Civilisation

Well that does depend on your definition of 'civilisation'. After a quick trip into town to do some shopping for fruit and vege's we decided to return that evening for a beer or two and some food. Forty feet by 12 feet of space does get a bit small after ten months with only a few hours ashore on the odd day (Tori reckons its more to do with the 'odd' person onboard).

The tide was high at midday for our shopping trip, and was therefore low when we headed back in for the evening. Low water here exposes lots of very soft mud (we have witnessed our friend sink up to his thighs here once before. We helped him get unstuck by offering support i.e. rolling around in hysterical laughter in the dinghy. He's never forgiven us and we ensure he never forgets!). Going ashore this evening we did run out of water before we got into the creek so paddled off in a few inches of water towards the commercial jetty. This was reached with little time to spare. I did not cherish a couple of hours sat in the dinghy, on the mud, waiting for the tide to return.

A couple of Kms walk saw us in town enjoying a nice pint. A peruse of the menu, food ordered, and we decided to have a game of pool. This was a bit of miracle for us as most places in NZ seem to play in a manner where the winner stays on. This means one of you has to beat the local pool shark to get a chance to play against your partner. Not a realistic option with our pool skills. Our luck was in here as the pub patrons consisted of Tori, myself and one person drinking shots and sitting outside smoking. For the next three hours we managed to play the worst pool ever seen in the history of bad pool playing. Our youth was obviously not 'misspent' enough!! The white ball spent more time in the pocket than out. I'd like to say our skills improved as the evening (and beer consumption) went on but it would be fairer to say we just didn't notice our abysmal efforts anymore.

Tori was up two games after I potted the black twice. I convinced her to play on and caught up by one game after Tori potted the black and twenty whites. It went downhill from there and I don't think the final score is important!! It's the taking part that counts. Our evening was cut short when all (both) the pubs in town closed at nine O'clock. Oh well just as we were warming up.

On our way back to the dinghy we noted the sign next to the wharf. This boldly stated "Warning deep mud. Risk of drowning". We couldn't resist a photo to send to our friend. I wonder if I should ask the council to put some on warning signs on the mudflats to warn people trying to get ashore from their dinghy? Better not or they just may do it!!

Not too sure we are looking forward to getting back to Auckland. The road in Coromandel town seemed busy enough let alone the northern motorway at rush hour. We will be heading to Waiheke for the weekend then on to Bayswater marina for Monday 22nd. All down to cleaning the boat out, drying stuff, buying a car etc. before I go back to work on 1st July. Tori has managed to organise herself so she is off sailing on square rig ships as soon as we get back (while I clean the boat) and again for a couple of weeks in July as I head off to work. I also find something unsettling in her reassuring me that she will be unable to find a job in this current economic climate........