Plans have changed. Our sailing schedule is on hold due to John’s injury. He has been seeing a hand therapist every other week, and each session includes a grip test. His last result was 20 out of 100. Although his progress is slow, he’s gradually returning to his boat projects. Sometimes, he forgets about his injury and becomes impatient, leading to pain at night. Simultaneously, we are waiting for the outcome of our visa extension application. We’ll make new sailing plans once we have updates on both John’s recovery and our visa status.
Fortunately, a neighbor has lent us an extra car, which has greatly improved our lifestyle. We can now easily access stores for food and boat parts. Whangarei doesn’t have Home Depot, Macy’s, BestBuy, or Walmart. Instead, we have Mitre10 (which I call Home Depot), Farmers (similar to Macy’s), Noel Leeming (like BestBuy), and K-Mart. We love this town; it has just the right amount of traffic, a friendly community, good weather, fresh air, good water, and convinient access to nature.
I joined a local gym and aquatic center, which has been great for my health and happiness. The facility also has a sauna, perfect for a good sweat on cloudy or rainy days. I am impressed by the number of people who visit the center throughout the day. It seems that Kiwis, young and old, are very health-conscious.
The longest night of the year is approaching in a week. Today, the sunrise was at 7:31 am, and sunset was at 5:16 pm. With less than 10 hours of daylight, the days are quite short.
