Scout's Corollaries

No, this has nothing to do with Boy Scouts. I’m just putting it here because I forgot to put it in the last blog, not that it really belongs there either. It’s just a theme that has come up several times in travels around NZ.

For those that don’t know, Scout’s words of wisdom are
“It’s a wise man who shits when he can, and a foolish man that shits when he has to.” She uttered these famous words sitting on the near side of Ruth Glacier outside of McCarthy, Alaska. (On the near side was a porcupine chewed up outhouse, on the far side where we were headed was a cathole.)
These words of wisdom in this form were spouted on the lead in to the Doubtful Sound trip. Where the good bathrooms were available until we got into the kayaks.

Here in NZ, I’ve come across a few things that will not as profound as that, follow along the same train of thought.

1) Laundry: If someone offers to let you do laundry, or to do your laundry… do it, even it you just did it yesterday. When you only have 3 pairs of pants, you never know when they will all be clean again.
2) If you pay to camp at a place with hot showers… use them, sometimes 2 times a day. It might be several days before you camp at another place with hot showers. Along that line, if you have to pay coins for your hot shower, use the hot water. In Murchison I accidentally put too much money in the machine. I was done showering but had hot water left, so I just stood there.

Ok, that is really all the advice I have.
I’ve been up here in Whangarei now for just over a week, working on Dreamweaver. It was a good thing I didn’t sell the van in Auckland. I had to spend the first couple of nights in the van because the boat was still pretty torn up… at least my cabin.

Last Thursday though, we splashed the boat. Since then we’ve been anchored just outside the boatyard. Still have lots of work to-do. We’ve done some of our provisioning… boy is that a major undertaking. Waking up Sunday, hungover of course, I found we had to fix something in the boom. So by 2 or 3 that afternoon we were back to where we had started the day, as far as our known list of tasks to get the boat ready. That is just how boat life goes.

Saturday night, Chris and I went out in Whangarei, for one “last” night in town. We took a cab in because it was going to be one of those nights. The best part was that I had to pull out my doctor’s excuse to get into the bar with my sandals. I got asked for it 3 times going in and out of this bar. Every time the bouncer would just look and laugh and say stuff like “Hold onto that piece of paper, its gold.” Or “I’ve never scene anything like that before.” But they always let me in. The first bouncer came up to me at the end of the night (4AM) and asked about the note and told me not to lose it.
What really amazed me about the whole thing… I was in the same bar the night before to watch Rugby, no issues. Since Auckland, this was the first place that shoes were an issue at all. Over most of NZ people walk around barefoot. I don’t know how many pubs I’ve been in where someone was in there barefoot. That goes for the stores and pretty much anywhere.

We are hoping to set sail on Thursday or Friday and head up to Tutikaka (might be spelled wrong) do some diving. That will be cold. It’s starting to get to winter here. More rain and the temperature is dropping. Paul and I went out last week and bought more thermals. I also got some new T-shirts. Not sure why anyone cares about that.

After Tutikaka or from here we will head to Fiji. After lifting the anchor here in Whangarei, I’m not sure when I’ll have internet access again. It might be Fiji. Which is 10-15 days from here, depending on when we actually leave NZ.
(I know, I’ve threatened that before… well I’m going to keep threatening it until it happens)

Oh yeah, the van.
Not sold yet as far as I know.
I took it to the auction here in Whangarei last week. It was in Saturday’s auction and got no bids. I think it was in today’s as well but not sure. But they’ll keep it until it sells and then send me a check. Easy enough.
I lose money on the deal because I have to pay them. But it was better to help Erin move and paddle than go sit in Auckland and try and sell the van.

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