 |
| Back in New Zealand. It's a little cold, but then again, it is winter after all. |
A day later, after we had our X-ray exam in Frankfurt, the
visa for New Zealand was in our email inbox. That’s great news—now nothing stands in the way of our departure. The last week flew by; before we knew it, we were on a plane headed for New Zealand. The farewell celebrations started a week in advance. It just takes a little while to say goodbye to all our friends and acquaintances. One appointment followed another. I sent two of my books as mandatory copies to the National Library in Frankfurt and dropped off two books at the State Library in Stuttgart. I was a little surprised that I had to do this myself. With e-books, submitting the legal deposit copy happened automatically. With print versions, you have to do it yourself if you’re self-published. Anyway, that’s taken care of now, and so I’ve made my mark as an author in Germany.
The flight from Stuttgart to Vienna is just a stone’s throw away. We only have a short layover in Vienna before quickly boarding the flight to Shanghai. I placed a bet with
Austrian Air for an upgrade to business class and won. So the 11-hour flight will be more comfortable than expected. In Shanghai, we’re picked up at the gate. I already have a bad feeling about this, which is then confirmed. We’re ushered past the transit gate and dropped off in front of a New Zealand Air desk. Behind the desk sit three yawning men who are desperately fighting off sleep and are terribly bored. The woman who picked us up at the gate squeezes past the chairs of the yawning men and now stands facing us. First, she wants to see our passports. Then she asks for a return ticket from Auckland to Germany. Since we don’t have a return ticket, I try to explain to her that we’ll be leaving New Zealand on a sailboat. She picks up the phone for the first time and tries to explain the situation to the person on the other end of the line. Then she turns back to us. “You need a return ticket; otherwise, I can’t let you continue your flight.” I explain to her once more that we’ll be leaving on our own boat, which is currently in New Zealand. The next question is how long we plan to stay in New Zealand. “
180 days,” I reply. The eyes of the woman across from me grow wider and wider. “We have a visa,” I quickly add. The three men behind the counter yawn again. Luckily, I’d printed out the electronic visa on paper. I hold it right under her nose. But unfortunately, the visa doesn’t solve the problem. She still has no proof that we’ll actually be leaving New Zealand again. After I ask her where it says that we need a departure ticket, she uses her phone’s translation app. The app translates from Chinese to English, and I read that it recommends buying a flexible ticket that could be refunded. But she won’t get rid of me that easily. After all, I hadn’t asked her to show me the way to our next flight. I show her my boat papers and explain once again that we’ll be leaving New Zealand on this boat after 180 days. I know from experience that she can’t decide that anymore. But it’s also rude to suggest she ask her boss. She has to figure that out on her own. Fortunately, that’s exactly what she did, and in addition to the three yawning men who are still terribly bored, another one shows up. So the whole story starts all over again. No return ticket, a 180-day visa, boat papers, and then he reaches for the phone. However, he’s speaking in English, which leads me to suspect that he’s calling Auckland. Apparently, the New Zealand side explains to him that this is fine, after which he asks again twice. The lady who picked us up adds that he should ask the New Zealander for his name. After the other side spelled out the name, we got a nod of approval, and for some reason, we’re handed two paper tickets, even though we actually have e-tickets. The rest goes by very quickly. Another lady guides us through customs, and we find ourselves in front of the security checkpoint—the only hurdle we still have to clear to reach the huge waiting hall at Shanghai Airport. Unfortunately, we can’t use the lounge, since credit cards only work through a specific app. You’d have to be a bit of a cynic to think anything of it, but after I tried it anyway, my spam folder overflowed with over 50 emails within half a day. We spend eight hours at this boring airport until we can finally board the flight to Auckland.
 |
| Breakfast in Auckland, after a 36-hour trip |
Auckland greets us with a temperature of 12°C. Passport control here is automated. Customs directs us to the express lane, which means a dog sniffs us for food. Within half an hour, we’re standing out in the cold waiting for a taxi, but it doesn’t come, doesn’t come, doesn’t even make a sound. Since we don’t have cell service yet, the blue “Request Ride” button doesn’t show up in the Uber app. I rush back to the arrivals hall, where there’s free Wi-Fi, to contact Uber. And lo and behold, I see the button mentioned above for the first time. After tapping it, it takes another five minutes, and our Uber is waiting at the agreed-upon spot. The driver looks at me in surprise and asks what took so long. I tell him that after a 36-hour flight, I couldn’t find the blue button. He smiles and takes us to our car, which we’d parked on the other side of Auckland.
Heather and John are still asleep, so we head to a café for breakfast. When we return, they’re both wide awake and happy to see us. On our way to Whangarei to get the boat, we visit our farmers. We gladly accept Nicole's and Alexander’s invitation to stay the night. Exhausted, we fall into bed and take a nap. The next morning, after a hearty breakfast of poached eggs, bacon, spinach, and toast, we finally head to the boat.
 |
| Leigh, New Zealand; On the way to Whangarei |
It’s Sunday, and luckily I find the key to the marina gate—otherwise we would’ve had to climb over the fence in Norsand. Katinka Enjoy is parked peacefully in her spot. A little dirty, but otherwise okay. We start by unloading everything. I try to reactivate
Starlink again. As announced,
Elon has changed the plans again. I have no idea if I picked the right one with the “Unlimited Travel” plan I selected. The activation button was definitely the wrong one. There are now two of them: one for the day your monthly subscription expires and the other that changes your plan immediately. The former is the default. If you click "Continue", nothing happens until the plan change takes effect. On top of that, Musk is raising prices for the third time this year. “Unlimited Travel” now costs €95 a month. Thanks for nothing, Elon!
 |
| Faulty Refrigerator Thermostat |
After getting through our first night—it was cozy and warm under the blanket—we wake up to a temperature of 12°C in the salon. My teeth are tapping out the song “Let It Go” from *Frozen* on the rim of my coffee cup. There’s only one thing to do: Get warm! I’ll start with something easy. The fridge’s thermostat needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, the law implementing
Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on promoting the repair of goods and improving the availability of advance directives doesn’t apply in New Zealand. After replacing the thermostat on the fridge, I consider a global rollout to be necessary. Manufacturers could also just put a screw where it’s supposed to go, instead of some plastic nipple that breaks just by looking at it. Anyway, now that I’ve taken the fridge apart and put it back together, it’s working again, and you can even turn it off to defrost it.
 |
| Drinking Water Filter on the Katinka Enjoy |
To avoid taking on too much at once, I scale back a bit and next replace the filter for our drinking water supply and the anti-scale filter. Even though I have to contort myself quite a bit under the sink, the replacement goes relatively smoothly. The
furling system is jammed. I unroll the genoa by hand and then try to lower it. Unfortunately, the swivel is stuck, and I can’t get the sail down. After a while, it comes loose on its own, and we’re able to stow the sail. To get the problem with the furling system under control, I’ll probably need to seek professional help. I haven’t come up with a solution yet.
 |
| Ship's Propeller Polished Again |
I’ve managed to get both propellers clean again, and now I’m on the hunt for an effective antifouling treatment. Maybe one of you experts can help me out with that. Until then, fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.
Comments
Post a Comment