Now that our time is nearly up, dinner invitations are coming fast and furious! Andrew and Catherine Mason, on whose catamaran we sailed a few weeks ago, invited us to their place for dinner and "messing around with boats". The Masons are really blessed. Andrew's dad bought a spectacular water-side house years and years ago in what was a pretty shady area, but the area has transformed and they now live right on the water (the Masons live in the former boathouse on the property), surrounded by boats. We had an embarrassment of choices: kayaks or rowboats or sailing dinghies. We decided to put a small (2.5 hp) engine on one of the dinghies and putter around the area. For non-boaters like us, that was pretty exciting (Andrew sent us off on our own). Beautiful area, at least at high tide (low tide apparently reveals the discarded trollies and other junk). One boat got in our way, so naturally we rammed it and it sank (actually, it has been sinking for a few months now). Even 2.5 hp is enough when you are right at the water, and it feels like every turn will capsize the boat. After our puttering about, we had a wonderful dinner on their deck, literally right above the water: when one of the kid's toys fell over the edge, Mike had to wade out to get it. We are very glad we got out to see the place (just like Mike and Alexander saw the Ryan's place last weekend): it is good to see how people live in Auckland. It is a lot different than Pittsburgh!
No comments:
Post a Comment