Day 358-360: Karamea, New Zealand

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Tuesday, January 19th

By the time we crawled out of bed Paddy was up already, eating toast and drinking tea. None of us had got enough sleep, but it was worth it! After breakfast we all piled into his truck and headed into Westport. Our first stop was to pick up some groceries. The second was the Mitre 10 to get one more sheet of fibreglass cloth and more catalyst for the resin. A few weeks ago Paddy had talked about air brushing and it peaked our interest. We thought it would be really cool if we could do some air brush work on the canoe. We spotted a nice looking air brush kit and decided to get it. It wasn’t very expensive, so we thought we’d give it a try. Before leaving Westport we stopped to fill up some canisters with diesel. Since we couldn’t bring the Boesman to get filled up, we decided to take the diesel to the Boesman. It’s a good deal cheaper than buying fuel in Karamea.

We headed back to Kerry’s place, but when we got there Paddy realized that he’d forgotten to get a leg-rope for his surf-ski. We said goodbye to Kerry and drove back to Westport where Paddy got the leg-rope and we got a couple of new syringes for measuring the amount of resin. The one we’d been using (the one we got in Laos to feed little Vlooi) was nearing the end of its life. We also stopped by the Credit Union to see if we could get Talita a new driver’s license. Her SA one had expired in October and we were hoping to get her a NZ one, but hey couldn’t help us. They need a valid license. Fair enough.

Paddy wasn’t quite ready to go home yet so he bought us pies and tea at a local café. Talita had to send back two pies before she got one without meat. Being vegetarian isn’t easy, no matter where you are.

With reasonably full bellies we headed back to Karamea. We stopped by a favourite spot of Paddy’s called Glass Eye Creek and climbed down to the river. The rocks are beautifully smooth, the colour of fresh cream. We spent a while enjoying the cool shade and the clear water, then headed back to Paddy’s place. Here we filled our van with diesel and had a cuppa. We were all pretty wrecked from the little sleep we had the night before so we headed home soon after.

We unpacked our groceries and we went to the shed where we discussed the next step for the canoe. We were way too tired to even consider working on it, so we made dinner and returned to our cabin. Ferdi was working on the blog when he heard something fall. Talita had drifted of to sleep and her book had fallen from her hands. It was not even 9pm yet.

Today’s highlights:
1. Finding the little air brush kit.
2. Exploring Glass Eye Creek.

Wednesday, January 20th

It dawned on us today that we’ve been living it up over the last few months, and even though we work hard physically, our bellies, hips and thighs still seem to get way more than their share of “reserves”. So, it was back to stretching, crunches and jogging in the morning, combined with a rice diet and the abandoning of beer and all things sweet. It’s only for two weeks and hopefully the morning exercise sticks when the diet goes. We’ll have to wait and see.

After breakfast and the exercise routine we headed to the shed for more canoe building. Today we wanted to make the slotted inwales, which are strips of wood attached to the inside of the hull on the sheer-line to help with stiffening the structure. The slots are there so that water can easily drain from the hull when the canoe is turned upside down (and we think it looks pretty). Lucky for us John really has “everything that opens and close” so we cut some 7mm ply with his band saw and mitre saw and glued these at 10cm intervals along the battens that makes up most of the inwale. Having the right tools makes a huge difference and something that would’ve taken us all morning and most of the afternoon with the jigsaw (and with much worse results) was done in less than an hour.

As we neared the end of our cleaning duties Paddy arrived. He’d gotten himself a good secondhand wetsuit and had his surf-ski with him in the truck. He wanted us to join him as he tried the surf for the first time in 14 years. We finished the cleaning, had a quick lunch, then followed Paddy out to the beach. There wasn’t much surf, just breaking waves, but Paddy decided to give it a go anyway. We were apprehensive to go in there, and we’re both young! Paddy is close to 69, but that didn’t stop him. He got on the ski and headed into the waves. By the look of it, it was hard going, the waves crashing close together and from various directions. He did very well for his first attempt, but eventually he got taken out, and he surfed back to the beach lying on the ski. He was cold and exhausted, but after a rest he decided to try it again. He had thought that he’d be able to just get back on, but apparently it’s not “like riding a bike”.

His second time out he struggled a lot more and was soon totally exhausted. If it were us, we wouldn’t have gone back after that first run, but Paddy is Irish, say no more. We helped him to carry the ski back to his car. It started to rain and after he got dry we loaded up the ski and headed to The Last Resort for something warm to drink. Paddy was shivering. He doesn’t have an ounce of fat on him and the water was pretty cold, even with a wetsuit. As we finished our second round of coffee and tea Rick stopped by, and we spent a while longer chatting and laughing.

After we said our goodbyes we headed to Shona’s place. She has five big trees that she needs felled, and whoever cuts them up could keep the wood if they give her one tree’s worth. We’re very interested because Paddy currently has no firewood for the coming winter. Without wood he’ll freeze out there in his truck, because during the winter it often reaches -7 degrees Celsius in his house. We’ve not said anything to him because we want to surprise him. The trees hadn’t been felled yet because the guy who would’ve done it didn’t feel up to it. Bruce had trained us well, so after we inspected them we felt confident that we could fell most of them without much hassle. That would have to wait for another day though.

Back at the shed we did some more work on the inwales, then cooked dinner and called it a night.

Today’s highlights:
1. Making the inwales, no sweat.
2. Seeing Paddy taking on the surf.

Thursday, January 21th

We woke late, still feeling exhausted. Maybe it’s the diet, or maybe we’re still recovering from our late night at Kerry’s. Probably it’s both. After breakfast we spent some time in the shed sanding down the hull and inwales. We were hoping to give these a coat of resin before the end of the day.

After morning tea we did the cleaning, but Ferdi was struggling, feeling weak and light headed. While we prepared lunch the knife he was using slipped and cut deep into the tip of his left thumb. Blood poured out but there was no pain, only fury at his stupid mistake. While Ferdi sat outside cursing his own clumsiness and applying pressure, Talita busied herself preparing a bandage and disinfectant. We applied the bandage and when Talita went inside to get a plaster to hold the bandage in place Ferdi collapsed in a near faint. His vision went white and he was shaking as he toppled over. Talita heard him hit his head on the door frame and came rushing to his aid. He was sweating profusely and breathing rapidly, trying not to vomit. There was still no pain from his lacerated thumb, so the faint must’ve been caused by a sudden drop in blood pressure.

After his breathing slowed Talita helped him to bed where she gave him sugar water to help with the shock and he recovered quickly. She continued preparing lunch while Ferdi marveled at the first faint spell of his life. Being as clumsy as he is he’d cut himself so many times before, a few times much worse than this one, and never came close to fainting. What a freaky experience!

With the drama over we decided to call it a day and just relax. Ferdi had been feeling a little depressed over the last few days, but after this incident he was completely over the low. It’s strange how one pain can relieve another. We read in bed until we fell asleep and had a nice nap. After waking we continued reading until it was time for dinner. While preparing dinner (Ferdi staying far away from the knife) we got chatting to an older American guy who is also in the process of building a canoe back in the US. After dinner we had another reading marathon until it was time for bed.

Today’s highlights:
1. Some progress on the canoe.
2. Ferdi suffering very little pain for such a deep cut.

Thought for the day:
Don’t work with sharp tools when you’re not feeling well. Duhhhh!

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Photos

Kerry's gift to us and a deceased Bumble Bee
They dont say much