last week, so there is no way we could have filled her up. But I digress...
we filled up the waste tank, called the mobile pumpers and waited. At about 9.30am, they appeared alongside and pumped us clean and empty. Now, if I had thought about it, I might have had my camera on hand to record this first, in our boating lives:)
2 hrs later, we ran out of water in the water tank. You know, because suddenly there is nothing coming out of the faucet!~
Waz is out there right now filling her up with the hose from shore. As we are in a Marina, this is only a couple of feet away.

Off to do some errands and get a smaller vehicle.  I think!

Back again. Smaller vehicle was going to cost $2 per day MORE than the one we have, so we maintain status quo. I did drop the $17 per day insurance (have cr. cd cover) so it actually becomes affordable. Did I previously mention that getting the rental car 'locally' is much less expensive than getting it at the airport? Like $100's of dollars less in fees. The money we saved by getting a yellow cab from the airport on the other side of the city to the south east side, is half of what it would cost us in fees alone for a rental car from the airport. Said vehicle was supposed to be returned next week, but we have decided to keep it for the complete month we are here.Let's hope we have this boat sorted by then.

We finally found some Jandals (flipflops, slippers), at West Marine, that are comfortable and dont hurt my poor arthritic feet. We had gone there to pick up a part which was ordered for the head (toilet) pump, and found that the part we had waited a week for they actually had had in stock when we ordered it!!!! Can  you say PEEVED?
We also went and organized to get pumped out every week by the mobile pumpah people. For a one off pump it is $42. For a contract of one month, weekly pump outs, it is $18 a time. Not sure if this is false economy yet, but we will see. The gauge on the waste tank isnt working (is there anything that does, on this boat???) so we dont know what is in there (well we do now..nada!). we purchased a new tank monitoring system while at West Marine. I think we have taken shares in that company, since our arrival:S
It is a bit silly, because the part we needed to repair the monitor in the existing system is small..you just cant buy it on it's own, so mucho dollaries later, we have a brand new system. Atleast it goes in the Maintenance Schedule, on record, as being new.


The heat continues. What started out cooler and overcast has turned into a cloudless sky and up to 97F again (37C). It is HOT out there. Wonderful to get back to the boat and into the airconditioning. Yes, we leave it running...too hot not to. The floating dock alongside the boat is made of dark wood and it is amazing how much heat that thing reflects into the boat. No way to counteract that really. We draw the curtains when the sun is on the windows, which are heavily tinted, but you can still feel the heat when you put your hand near the window.

There is lots of bird life in and around the Marina. Brown Pelicans and Egrets, Great White herons and lots of birds we dont know the names of yet. I need to buy a book of birds and fish. I think I said that before, but we still dont have one.

When we were driving over the Galveston Bridge the other night, it was amazing to see the seabirds riding the thermals above the bridge...hundreds of them. This is three hundred feet above the water!! I just love watching the Pelicans...sch huge birds, but so aerodynamic and fabulous to watch feeding. They are so buoyant!

Tonight is Fireworks Night again at Kemah Boardwalk. We will sit topside on the flydeck and watch, or we may walk around to one of the many waterside vantage points close by and take the video camera with us to record the event. Standby for video footage.

Frankly, I dont know how people stay in one Marina for any great length of time, especially if they are on their boat all day. While there is much to see in and around the Marina, it gets pretty boring too. Perhaps that is just me??lol.

It is just 5pm, and already the traffic going over the bridge is slowing down. most nights the slowdown continues through 6.30pm. We wonder where all the traffic comes from and where it is going?? We are just off Hwy 146, which joins several major arteries...NASA Pkwy, I45 included.

We discovered some excellent meat selections at Target Grocery when we first came here. We went back recently and stocked up on some pork loin and Fillet steak, which is lovely. The latter is tonight's dinner with new potatoes and salad.

I still havnt decided what we are going to eat to celebrate 4th of July, but I did buy a box mix of Chocolate Brownies (Betty Crocker) for $1.69 (normally over $5 in NZ) to make up in case we get visitors.

We made friends with Kathie, the Office Mgr at the pumpout company, who lives on her 42 ft yacht with her third husband...it is his third marriage too, apparently...totally works for them both, she said..third time lucky:). what a delightful person...and they have a dinghy to go visiting, as they live just across the Clear Creek in Portafino Marina (sorry,long sentence!). When we get our boat motor back (Yamaha 15hp) from the service fellas, we might be able to go visiting them. They both hail from Michigan, originally, and are just a couple of years off retirement, when they hope to do what we are doing...The Loop:)
Time to go and sort out where to put the bottles of water sitting in the middle of the Saloon floor...we keep walking around them. Then perhaps I will also go and clean out the upstairs drinks fridge, which has seen better days, but the cost of a new one is motivation enough to try to fix this one. Lots of rust, as she is exposed to the elements, so she may not be salvagable.
Time to do some work!!!

 

 

 

There is something distinctly 'not right' about this house, but who knows how it was...this is an abandoned house left over from Hurricane Ike.

This Pelican soldier is at the Seabrook Memorial for soldiers of foreign Wars. The memorial itself is very thoughtfully designed and a special place to give thanks to those who served this country in wartime and lost their lives.

 

 

I'm about to take my camera out and photograph the ordinary things around us. This is going to have to become a habit, I'm afraid, as it isnt my nature to take these kind of photos. I will remember to post some of the less than pedestrian variety too.
Signing off for now...

Some more photos from our little jaunt into Seabrook and along the Galveston Bay waterfront there.

We were standing under the Kemah bridge watching the fishermen and then this trawler came around the corner. The trawler dock is just a few yards to the left. All the birds
were obviously waiting for the return of the fishing boats as they swarmed the boat the minute it turned into the docking area. These are brown pelicans and white herons, egrets and small black head gulls.

This was the scene before the fishing boat arrived:)

This restaurant, Pier 8, is where we went with our Broker Len Garofoli in March. We had the BEST fish and chips and fried shrimp there. We havn't been back yet, but will go there before heading out of the Houston area. There are any number of Crab, shrimp and Crawfish restaurants in the immediate vicinity, none of which we have been to. We dont fancy eating fried food...yet.

 

The photo below is of the Seabrook Sailing Club, founded in 1934. You know why it is up so high? Doesnt matter if the bar-b-q gets washed away!

 

 

If you look to the right of the Rt hand Pelican, you will see the end of the Barrier Island (just to the left of the Sailboat)

the separates Galveston Bay from the gulf of Mexico.

 

 

The house below looks rather incongruous, but is up on stilts for a very good reason. This is by no means the highest off the ground...some homes are two stories above ground level. When you see what is left over after Hurricane Ike, you can understand the need to build so high. Some homes along this road have built their own dykes and berms around their properties, but somehow, I dont think that will change the fact that the tidal surge will still inundate their properties.

 

 

 

This home is fairly typical of the coastal homes around here.

 

 

 

I will give up saying how hot it is...suffice to say...nothing has changed on the weather front.
Waz has never eaten at IHOP (International House of Pancakes) before, so we decided to venture forth down to the local kemah branch for a tall stack.(6 pancakes vs short stack =3). I knew what to expect, so ordered hash browns and sunny side up eggs with toast..which i didnt eat. It didnt look that apetizing, to be honest.
We marvelled at the syrup choices with Waz choosing the classic (maple flava). He wasnt impressed by the pancakes, deciding we make better ones at home.
Today being a 'kind of' day off for us, we then went tiki touring with our cameras to take some tourist-type pics..seeing y'all want to see what and where and how.
We returned to the Seabrook side of the highway (this sign is just 100 yards from where the boat is) and went out along the Galveston Bay.

The sign to the right is on the highway just down the road..Fireworks at the Kemah Boardwalk every friday night, June through July. We enjoyed them last Friday night, and look forward to sitting on the flydeck, watching again, this friday night.

 

These Fishermen are sitting almost opposite the entry to our Marina...which is just behind those metal pilings on their right. The waterway they are fishing in, is the channel which takes you from Galveston Bay, into Clear lake.

 The photo below shows just how shallow it is  50 yards from the waterfront. The fellow in the water didnt have a floatation device on, so we wonder what happens when he catches a big fish??? The poles sticking out of the water are the remains of a pier that was torn apart by Hurricane Ike. The aftermath and remains are all along the coastline.

 

 

Baking:
I hadnt used the new little convection oven for anything other than last night's Turkey Enchaladas and bagels a couple or mornings ago, and thought it time for me to try some muffins and see if it is efficient and the product comes out well. The oven being only the end part of any baking, of course.
Fresh raspberry muffins....Well, the end result of these is hard to describe. Im usually pretty good at detecting flavors and what is wrong with something, but this almost has me stumped. Let me try to explain the results.
Firstly, I had bought some organic plain flour at Marshalls. the use by date was a way off, so thought it might be fine. It is obviously high gluten content, because the muffins are VERY elastic. I also used unsalted butter, though added salt to compensate. The melted butter didnt look like NZ butter, of course, but looked different enough for me to remark on it. I also noted that I need to add Canola oil to my shopping list, as I sometimes like to back muffins with that.
The only thing I can describe the muffins tasting like, is Mochi cakes. These little 'cakes' are made with pounded rice. they are made for japanese celebrations with sweet azuki beans in the middle..yumm! but these muffins are 'nothing' kind of food. Back to the drawing board. I will toss the Marshalls organic flour in favor of some cake baking flour from the supermarket, I think.
Although I lived in Hawaii for 20 yrs, it is 8 yrs since I left, and my knowlege of all things food is a little rusty. I also didnt recognize a good many brands in the Texas supermarkets, so will have to ask some questions of those who know, me thinx.

Yayay! I found it...in the draft folder...this one comes before the next one, if you know what I mean...
it's the one I thought had dropped off into the great wide yonder.

You know you are on the wrong side of the road when there is a vehicle coming straight towards you on the same side of the road!!!! Ok, so it only happened once, and in a momentary lapse of concentration...and I only turned the windshield wipers on ONCE when meaning to turn on the indicator...Im getting better, and hopefully I wont kill us on the wrong side of the road. It takes a lot of concentration to take intersections wide especially when there are no other cars to follow. I can understand how so many European and Amerian/Canadian visitors kill themselves on NZ roads when driving, especially on roads where there are no other cars.

Today dawned bright and beautiful again. It was hotter at 7am that it was yesterday. I took my 500mls of room temp. water up on the fly deck this morning, hoping to catch some of the breeze. Warren stayed in bed in the airconditioned master stateroom. We went for a walk around the extensive Marina and looked at the other boats(there are in excess of 650 boats in this marina, to give you an idea of the size), the bird life and the fishermen in both kayaks and bass-type boats. I will have to take my camera and take some photos tomorrow, though I have no means of putting the photos onto this blog, right now. We still have to find the appropriate connecting cords for that purpose.

Great Jumping Fish!! Yes, the fish (Bait fish known as Shad ) around here jump..I mean 4ft in the air and they skip, just as you would skip a stone or rock over the water. Very funny to watch, and much time can be wasted watching them:) It is also fun to watch the rivalry between the great Herons, the Egrets and what looks like a Bittern. I will have to find a book on birds and fish, so we can identify them.
The fishermen said they caught a 9 inch 'Red' Snapper in the lagoon nearby, this morning.

I think it is going to be another scorcher of a day, seeing it started out so warm.

Looks like we will have to go and buy some towels that dry. The towels and sheets that came with the boat have seen better days, and the twoels in particular are more decoratie than practial. They have a wooly side which does not dry at all and the looped side does little in the way of drying either.
Warren is using the sheets for rags in the engine room. We bought some new ones that suit us better and smell 100% better than those others.

We also need a printer, today. Conducting all our business over the internet and paperless  is fine to a point, but we do need to print some things up for the record. We are finding the USA to be less inclined towards paperlessness, which is a bit challenging.
We were also surprised and a little peeved to find that the Marina does not have recycling!!! How can that be? there is so much packaging on everything we buy and we had collected a large bag full of recyclables to put in the appropriate containers somewhere.I  hate putting all of that plastic into the dumpster, knowing it is going to landfill.
I will do my best to find the cord connecting the camera to the computer, today, then we can add some photos here.
More later...
Later....On one of our evening walks (11pm-ish) we were leaning over a bridge and watching the small Shad breaking out of the water. Obviously there was a larger fish underneath them, but this was like fireworks on the water. Seriously...HUNDREDS of tiny fish swooshing out of the water in a starburst patern...then a couple of feet later, doing it all again. Occassionally we saw the larger fish, but mostly it was multiple starbursts all over the water in all directions...delightful to watch, though I am sure not so for the fish swimming/jumping for their lives.

Dont you hate it when you write a whole screed and think you have posted it, to find that it fell into the great wide blue yonder?
We have been having internet problems! Tried everything, but the computer kept dropping out. of course this happened every time I posted something.
We now have a Wifi antenna and we haven't dropped out since:)  So, I am more motivated to write here once again. I cannot remember what I wrote about that fell into space, so will take up where I imagine I left off.
We have been in the USA one week tonight.
The sales literature and the agent who sold us the boat felt obliged to keep telling us that the boat had been owned by an Engineer. Well, I think they must be a bit like carpenters and electrician who cant be bothered, or dont have the interest in maintaining their own homes etc, coz the longer we live on this vessel the more we find what said 'engineer' didn't maintain...everything!!

We met the fellow who is going to compound, wax and buff the whole boat (outside), today. We had previously dealt with Gary over the phone from NZ. It was a pleasure to meet him and discuss what the boat needs to bring her back 'like new'.  According to Gary, this vessel has been sadly neglected.
We swapped notes on the level of neglect...he on the outside, and we on the inside. It seems that every time Waz finishes one chore, there is something else 'going wrong' that needs immediate attention.
The last one was the Master en-suite loo (head). It has been making slightly disturbing noises for a few days, then 24 hrs ago, it quit altogether.
Before that the forward head didnt work. It now works, but the master one doesnt. we have ordered parts which will arrive on Friday, all going well.

I took a drive to the local Randalls supermarket this morning. On my own. I wanted the time to peruse ALL the shelves and find products that will travel well, not need refridgeration, and will store for extended time. I was happy to see many Safeway brand items which I used to purchase when I lived in Hawaii for 20 yrs.
Happily I came back with half a dozen bottles of a NZ wine that was on special...and if you bought 6, you got an extra 10% off! :)

Life Jackets are on sale at West Marine, so Waz and I are going over there when we have finished our cup of tea. we like that most of the stores are open until 8 or 9pm, at this time of year.

Not sure why Texans like living in thi awful heat...and funny that, because so many of them ask us why we left a gorgeous country like NZ to come here!!! weeeeeeeeeeellll. we own a boat!!and it lives here for a short time.

We are still waiting for the fabrication fella to bring the Eisenglass surrounds for the Fly-deck. We are enclosing her to give us further living space under cover, and to protect the furnishings that are otherwise sun bleached and not in great shape...like so many other things here.
We know this boat originally had surrounds on the fly deck, and the zippers on the bimini (sun top) show that there were...so heaven only knows where they are or what the former owner has done with them. We have photos from a couple of years ago with the upper deck fully enclosed.

Well, it's time to go get those life vests... talk to you soon!'

Fortunately it is only three months since I drove on the 'wrong' side of the road, so getting back in the driver's seat was not the learning curve is had been in February, after a break of two years.

First order of business, after the car pick up, was to re-acquaint ourselves with the Marina and the people we had been e-mailing with in regard to docking the boat for the next month.

Next stop was the boat. She was back where we had left her. In the interim, she had been fitted with Forward Sonar, new zincs and assorted other essentials, at the Seabrook Marina, and returned to the sales dock we bought her from. Having been closed up for a while, she was a bit 'ripe' on the inside but the weather wasn't conducive to opening her up to the 'fresh' air....there simply was none and it was hotter than hades.

The number of 'jobs' to do is pretty daunting, but I guess a list is easily conquered, if you have one.

First order of business is usually food shopping. we went back to Target, only because we could get other things there too. Not the best selection of anything, but it meant we had food for at least two days, and fresh produce was the order of the day. Cant live without LOTS of fruit and veg. We will miss the quality of both, in NZ. We haven't found any 'loose' carrots in our two food shopping forays, but are hopeful we will find them somewhere.
We found a Randalls supermarket that gives a much better selection of produce et al but is further away.

Friday am: I was determined to get rid of the stale smell in the boat by opening the windows and doors to let the breeze flow through. We had set the alarm for 7am with this in mind, to make the most of the early morning temps. before it got too hot and the aircon was required.

It appeared that the smell wasnt just the stale inside air. One of the aircon units was in desperate need of cleaning, so that required a fine brush and vacuum cleaner. The former was easily accomplished, but the latter not so. We had bought a shop vac. before leaving Houston for NZ, in March, but it is no longer on the boat...no sign of it. We can only presume, rightly or wrongly, that one of the people working on the boat in our absence thought it belonged to them or their company, and took it home/to work with them. This necessitated yet another trip to Home Depot~! It's not  a huge purchase, dollar-wise, but is another $40, if you know what I mean.

By 11.30am today, it was evident that we needed to put the aircon back on, smell or no smell, as we were leaving the boat to go 'shopping'  for goodness knows how long. At 11.30 the outside temp. was 90F, but by the time we got home at 5.30pm, it was 97F. Phew, was it hot! and the humidity must have been around 70% at least. We wont go out tomorrow without half a dozen bottles of water in the cooler !
Today's purchases included bins for storage. I needed to be able to contain winter clothing etc under the guest queen bed. As luck would have it, there are Ziplock brand bags that are big enough to contain such things. These bags are excellent for any number of soft storage items, and there are now three of them under the bed, along with the suitcases (soft duffles) and overnight bags.

We found a Lowes store not far away in Webster, and armed with a lengthy shopping list for the hardware store, we ventured forth. We purchased most of the items on the list before asking for help with the remaining ones.
Tools were also on the shopping list, and the gentleman (a former Marine, it turned out) who accompanied us around the store couldnt have been more helpful or knowledgeable. We are still looking for a 12 volt chest freezer for the cockpit hold, but know where to find that now. It will have to be an online purchase.

I also ordered my new computer! With such limited space, it isnt possible to house a desk top computer, so we have to make sure we have similar capabilities in a laptop. I dont remember all the details of the computer I ordered from Costco, but you can be assured it is what Warren wanted:) I guess it has all the bells and whistles. I just know I will have to learn to use Windows 8!

We are making the most of the delicious summer berries, cherries, peaches and nectarines. Fresh fruit salad with our meusli and Greek Yoghurt for breakfast is fantastic. The blueberries went into the dinner salad tonight, along with baby tomatoes, sugar snap peas, baby carrots, apple and some blue cheese and walnuts. I cooked a couple of turkey breasts which were succulent and left enough over for another one or two meals. I am enjoying cooking on the induction cooker with one pot, a tall sided Analon frying pan with cover. No fat is needed and nothing sticks, but cooks perfectly.
We finished the day, after the dishes had been washed and put away, with a cup of English Breakfast Tea, sitting topside on the fly deck, and watching the 20 mins of Fireworks at the Kimah Boardwalk. We had almost front row seats, interrupted only by the Kemah Bridge. Looks like we will have the same show tomorrow night too...apparently there is a fireworks show every friday and saturday night through June and July! woohoo!:)
And so, to bed.

I am sitting here in the salon of the boat with the windows and door wide open to catch a breeze, should it visit. It is a very humid slightly overcast 90F today. Yesterday it was a very clear 95F, but the humidity was also present.

In the couple of weeks we had left in Tauranga, we tidied up our lives, made note of all things legal and did what most do when faced with a long absence...eat the food you want to eat, go to special places and enjoy the company of good friends and family.
We made the long trip north to Whangarei to visit Warrens 92 yr old father who is in excellent health, though with failing eyesight. We also caught up with his brother and sister.

 Life has a habit of throwing curve balls, and the thursday prior to us leaving NZ we were thrown a good one. My youngest child e-mailed me to say that the boss wanted him to move to Auckland ASAP. We knew this might be a possibility, but he had also declared that he wanted to stay on in Hamilton, and we thought he might be able to do so. Much frantic internet searching for apartments and room-mate situations followed.
It was decided that we would take the child (well, he is almost 22) to Auckland with us on the Saturday (15th June) and would take a look at some places to live over the weekend. The room-mate situations turned out to be grotty and not at all desirable as well as grossly over-priced. Having seen some of what was on offer in that department, he made the decision to get his own one bedroom apartment. For those not acquainted with the Auckland real estate market....demand is high, prices are through the roof and the condition of the properties leaves a lot to be desired in certain $ brackets.
The child returned to Hamilton on the Sunday night bus, not having found anywhere to move to. Warren and I promised to take a further look for apartments on the monday and tuesday if we were able. Bear in mind that we were leaving for the USA on tuesday night!
Phone calls were made and only one was returned. As luck would have it we were able to view a city center apartment at 10am tuesday, AND, as luck would have it, it was perfect. Too bad the child is moving into an apartment sight unseen, but he will have to trust the parental units on that one. He moves in this weekend with the help of his boss. Phew!

Having moved out of the apartment in Tauranga on the friday, after the all-clear from our realtor, we stayed in nearby Mt Maunganui with special friends and enjoyed their company  and wonderful hospitality for that short time. We are hoping they will come over here and keep us company!
Saturday and Sunday nights were spent in Auckland at the lovely home of the Hostesses with the Mostess, Lisa and Carolyn. They are our Home Away from Home. Of course we cannot go on without mentioning the company of their little dog with the poor dentition, Ewok!
Sunday evening we were joined by L and C and our immediate family for a farewell dinner.
It is good to know all family members are well taken care of, especially our seniors.

We decided not to sell the car on the internet, afterall, as we were able to use it until the afternoon of the day before departure. Taking it to Turner's Auctions was the most sensible thing to do, for us. We just hope they sold it at yesterday's auction!
Our last night in Auckland was spent at the Copthorne Hotel on the waterfront. We had a stellar view of the old Ferry Building from our room on the 7th floor and enjoyed watching everyone hurrying too and from work, morning and night, knowing we were escaping all of that:)

Tuesday dawned sunny and bright, but by mid-afternoon the rain front came over and we left the hotel in an Airport Shuttle, in a downpour. The shuttle driver drove so crazily fast and that along with the swerving in and out of the 3pm traffic made me extremely nauseous, not to mention nervous.
Easy check-in at the airport with our carefully weighed duffle bags (Boats need soft bags onboard) and time for a Japanese meal (light food) before going through the departure procedure.

The plane had left the gate and was about to taxi, when the Captain told us they had a fault in one of the engines and would be returning to the gate. This was after we had sat in the plane for 45 mins. or so while they decided what to do. We all disembarked and waited in the departure lounge for a further 2 hours while another plane was readied for us. We were given $10 food certificates each, which we made good use of, as by now it was 9.30pm.

We finally got off the ground at 10.30pm. This was cause for some consternation with us, as we had allowed 4 1/2 hours for Warren to go through the Immigration procedure needed at LA airport, in order to enter the USA on his Immigrant Visa. Kudos to Air NZ for the way they handled all this, and for booking us on the next flight available to Houston. As luck would have it, we made the original flight with about 10mins to spare...they were already boarding! We arrived on schedule at Bush Intercontinental Airport at 10.50pm the day we left:)

We caught a taxi (the cheapest option) from Bush to our hotel in Clear Lake...50 mins of sheer hell...this driver bested the Auckland shuttle driver, driving consistently 20-30mph OVER the speed limit, and terrifying me out of my wits...I have to mention here that the normally very cool Warren was also not impressed with the driving.
We were grateful for a good night's sleep at the Microtel and woke at a normal hour for breakfast (included) and then a short walk to the nearest Starbucks...the only place you get something resembling a good NZ Latte! A call from our rental car company made us scurry back to the hotel for our pick up.