Tuesday (Eastern Hemisphere), May 17th, 2011
\”Kentucky Woman\”….Neil Diamond
Auckland, New Zealand: Wind 8-20 knots, SW. Barometer 1011 and slightly rising. Temperature: 58 degrees F, 15.2 C. Rain Squalls. One cold front down, one to hit us in the morning, then off we go. Expect a fast passage with winds from the SW turning S, then SE, then ESE later in the program.
Dear F&F, Well tomorrow is \”jump day\”. We had a lovely dinner with friends Chris and Sandra Biggs. Returned the car, checked out with Kiwi Customs and got our routing/weather report from NZ Weather \”Guru\”, Bob McDavitt.
Luck was with us as the water maker part arrived just in time for Dave Holmes from Enertec Engineering to install it and now both of them are online.
On the way back from Chris and Sandra\’s house, \”Kentucky Woman\” was playing on the radio. I thought how odd. This song about a small southern state in the USA is playing while Chris, Kate and I were driving for the last time down Whangaparaoa Road. The song would have meant little to either of them for obvious reasons. But it made me feel both at home and out of place. Gulf Harbour in someways feels very much like home and in other ways I have no idea how I got here. The surrealness of the entire scene is something I think given the circumstances of my life (for those of you who know me well) was like being in Alice in Wonderland or Mr. Toad\’s wild ride. Things are so different today than I would have even possibly expected just a few short months ago. Today for you in the USA would have been Cindy and my 18th wedding anniversary. I tried to just have the moment yesterday here on the 18th, but I could feel all of you at home experiencing the day with me again.
I hope all of this wasn\’t a \”you had to be there\” to understand what I\’m feeling moment?
We\’ll start the daily blog (essentially live) tomorrow and put position reports on the website as well. Wish us well. Love and Hugs to you all, KIT, Scott with Kate…..last night in New Zealand