January 2023: New Zealand and another medical adventure.
Kia Ora!
We flew in to Auckland on the 18th December 2022 for a busy three weeks, visiting friends and family. Annie’s brother Johan (Joe in New Zillund), kindly picked us up from the airport to spend the first week with him and his partner Mary Griffiths in Brown’s Bay.
The Maori name for NZ, “Aotearoa” means “land of the long white cloud”. This refers to the cloud formations which helped early Polynesian navigators find the country.
(*trompe l’oeil = visual illusion in art, as used to trick the eye into perceiving a painted detail as a three-dimensional object.)
Mary and Joe had hikes, scenic trips and social events lined up for us, which I enjoyed in as much as my buggered left knee would allow me to. Apart from walks along Long Beach, Brown’s Bay and the city, there were a flurry of social events at various friends for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
After Christmas, Annie and I drove down to Tauranga, about 3 hours south east of Auckland on the Bay of Plenty. My brother Vanna and his wife Annemarie’s two children, Anneri and Stevan live in NZ with their spouses and children. Vanna and Annemarie are presently visiting their offspring after 3-years of Covid travel restrictions. The mob is in good shape and thriving.
During our circumnavigation we have met many Kiwi’s. Sailing like rugby, is an obsession for Kiwi’s, which is borne out by the thousands of yachts in Auckland harbour. We had a long lunch catching up with Mike and Sarah and Topher and Michelle at Mahurangi West on the Pukapuka inlet, about an hour north of Auckland. They will shortly return to the Med to get back onto their boats, but other Kiwi friends, Jonny and Tina left a week before, to join their boat at Ushuaia, the southern tip of Argentina, to round Cape Horn into the Pacific.
The following day, Bruce and Caroline Cowan, took us out on their Farr 40 for a delightful sail on the Pukapuka inlet and to visit these islands.
After a New Year’s Eve dinner party at Penny and Frank in Stanley Point and then watching the fireworks across the harbour in the city, we woke up to a beautiful New Year and Annie’s 68th birthday. We felt energised enough to walk along the harbour front to the Stanley Point Naval Base and back.
Auckland Sky Tower early evening – my photos of the fireworks were not successful!
We travelled south to Whiritoa after the new year to relax at Penny and Frank’s holiday cottage on the East coast of the Coromandel and north of Tauranga. Continuous rain forced us to relax for three days before visiting Philip and Lindsay on their farm at Katikati and later drive north to Whangamata on the coast.
On Monday the 9th January, Joe dropped us off at the airport on our way back from Whiritoa and we had an uneventful flight back to Sydney where Michelle and Kristian picked us up at the airport. They had spent more than a week on Esprit, exploring the Cowan Waters and Hawkesbury River, after visiting Kristian’s family and diving off Stradbroke Island in Queensland.
We caught up with their news before they flew back to Singapore and Fiji respectively, to start back at work. On Thursday the 12th Annie dropped me at Westmead Private Hospital for a total knee replacement on my left leg at about 4:30 pm.
The TKR technology has improved remarkably since the right knee was replaced 18 years ago. I was able to get up the next morning with moderate pain and started physiotherapy at 9am, walking with first a frame and then crutches. By Saturday morning, I was walking unassisted and the surgeon and the physio agreed for me to go home after 36 hours.
It is much easier recuperating from home with less interruptions. Matt Jones the surgeon, will check the result and x-rays and take the sutures out after 14 days. Hopefully, that will be the end of this adventure.
For now, cheers and all the best for 2023!
Dirk & Annie