Kiwi’s galore!

Still moored at Abingdon.
543 locks, 668½ miles, 18 Tunnels, 37 swing bridges and 10 lift bridges since Nov 2006

After a quiet night and a bit of a lay in this morning it was time to investigate the town and n/b “Aotearoa” We walked into town and then back across the river to be able to get onto the opposite towpath where Aotearoa was moored.
It turns out that the boat is owned by Anne and Colin Bull who are English but have 2 sons living in Auckland and Blenheim hence the boat name. After spending an hour or so chatting we went into town and managed to sneak into St Helens church with a tour group.

The church is normally locked with tour guides having access keys so we were quite lucky to view this unusual church.
The church was started in 1180 and has 5 aisles which means it is wider (33m) than it is long (30m). Over the centuries it has been repaired and modernized many times, the last being in 2004 when under floor heating was installed and the organ renovated and new bells fitted.

Later in the afternoon when we were back on board there was a knock on the side of the boat. It was Anne and Colin with a bottle of wine in hand so we had another hour or so chatting again. Later in the evening Anne rang to say that they had had a caller from Tauranga who were on their way over via the lock to visit.
Sure enough there was another knock on the boat and Rusty and Dot (common name that) from Tauranga arrived for a chat. They are over here visiting daughter Sharon in Brighton and have rented a flat here in Abingdon for a week before returning to NZ on the 1^st August. They also have hired a narrowboat on the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal in Wales. They invited us back to their flat for a coffee and before we knew it the time had flown and it was a quarter to eleven. Time flies when you’re having fun.