BurbleChaz

At 32° it’s a little warm to climb the hill. We’re having a gentle stroll around the botanical gardens while The Photographer practises her Art.

First, we’re pottering around the lake, annoying the locals.

Off it goes.

The Lake Monster was patrolling its domain, hoping a small child would fall in.

Turtle:

Other turtle:

And a flower:

“There is never any reason to fly an aircraft into a thunderstorm in peacetime”

If I worked up here I’d never get anything done.

Luna Rossa came out to play again. I was too late to see her powered up. She seems to have an exceptionally high faff-to-fun ratio. Not really surprising, given that they are learning to handle a million-dollar wing sail that can generate hundreds of kilowatts from a gentle breeze.

Next, a superyacht under construction.

Vodafone was blasting around the harbour. Here she is going upwind faster than the breeze, and again entering the inner harbour.

Auckland is a harbour with a city built around it. The culture, industry and economy are intertwined with the sea. If it had a reasonable climate, I could imagine living here. Regrettably, it’s colder than Sydney and suffers from earthquakes, blizzards, tornados and sheep. Pity, really.

With a three hour time difference, getting up at 0700 NZ time was somewhat challenging. After a full eight hours of stand-up facilitating, I was in need of a beer. My search for a suitable hostelry (not a difficult exercise in Auckland) was slightly delayed by the general photogenic nature of the harbour, improved by a chance to see an AC72. Pictures, then.

KZ1, the Big Boat.

Superyacht. Not jealous at all.

Constructive (ha) use if surplus TEUs

Harbour, with most of the NZ Navy in the distance. Both the ANZAC frigates, anyway.

Purse seine net.

Auckland has a harbour bridge too!

Nav marks, repurposed as Art.

Same sort of thing, with those containers again.

Chuffing great sea gull, with a juvenile in the background. Huge units with blue feet. Feed mainly on chips, unattended small children and any dog smaller than a rottweiler.

Steinlager2 with a pair of old  America’s Cup yachts in the background.

Lots of lovely old wood, maintained by someone other than me. This makes me happy.

Insane racing machine, 2002 vintage.

Insane racing machine, 2012 vintage.

Airborne. Well, crane-borne anyway. Those foils are bonkers.

And thus to the pub.

Off to Auckland for a few days.

The cloud is nucleating on the smoke from the fire. It’s hot and dry.