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On reaching The Pigeons , four stark pieces of rock sticking up from the ocean floor , we tacked up through the beautiful Broken Islands into Port Fitzroy , a secure , almost land-locked , haven . Afterwards another friend drove us both to his homestead at Akaroa , an hour or so distant , where we arrived in the wee small hours and spent the next day . Pam continues to teach half time at Cambridge Primary School . Tourists are rare in South India , and you are continually greeted on the street , offered help if you look puzzled , and accosted by groups of delightful grinning kids daring each other to shake your hand and ask your name . She ended up in a house in Ealing , with some friends from Hamilton ( of all places ) . The jovial constable says the two Cup yachts are a bit bigger and faster than us ; we smile pleasantly , go about , smile pleasantly , and the nice policeman , just to be sure we had n't missed his joke , says again that some yachts are bigger and faster than us . We made 33 miles that day , all in the teeth of the near gale . By the time the road was reopened a couple of hours later , Ian and Pam had each missed their evening rehearsals , with the most original of excuses - - " Sorry I could n't make it last night , I was confined at home by the armed offender 's squad . ( They did some cooking too . We had determined to watch this race from the America 's Cup base in Auckland-Pam 's brother Graham had got us sought-after tickets in the Air New Zealand spectator marquee-and the second race from the water . It had been a frustratingly snow-free December , but Christmas dinner was skied off ( by some ) on icy snow at the Nordic Center in the afternoon , and on Boxing Day we ventured further into the mountains and skied through thick snow to a frozen lake ( Boom lake ) . We've enjoyed , with friends and a bottle or two of wine , a magnificent marine firework display , based on three barges in Auckland Harbour , and , when it finished , joined a long , ghostly procession of other boats sailing out through the night to island anchorages . Pipped at the post ; c'est la vie . We're raiding the family photograph album to get a colour picture for each page . The staff ensemble has proudly played at school assemblies , the teachers learning first-hand , and with some surprise , how terrifying public performance is-which heightens their appreciation of the children 's achievements . And she and Jake decided that they should stop " going out " together , though they still see a great deal of each other and spend hours on the phone .