So, to the end of the summer.

We arrived back in Germany at the end of August after 6 weeks in UK, and our lovely engine is still in pieces , and the offending crank shaft, ( that on Xray they had found a small fracture in), waiting for the replacement to arrive..

We are not going to talk about the hassels we have had as now its all seems so long ago, even if at the time Max was not a happy chappy !!!!  Its amazing how quickly you can forget crap.

So what are a good Kiwi couple to do??    As Max felt he would go slowly mad if he stayed on the boat waiting, so we went visiting. We drove to Saverne near Strasbourg and caught up again with Jan & Bill, and Australians we had met the previous year, Peter and Jayne. 

Stayed 3 nights and then as google is so helpful, we booked a flight out of Frankfurt to Rhodes .  Our favourite beach, Stegna Beach,

Max’s collection of summer happy shirts….

Hulk Hogan on the beach, great Bikey chick,  favourite bar at 5pm, and last night out.

Arrive back in Schweich, and we finally we get to this…checking the engine runs well at the diesel shop…These guys were just great and now the have kiwi t-shirts to prove it..

 

So the engine arrives by truck, gets lifted by the forklift and dropped through the main hatch.

Once in, the fork lift goes through the window to help put it down in the hold.

oooopps had an accident with a  forklift ???

Yes,  YEs,,, YES.

Now we are happy, the engine is in  the boat and running well. No water can track back so all should be well.  We just need to put hours on her now. We did have to put 10-12 hours out on the river so they could replace the filters and oil.

Schwiech camp site and restaurant , and entry to the marina.

The weather in the morning and at night.

So for the second year in a row we haven’t got to Maastricht  to get the boat painted.

As we have run out of time, we finally decided to winter again in Schweich and so Kiwi Rose is up on the hard, with her tent on ready for the winter.

Lets hope we can leave Schweich without any hitches  sand hope to leave next May, without any hitches..

We managed to finally get home, with cabin carpet on the roof, bike on back and at Calais Wine Super Store we picked up 11 cases of wine.. (66 bottles).

((We think the suspension has suffered.!! ))

We would like to thank all our friends who have listened to all our problems over this summer, and who we have visited and spent time with this year. Love to you all.

Back to Schweich to claim Kiwi Rose

.So to recap, our engine was taken out over last winter and sent to a diesel mechanic specialist  to rectify the smoke and diesel leakage from the exhaust…(.because basically water was getting into the pistons) , The engine was rebuilt and put back in, and was running beautifully for a while, but the guys at the boat yard  were a bit slow to rectify initial problem, so more water got into the engine,,,,,, So engine to come out again !!!

September 6th.

OK, well its now 6 weeks since we left Schweich in Germany, and return today, knowing the boat engine is still in pieces as we now need a new crank shaft  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before we left to go back to UK in July, because we had the time, we decided we should finally put the radar arch into storage, so we hired a ‘’’little’’’ 3,5 ton truck to drive it down to St Jean de Losne. ( 4 hr journey each way)

So back to  the UK. It was a nice change to see Chichester and the South of England in the summer. 

Due to renting out our flat to Summer Actors from the Festival Theatre, we had nowhere to stay. Luckily between Dawn and Alvin in Bournemouth and Annie in Chi, and then Sue May finishing her holiday, returning to NZ and leaving their house empty,we had lovely places to stay…. we have been very lucky bunnies.

SO, Bournemouth with Dawn and Alvin, and on their little local ferry boat (Wick Ferry) at Bournemouth to the Captains Club for Max’s birthday lunch. (all walking distance,  yeh, great!! )

The local beach shop just outside Chichester.,,, so British

Met Claire and Kate in pub in London.

Went to the Chilli Festival at West Dean ,, lots of fun and alcohol !!

Hall of mirrors…………….how old are we ?????

Steph, Yaz and Lucy.

Glass of wine and a picnic at the beach on a Friday night, early then later….

Our girls, well Claire in Berlin with her best mate Kate from NZ, (I think they would look excellent serving wenches !!!

Emma skiing in South Island, and my skis she left out for the groomer to play with.

 

Wet and horrible day in Bournemouth for the Air Show and the Red Arrows, which flew on the Friday but were cancelled on the Saturday due to appalling weather,.

Regardless of the weather the Brits carry on  !!

On our way back through Calais, we discovered the Wine Calais superstore,

AND LOOK,, NO ENGINE  !!!!

OH NO << HERE IT IS  !!!                            ALL in little bits  !!!

Wait with baited breathe for the next instalment.!!

Our plans for next year are so muddled and up in the air at the moment,, with time constraints, with Lucy flying to NZ on 10th October…. and everything… we are not sure what we are doing !!!!

 

                   This says it all for some of us…