It’s been three weeks since Shane last updated the blog. We’ve got a yacht, but we haven’t…… Let me explain! We have paid for the yacht, but unfortunately it is still in NZ. The current owner was getting the life raft serviced last week just prior to leaving NZ, when he discovered a problem. A part needed replacing, and it had to be sent over from France. The part arrived, that problem was fixed; and then something else was found to be wrong. So another phone call to France, and yet another part is on its way over, so hopefully the boat will be en route to us here in Brisbane by the middle of next week. Shane is starting to get a little restless – he just wants to get on the boat. At least with the delays I have had time to catch up on research and reading about life onboard a yacht.

With the delay in the boat arriving, it has given us time to get out and about and enjoy Brisbane. On Anzac Day we went down to the local ‘beach’, which is called Streets Beach. It is not a traditional beach as we Kiwis know it; Streets Beach is a man-made beach on the Brisbane River, on the site where Expo was held in 1988. As we sat on the beach on Anzac Day, I said to Shane “I wonder how many people are on the beach at Oriental Bay” (in Wellington) …..

This is Streets Beach – as you can see, not a bad spot.















Most days of the week, and especially at the weekends, the beach is packed. There is lovely white sand, but I found the water a little cool! I must be getting old as it is warm tropical waters, or the Rotorua hot pools for me these days.

We are living just down the road from the official Brisbane ‘lookout’. This is where all the tour buses stop for their customers to view Brisbane River and the CBD. This is the view they get.















Just below the lookout, to the right, is the location of the famous rock-climbing cliffs at Kangaroo Point (not that I’ll be giving it a go - I’m not good on heights).

Another landmark here is the Storey Bridge. It is one of the oldest bridges in Brisbane (if not the oldest) and you can do bridge climbs like those done on the Sydney and Auckland Harbour Bridges. The bridge looks nice at night, all lit up.















Further along the river is the Riverside Outdoor Centre. The centre runs nighttime kayak trips along the river and we are going to give that a go next week. This is the view we will get of the city.















As of yesterday, we are officially paid-up members of the Easts League Club. For the princely sum of two whole dollars each, we could join for the next year. We can enjoy all the club’s facilities, including subsidised meals and drinks in the restaurants and bars. But more importantly, we can watch the rugby (league and union) on the big plasma TV screens, while relaxing in nice comfy chairs. Particularly good timing with the Super 14 semis coming up! The League Clubs here are fantastic, the facilities leave most pubs for dead. The Easts League Club has over 20,000 members, and it certainly wouldn’t be one of the biggest ones around.

So as you can see, we are making the most of our time in Brisbane, and enjoying everything that life here has to offer. Hopefully our next blog will be written from the comfort of ‘enzwell’ – in 2-3 weeks time. 

enzwell

After considering 30 plus boats in two countries from Picton to Tutakaka and from the Gold Coast to Gladstone, plus considering boats in Vanuatu, LA and the Caribean, here it is………. home. And as it turned out it is at home , well Whangarei actually, but he will deliever it to Brisbane for us early May. Are we HAPPY!!!! This boats comes with so much gear it’s ludicrous, from windvane steering to water makers, yes two of them, one fixed and one portable one for the life raft, just serviced. It’s got acres of storage not to mention the 7’8” long rear berth for us. Your one’s fine as well and you have your own private head and good storage. So, here’s some photos of the soon to be “ENZWELL”


Now I must admit that the photos are pretty complimentery, it’s not that it’s that bad, but the photos don’t pick up little marks and stuff. It does also need a bit of work on some surface rust areas topsides and in the bilges, but it has been surveyed and it’s all managable so I guess we’ll be out with wire brushes and stuff in our spare time, and we do have a bit of that.

Brisbane continues to be hot and sunny, we check the weather forecasts daily to see if it’s going to be fine and 26 degrees or fine and 30 degrees. Got some transport in the weekend. Brought one mountain bike for $20 and the owners of the motel we are staying at had an old one left behind so gave us that. Thanks guys. It was a bit sad but after pumping up the tyres and fitting a new brake cable, away we went. It makes such a difference to be freely mobile and Brissy is a great city to bike around, very little wind or hills. Could be a bit tricky cycling with suitcases and luggage to the boat though, maybe we’ll lash out a get a taxi. So about four weeks and we should be on the water.

First week down....!

One week today, seems a lot longer but that’s how long we have been in Aus. Don’t know if NZ was trying to hang on to us but they keep us in for another two hours due to someone breaking the plane. Our arrival in Brisbane was greeted by a fantastic lightning storm, another omen perhaps…..no just a regular occurrence over here apparently. Mighty impressive though with big grey rolling clouds being back lit and forks of lightning streaking through the sky and into the land. Fantastic.

So far we have seen about 15 boats around the Brisbane area and over 35 in total including NZ. What we have is probably four distinct possibilities, two of which are somewhat more than we where intending to spend but are really nice and something we would be happy to live on. Many were not, a lot of home built and fitted out boats, and they looked like it, some were single men’s homes, and looked like it, and some had more precious items stored on board than we had tucked away in two homes! This weekend it’s about deciding which lucky punter is going to receive our incredibly pathetic offer. It appears the standard is to offer about 20% less than asking and not to move much on that.

The weather has been great if not a tad hot but often with a nice cooling breeze, especially in the afternoon. We were shocked last night that it was actually cold. We had gone away for a couple of days with a rental car and were definitely in need of a jacket, left packed at the motel. People have been all really accommodating and helpful, from bus drivers to brokers. People do seem more chilled out than in NZ, maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the news? Have noticed that the news is generally more positive, like it’s very hard to hear what the dollar is doing, as in going down. They would rather talk about the footy, now that’s serious and worth talking about!
Also noticed a distinct lack of personalised number plates, or boy racers, and that’s got to be a good thing!

The intrepid travellers ....

Here is the Hegan clan saying a fond farewell at our going away kneesup. Yes they do look very distraught don't they!
From left rear Courtenay, Leon, Cushla and Mathew, front, the Admiral (Heath), Skipper (Shane), not properly dressed by this stage, and Jessica.


So, almost there, fly to Brissy on Friday afternoon. Hope to have some boats to look at Saturday so who knows, we may be resident on the water in a couple of weeks or so.


Had a great couple of weeks touring the South Island making sure we saw everything before we left the country. Really lucked out with the weather on the west coast, just fantastic. The weather has such an impact on our experiance of places, so, the west coast is great and Stewart Island SUKS. Rain, hail and bloody cold. Thanks to everyone that has been putting us up for different nights and thanks Kim for teaching me to catch snapper, yum yum!
Now I have finally worked out how to put photos on this site, via Picassa, we should be able to keep you better up to play with events.
Ciao, Shane

enzwell

Heather here ….. This is my first opportunity writing on the blog so I’m going to make the most of it!

It has been a frantic last 2-3 weeks. First there was the farewell party at home - we hired naval costumes so we looked the part! The party went really well, but it was peppered with a tinge of sadness as we won’t see some of our friends for quite a while.

After the party we both had our last week at our respective jobs, so it was more farewells. Then we had a week to move out the house, get everything that we needed to into storage, and pack the tea-chests for freighting to Brisbane. With that all done we could head off on holiday and relax for a bit…..

Only now does it feel like our adventure is starting. We are holidaying around the South Island for two weeks. We went to a wedding at Lake Tekapo last Saturday, and then drove through the very picturesque McKenzie Country down to Queenstown. We went out on the Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu, and did the Farm Tour at Walter Peak – a great day out. We are down in Stewart Island at the moment – it sure knows how to rain down this end of the country. We head up the West Coast and on to Blenheim, and in a week we are back up to the North Island to farewell our families.

We fly to Brisbane on March 31 and we will be looking to buy a boat as soon as possible. That’s when the interesting part will start for me – I will be on a steep learning curve to become adequately knowledgable for what lies ahead. The one thing I can say though is that as yet I’m not missing not having to go to work each day!

enzwell

enzwell

So Australia it is. Saw a couple of likely candidates in my short trip and generally the boats do seem a little cheaper. I must admit though that one of the main attractions is not having to cross the Tasman, a very shitty piece of water most of the time. Now all we have to decide is where in Aus. We would like to start in Sydney as we like it as a city and it would be great to spend some time there, however, Queensland has lots more boats for sale and although we are happy to travel about, we are talking fairly large distances, not quite sure how far it is from Sydney to say Townsville but it's a hell of a long way!
On the home front we are all but ready to depart, sold most everything but the bedroom suite, TV, a couple of chairs and odds and sods which will go into storage. Working out the best way to draw money down while away as it can be very expensive. Last night had Heather's Toastmasters group farwell dinner which was great, tonight a big farwell party at home and on Thursady the big work farwell at the pub. Funny leaving a job after 31 years plus? I find it a bit strange that there is no real emotion yet. I suppose it's because I really am complete in my leaving, not bitter about the way the job has gone, everything changes, and we feel like we are moving to something as opposed to leaving something. For better or worse I generally seem to focus on what's ahead rather than what is behind, that's my excuse for a rotten memory anyway.
Till later. crew.enzwell@gmail.com

Here we are! 

enzwell

Geez there's a bit to sort out! The house and the flash car are sold, the resignations are in and the hunt is on for a boat. Seen about 15 in NZ so far and off to Brisbane on Monday to have a look there. They look great on the net so I will see how than pan out in reality. After that we can decide if we purchase here or there. Starting in Australia would be so much easier. First and formost is we won't have to sail across the Tasman, a notoriously shitty bit of water. Given it would that about 12-15 days, we would met at least two cold fronts and or depressions, I'd have to take on a couple of crew and fly Heather across and have to meet Cat 1 requiremnts for the boat and the skipper before we leave, why bother? If we buy a boat in Aus, none of that is required, we start our adventure in relatively good water and just day hop around the coast up to the Great Barrier Reef giving time to get
used to the boat and living on it, and hopefully Heather to get her sea legs. Now she does have lovely legs, they just don't do too well on the ocean at the moment, actually the legs are fine it's the stomach that revolts and does a hasty exit. Anyway, the only down side to buying the boat in Aus is if we bring it back to NZ we are up for GST (Grab, steal,Take..tax), still we don't have to bring it back to NZ but can return to Aus and sell there at the end, whenever that is.
So, after Tuesday, I should have a good idea of where we can get the best deal.enzwell

It starts!

"Better to die with memories than dreams"

So, here we are, that's Heather on the left and Shane on the right. The houses are sold the resignations are in, well they will be soon and the planned departure date is mid March. Oh and what's the plan...........well.........we are going to buy a boat,about 40-44 ft and set off around the world, westwards. Leaving from either New Zealand, our home town, or Australia, from there up to Indonesia, Thailand and eventually get to Santorini in the Mediteranian for Heather's 50th, which is needless to say some considerable time away, well, years anyway. So, stay tuned, check in for a peek occasionally and see how we get on!