[word=Avoidance | □=□]
[word=Avoidance | lemma=□]
[word=Avoidance | word=□]
) The weather had been abysmal , all the earlier ferries having been cancelled , but there was only this one window of opportunity . No problem sailing alone round the Pacific , he explained : he had US Navy charts that showed where and when the wind would be under 35 knots 99 % of the time , and he stuck to those . Lambs gambol happily until they reach a point one day when they look around and say " I 'm a sheep ! No way , I 'm completely exhausted , the body complained . Pam has been learning the marimba at weekends : a large xylophone on legs and wheels that spans over three octaves , attacked by up to three players with two beaters each . Being the only ones in their party , the three Canadian girls were treated by their ( male ) guide to a special underground tour , exploring tortuous passages and squeezing through tiny gaps that ordinary tourists never get to see . They're gone now , but we inspected the concrete launch pads and the network of underground tunnels through which they were serviced . No one had any idea whether NZ would be thrashed-though most predicted that , whichever way it went , the outcome would not be close . Because of general dissatisfaction with the way things are run by the new regime , there have been more than the usual number of departures . One consolation was that there were four other people doing the two-day hike , but since they were all in their early twenties and straight from military service in Israel , it was actually small comfort . It had been three years since Pam last saw most of the UK contingent , so she found quite a lot of change , and apart from a couple of quick forays to visit friends spent the time catching up with family . ) On returning to Beulah at 11:45 PM we had just filled our glasses when a gentle knocking was heard . They must have been tortured by the clinking of glasses as we downed a couple of bottles of wine . The latter are considered stupid , and you might insult a person by implying that they were weaned on buffalo milk . The visitors take this as a Very Good Sign , as every other yacht appears to be motoring . The union committee also offered to sacrifice a wage increase of 2.79 percent that had already been agreed on with the company and was due to be paid from 2006 . The other yacht , in turn , was soon to be impressed at a display of musicianship as Ian accompanied the sunset with a little light jazz on the clarinet . Talking of the volcano - - although Ruapehu is only a couple of hours drive from us and can be seen from the top of Hamilton 's tallest building ( a mere seven stories ) , life was not in the least affected by the eruptions except that the airport was sometimes closed at night because of drifting , incredibly gritty , volcanic ash in the upper atmosphere . They stayed in Honolulu and were driven all round the island of Oahu by an acquaintance who had also shown Ian around just a couple of months before . ( a lifetime second for them , the first having been New Zealand 's Franz Josef glacier earlier this year , as recounted above ) . Pam was surprised how cold and frosty it was in winter : we think of Australia as a fiery desert island . Except that one of his hosts in the International Development Center he was visiting at Tulane University , an expert on disaster cleanup and management , was spirited away to the Nevada desert by the US Army for secret meetings for most of the duration of Ian 's visit .