Kia Ora

A late start this morning sadly saying goodbye to Keith & Jo as Hadar headed south whilst we were departing in the opposite direction.  The National engine on Hadar made a lovely old fashioned plop…plop…plop sound as they pulled away.  No doubt we will meet again…..  Actually we will make sure there is another meeting!
Two boats passed as we were preparing to cast off and we slowly followed them as far a bridge 60.  They went on to the locks whilst we moored short of the bridge.  Jo had suggested it was a good location to moor as the gongoozlers would be out in force beyond the bridge.  She was quite correct, they were thicker than fleas on a drovers dog!
We weren’t total immune from their attentions and a family appeared at the side hatch begging for food.

I was inside Waiouru when nb Julanda passed us on the mooring.  The steerer told Jan they read the blog.  It always surprises us when people mention they read the blog.  Probably because we think our life is rather boring!  Anyway, happy cruising crew of nb Julanda.
The roof hasn’t been polished since Waiouru was first painted.  Yesterday I spent an hour washing the dirty roof with dirty canal water.  The result was a dirty roof!   Having made a mistake erred in my judgement, this afternoon I used clean water from the shower hose on the stern to wash the roof again.

The water point is just around the corner so we’re not too worried about the quantity of water left in the tank.  The roof had a wash, then rinse, and finally was chamoised dry.  Rather than get the now clean roof roof dirty by wearing shoes I removed of my shoes and socks to polish it with the “Bullet” polish we’d purchased from Midland Chandlers at the Crick Show.  It certainly goes on easier than the Craftmaster polish and it does leave a shine.  However I’m not yet convinced it’s a better product.  Towards the end of the job I was convinced the boat had been extended to 70ft.  There seemed to be acres of roof surface and my elderly toes were starting to ache after being bent double.  The sweat perspiration was pouring off me.  Jan sat in the folding chair on the towpath and offered advice!  She has great supervisory skills.

One of the twice yearly polished done!
A boat passed us heading towards the locks when suddenly the air was full of voices crying out “Ki Ora”  It was nb Khaffra with a crew of Kiwi’s aboard.  Wonder who is turning the lights off back downunder?
I was reasonably confident the time was “beer o’clock” but Jan pointed out the sides of Waiouru were now dirty from all the water running off the roof <sigh>. The towpath side (starboard) was then washed and dried with the chamois.  It was actually rather easy to wash the cabin side after having two previous applications of Craftmaster polish.  The port side can wait until tomorrow when we move beyond bridge 60 where the towpath also changes sides.
Then I realised the cap that goes over the roof stove flue outlet hadn’t been given a top coat of light grey paint.  We’d purchased the paint from the Craftmaster stand at the Crick show so I retrieved from the locker to paint the cap.  First I roughed up the undercoat on the cap with one of those green plastic scouring pads.  Then applied a light grey top coat.  Only problem is the paint was a different colour?  Instead of having Light Grey we appear to have Silver Grey.  We’ll have to use it as the first top coat and buy the right colour for the final coat.
Now it’s “beer o’clock” my arms and shoulders are so sore it’s going to take some time to empty the can!  I need a straw!  Jan must have taken pity on me as she is cooking my favourite dessert (steamed pudding) to go with the pie we’re having for dinner tonight!