This is the city of sails. Walk to the water…and in a city surrounded by water it isn’t difficult…and boats line the shores, float on the waves and speckle the horizon. It is an amazing concept to me. I went from knowing not a single person who owned a boat to being attached to a club where the better portion of its members own boats.

 

This week I got a glimpse of that up close and personal. The pakuranga rotary club hosted its annual fishing fundraiser. The club members sell packages where teams compete in a fishing contest and the club supplies the organising of the whole thing, food, and booze accordingly. There were about 400 people on various sized yachts, as they are called. And there I was…on a ferry with inner wheel (wives of rotary) taking in the view chatting with the fishermen, and dishing out food.

 

Rewind two days and I was in more rural zed with the drury rotary club. They were hosting a fundraiser of their own. The sausage sizzle…a zed classic. So we belted out prices and the jolly doc (my host) chatted to folks as they passed the booth. The beauty of a small town shone through because he knew so many people and so many people knew him.

 

I learned about the concept of a lifestyle block – or hobby farms – kind of mini-farms for people to work at and enjoy without the commitment of a large farm. All in all, a completely different concept than the city. Here were people who plant orchids in their glass houses (read greenhouse) and collect water from their roofs (not piped in from the municipalities). A mere 30 km away and a whole different world began to unfold. It makes me wonder what else is out there.

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