Day 385-387: Karamea, New Zealand

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Monday, February 15th

After our morning exercise we started to work on the seats for our canoe. We had bought two camp-chairs for the canvas and seat-backs and proceeded to build two wooden frames that fit into the canoe at the correct height and position. It look some planning and problem solving to get the shape and position just right, but by the end of the day we had the two frames pretty much sorted.

Just before noon we drove to the medical centre. Ferdi had to see the doctor so that he could get a refill on his prescription. It’s a total money making scheme. We had to part with $100, more than double what we paid on our last visit to the same centre and the same doctor! Makes no sense, but we had no other options. They had us by the “short ‘n curlies”.

Back at home we continued working on the canoe. Talita did the sanding while Ferdi continued working on the seats. With our limited time left in Karamea we had to get the canoe finished (except for the paint of course). Talita told Margaret that we’d be leaving the following Monday, so we have a busy week ahead of us, finishing the canoe and saying goodbye to great friends.

We’re struggling with the notion of leaving. It’s very hard to leave our friends behind, especially Paddy. He’s been such a force in our lives the last few months and we feel very close to him, but God has spoken and we must obey. After all, that’s what living by faith is all about. That, however, doesn’t make it any easier.

Today’s highlights:
1. Getting the seating mostly sorted out.

Tuesday, February 16th

Another day dawned in paradise. Our time is running short now. Ferdi has been feeling especially low over the last couple of days. He’d hoped for some direction other than “Get up and go”. We don’t know where we’ll go once we leave here, but we have faith that the “where” will be revealed once we’ve obeyed.

At the track we pushed our way to the top and came down on rubbery legs. We’re definitely getting fitter (if not thinner) and we hope to continue the exercise regime once we’re back on the road again. Back at camp we continued working on the sanding and the seats of the canoe.

By the end of the day the canoe was smoother and the seats were nearer to being complete. Ferdi had marked and drilled holes for “stitching” the canvas to the frames. Once the frames were covered with resin we glued the “pillars” for the seats in place.

We had a shower then went out for fish n chips and a few pints. We’d invited Rick to join us and we spent a great night chatting away. He’d seen our canoe while we were away from camp and he’s of the opinion that we shouldn’t paint her. He says he loves the way you can follow the construction process by just looking at the canoe. We’re more and more inclined to agree with him. Time will tell. As we drove home we witnessed the most beautiful sunset we’d seen in NZ thus far. It was gorgeous!

Today’s highlights:
1. More progress on the canoe.
2. A great night out.

Wednesday, February 17th

We woke early and drove over the bluff to Westport. The Boesman was going in for repairs and to get re-WOF-ed. In town we stopped by the supermarket to get fresh sour-dough bread. It’s Paddy’s favorite and we got two steaming hot loaves. We immediately dug in and enjoyed a few bites of the bread before dropping of the Boesman.

We walked the town, stopping in at a cute little shop. We were looking for a gift for John and Margaret and found the perfect one, a cat holding a container for bird-seed. Margaret adores cats and they also feed the finches from their porch, hence the perfect-ness of the gift.

With the gift issue sorted we went to Mitre 10 (our favorite shop in all of Westport) and got line (for stitching the canvas to the frames), tie-downs (to secure the canoe on the roof of the van), and a pool-noodle (to keep the canoe safe from abrasions while on the roof-rack).

We got the good news that the Boesman was ready and that it had passed its WOF. After picking it up we did some grocery shopping, filled with diesel and went to the local Indian restaurant for curry. It was yummy so we got three meals as take-away. Two was for our dinner and the third was for Kerry. We popped by his place, but he was asleep since he’d worked night-shift, so we drove on to Paddy’s. He didn’t want the curry either so Ferdi scored an extra curry meal for sometime in the near future.

We had a cuppa or two with Paddy, but he didn’t look like himself. The news of our imminent departure seems to have saddened him as much as us. We invited ourselves for dinner the following evening, then said goodbye.

Neither of us was feeling great, and we wanted nothing more than to veg at home. Instead we got into the shed and filled the seat-pillar seams with filling material. We also pumped resin through the stitch holes in the seat frames using a syringe. That was all we could do for the day, so we had our curry take-away dinner, then returned to our room to veg away the evening.

Today’s highlights:
1. Steaming fresh bread.
2. The Boesman getting its WOF.
3. Curry lunch and dinner.
4. More progress on the canoe.

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