Last day ashore (May 15/09 - Auckland, New Zealand)

When Jaime checked the weather forecast this morning, it looked as though the winds would cooperate for a northbound departure tomorrow. With that to aim for, there were still a few last minute jobs to do before pushing off tomorrow, as today would realistically be their last day in a civilized country for the rest of the year. It was nearly noon before everyone was functional (thanks to a late night last night), but once everyone was with it, we walked over to a nearby pub on the water for a huge spread of fish, prawns, mussels, and oysters done up just greasy enough to cure any remaining hangovers. Afterward, the boys tended to boat tasks outside while Jaime started cooking meals for the passage so it will be easy to grab and reheat food when the boat is pitching back and forth and everybody feels like crap. I took on the fun task of painting a Fijian flag, which boaters raise while in a foreign country's waters as a courtesy. They're very pricey to purchase, so Jaime has been very resourceful and clever to use fabric paints on chunks of old bed sheets so that a permissible replica can be made for almost free. Unfortunately for me, Fiji's flag has both a British Union Jack and a detailed coat of arms on it, making for quite the artistic challenge. When it was finally done, Jaime and I spent a couple more hours chopping, cooking, mixing, and bagging piles of food to keep the crew fed for the trip. It was actually a fun way to spend the afternoon, catching up and having a hand in helping Slapdash on its way to its next port.

When we eventually decided to order pizza for dinner since some people were bagged and not keen to walk anywhere, we heard screeching tires and a big crash, then looked out to see a car that had crashed into the slope leading up to the highway overpass. It just seemed to be the one car, but it appeared to be smoking and we could hear a lady screaming, so we called an ambulance and then ran over to try and help. It turned out that two girls had missed the corner and jumped the curb, both confessing that they were drunk, and one girl might have had a broken ankle. Help came pretty soon and so we left them alone, looking out later to see four ambulances and a couple police cars and tow trucks to clean up the mess. We polished off a few pizzas and chatted until the yawning started. It was a bittersweet evening, as the boat is nearly ready to go, yet we all know that we have to go our separate ways tomorrow. Ironically, we're actually going the same way by different means, but it could be well over a year before we see them again.