During my $1.00 NZ/75 cents US bus ride from Opua to Auckland we stopped at Sheep World to pick up two passengers. Pink sheep,
When I first sailed into New Zealand forty years ago next March there were three million people and seventy million sheep. Now there are four and a half million people, but only thirty million sheep. The decline is due to the collapse of the wool market. Most New Zealand sheep are now raised to be eaten not fleeced.
Someone once commented, “What if the sheep could vote?” To which I immediately replied, “They can.” This is true not only of New Zealand, but every country that purports to be a democracy and holds elections.
Next year we American sheep may have a choice between another Clinton and another Bush. Noble dynasties both. The contemporary Adamses and Roosevelts. Well, perhaps not, but possibly slight improvements over Sarah Palin. Had she been elected Vice President I intended to apply for political refugee status in New Zealand.
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The Bay of Islands remains green year round.
But Auckland has maple trees and fall color and sidewalks dappled with fallen leaves.
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I seldom worked out during my two months on GANNET, but that life aboard is healthy was verified when I stepped on the Withings scale this morning.
Before I flew to New Zealand my body fat was 16-17%. Today it is 13%.
