Life in Devonport

Most of December I was so fortunate to live in the caravan of my friend Kathy Light. The family recently moved to a lovely home on the waterfront in Devonport. This was perfect for me, as I could easily catch a ferry to get into the city whenever I needed. Bikes go free, and they help me load and unload my trailer when I bring it with me. I sleep in the caravan on the property, and help out around the house while doing volunteer work for my favorite charities. There is a huge 'rock' in the back of the property, and here are a couple of photos of it:













This is a white wisteria blooming on a neighbours house










The ferry runs every half hour during the day. One day I took it into central Auckland, and saw this gentleman busking as a statue.







He moves and sings if you put money in his case. I contributed, and asked if I could take a photo. What a creative way for a disabled person to make use of the attention a prosthetic limb brings!








There are some lovely flowers in the gardens in Devonport. These are native to South Africa, called Pincussion leucospermum.

































While staying in Devonport, I was introduced to Pastor Tom Chapman. I wanted to meet him because he does missionary work in India. He is quite a character, and absolutely fearless. He does his work in the parts of India where they kill Christian missionaries! He has a small congregation, of mostly Korean immigrants, and has wanted a web site for several years. So we sat down one day at the cybercafe in the ferry terminal and I created his website for him on www.freewebs.com You can see it, and read Pastor Tom's powerful testimony, at www.goodnewsofhope.webs.com I really like this site. You can create good looking websites for free, without knowing any html language. And it has features you would not expect on a free web site, like the ability to sell things using PayPal. I will continue to create websites for the small charities and foundations I work with, who cannot afford to pay for them. One of the beauties of Freewebs is that people can easily learn to update their own websites, which is so important if there is news that needs to get out quickly. It may even be a way for the disabled folks in Kashmir to make a living - by creating and updating web sites for local businesses and organisations. We'll see when I go there later this year.



Here are some of the views from Devonport, looking over to the suburb of Mission Bay. Sailboat races are held 2-3 times a week, and are fun to watch.