Waiheke to Devonport in style

A while age we all ferried to Waiheke on a sunny Saturday - after the beach and a bit of lunch we were very generously offered a ride back to Devonport on a beautiful yacht. Ian, Angus' cousin-in-law took several passengers - his son David, Liz, Angus, Jack, John and Donald Robson, their Mum Rachel and ourselves. This was not without risk - would Georgia and Joe mutiny? Would there be seasickness? Sharks? Mountainous seas? Messed up hair?

Waiheke in the background as Joe starts to get restless...

This, we were assured, was the rope that made the boat go. Just as well John knew how to hold it.

Meanwhile Jack was in charge of the back....aft...stern..rear area. Anyway, all secure here and that's the way it stayed.

Angus at the helm for a tricky overtaking manouevre.That's the other ship's wheel on the left, that one steers the..left side of the boat.

When the complexities of seamanship became overwhelming, challenging other boats to races was a great diversion. We easily outran this F class 22 foot rudder-steered sloop.

Jack was in charge of ship's biscuits....

..and Joe was in charge of eating them.

And later regaled us all with long passages from his composition "The Rhyme of the Juvenile Mariner"

Suddenly there was a commotion, followed by two seagulls and a spotted dottrel. We checked the instruments...

One glance told us all we needed to know - either we were entering a shoal of small red crosses or home was near.

Just as it was forJames Cook, finding landfall proved tricky - Angus rowed the boat ashore, Halleluia. Then he came back, picked us up and took us to Devonport Beach. That's our trusty vessel out at sea, squint and you might make out Angus in his dinghy.

Can't see him? Here he is from the boat. OK, he had an outboard motor. Somewhere on the beach is the family, all collectively thinking the same thing

What a day!

In the days following, Joe and Georgia tried to relive the excitement of travel, but a tricycle is a bit of a comedown.